Project profile — Rights From the Start

The project seeks to improve comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH), including safe and legal abortions and post-abortion care for young women, especially adolescent girls, and help ensure the fulfillment of sexual and reproductive rights in targeted districts of Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana and Peru. Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) education and training are central to this project which aims to provide young people, especially adolescent girls, with the information and tools required to protect themselves against sexual violence and unplanned pregnancies. Project activities include: (1) training for community facilitators, trainers and peer educators on raising awareness about SRHR among youth, and on providing comprehensive sexuality education (CSE); (2) strengthening youth and women’s groups and local civil society organizations (CSOs) in order to promote SRHR; (3) providing affordable, comprehensive and youth-friendly SRH services through innovative cost-efficient and sustainable models; and (4) engaging community leaders, norm setters and men to address barriers that inhibit access to SRHR services. The project is expected to directly benefit 217,000 young women and young men between the ages of 10 and 24 (of which 63% are women), including highly vulnerable populations such as youth who are indigenous, migrants, Afro-descendant, and/or LGBT, as well as those from impoverished communities. The project also aims to build the capacity of over 2,200 educators, volunteers, health workers, leaders and activists. The project is expected to indirectly benefit a population of over 8 million in 14 targeted regions in Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana and Peru. The public engagement component is expected to reach approximately 20,000 Canadians and over 40 Canadian-based organizations.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) improved provision of gender-responsive comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and youth-friendly SRHR services in targeted districts; (2) increased utilization of gender-responsive CSE and youth-friendly SRHR services in targeted districts; and (3) increased government and civil society responsiveness to the SRHR of young people, especially adolescent girls, at the local, regional, national and global levels.

Results achieved as of March 2023 include: (1) trained 3,518 community facilitators, trainers, and peer educators on awareness-raising. This training allowed them to teach young people, particularly adolescent girls, about sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and comprehensive sexuality education; (2) delivered 843 SRHR awareness sessions to 74,424 participants (45,045 women, 28,230 men, five trans women, four trans men, and 1,140 non-disclosed genders); (3) reached 141,843 people (72,683 women, 68,780 men, 52 trans women, 36 trans men, 292 non-disclosed genders) with comprehensive sexuality education; (4) provided comprehensive sexual reproductive health services to 1,811,169 beneficiaries (1,469,747 women and girls, 24 trans women, 341,105 men and boys, and 293 non-disclosed genders); and (5) reached 879 men through online and in-person forums targeted at men to discuss barriers to SRHR services and how to break those barriers.