Y+ Global | Vibrant Young Voices

Duration:	2022 - 2024
Location:	Eastern and Southern Africa, West and Central Africa, Middle East and North Africa

The Vibrant Young Voices (VYV) Consortium is a dynamic and strategic partnership, led by Y+ Global and accompanied by esteemed organizations including the Coalition of Children Affected by AIDS (CCABA) and PATA, funded by Robert Carr Fund. This consortium is driven by a shared vision of empowering excluded adolescents and young people, ensuring their voices are heard in policy-making, funding decisions, and program development at all levels.

The VYV Consortium focuses on children, adolescents, and young people living with HIV (YPLHIV) to strengthen networks, increase advocacy capacity, and improve service delivery for people aged 14 to 30. Recognising the changing impact of HIV throughout the life cycle, the VYV Consortium seeks to address the social and structural exclusion faced by these adolescents and youth, while also fostering a culture of learning and improvement for long-term change.

The VYV Youth Advisory Group plays a crucial role in the Vibrant Young Voices (VYV) Consortium, providing advice on ethical youth inclusion and engagement. They contribute to research, mentorship activities, and offer guidance to enhance staff knowledge in effective youth engagement. The Youth Advisory Group ensures meaningful participation of young people in decision-making processes, creating an inclusive and empowering environment within the VYV Consortium.

ABOUT OUR CAMPAIGN

Engage Us. Our Health. Our Rights.

Governments, UN agencies and donors acknowledge that engaging communities, including young people, has been critical to the HIV response. However, the opportunities for young people to raise their voices and concerns about their health often remain limited and tokenistic. The phrase ‘nothing about us, without us’ continues to be a powerful call used by many youth activists to ensure that young people are meaningfully involved in decision-making that affects our lives.

Our campaign highlights the benefits of meaningfully engaging young people, not just for young people themselves but to improve the quality of health services and health policies.

The campaign has been designed by the Vibrant Young Voices Consortium, a partnership between CCABA, PATA and Y+ Global that supports excluded adolescents and young people to have a stronger voice in policy, funding, and programming decision-making to secure their health and rights.

BENEFITS OF MEANINGFUL ENGAGEMENT

Meaningful engagement benefits young people. Young people can be more active in looking after their health and well-being. They learn new skills, such as how to support their peers in adhering to treatment. They grow their confidence and can negotiate with people in power, whether it is a doctor or a government official.

The meaningful engagement of young people also benefits healthcare systems. For instance, young people living with HIV have actively participated in the design of services and programs that are better integrated and more effective in meeting their unique needs. Additionally, they have been instrumental in improving the quality of healthcare services by monitoring clinics and gathering feedback from their communities. Likewise, they continue to lead campaigns that promote sexual and reproductive health and rights, ensuring that adolescents are well-informed and empowered.

Meaningful engagement is not just about giving young people a seat at the table but about ensuring they feel safe, respected and valued. It begins by recognising that young people can help the world deliver Health For All.

A YOUNG PERSON'S HEALTH JOURNEY FROM THE PERSONAL TO THE POLITICAL

TUNE INTO REAL CONVERSATIONS

The docu-series are a part of the VYV campaign on meaningful youth engagement in health. These videos were shot in Botswana and Nigeria. The short videos show young people's real conversations with key stakeholders such as clinicians, government officials and UN representatives about what meaningful engagement looks like and the benefits of engaging young people. Tune in. Listen. Share with friends.

The docu-series were led by the Youth Advisory Group, with support from Y+ Global and other VYV partners, including PATA and CCABA.

VYV Chats with UNICEF, Botswana

VYV Chats with Bontleng Clinic, Botswana

VYV Chats with Nyanya Medical Centre, Nigeria

VYV Chats with Anambra State AIDS Control Agency, Nigeria

VYV ART COMPETITION

Here are the finalists!

As part of the Engage Us. Our Health. Our Rights campaign, which includes a docu-series on the meaningful engagement of young people in health, VYV, in September 2023, launched an art competition aimed at illustrating the benefits of meaningful engagement of young people in health. In total, 9 finalists had their art pieces displayed at ICASA 2023.

WINNERS