Through the TOGETHER Project, you are helping to protect the youth in Kenya. In a culture where topics like unplanned pregnancies, contraception, and gender-based violence are taboo, youth are left without information to protect themselves. In addition, the social stigma that surrounds sexual and reproductive health causes youth to hesitate in choosing vital health services. 

With the support of Global Affairs Canada and donors like you, the project is working to empower healthcare providers with knowledge and information, creating better access to healthcare and information for the most vulnerable. 

Calister, a nurse from northern Kenya with her own rural health facility, experienced the power of knowledge when she attended the training sessions. She says that it gave her a different perspective, “I felt like I was being audited as a healthcare worker. It made me look at the things I was not doing right as a healthcare provider and the ways to make them better. I believe knowledge is essential because people, like the youth, plunge into trouble because they do things without knowing the repercussions.” 

Now, through monthly talks, Calister and her fellow healthcare providers are overcoming obstacles facing these youth. “We talk about sexual and reproductive health and the use of contraceptives. And for the first time in the history of this facility, we have set aside a room to attend to the youth. We realized that our facility is small, with few rooms, and sometimes there is no privacy when attending to critical cases like survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.” 

Thanks to the private room for youth at the health facility, those being served feel safer, knowing their privacy will be assured. In this way, Calister and her facility better protect the health of youth. Critical care can be administered without the fear of stigmatization or other consequences. Vital information can set youth on a path of prevention and protection. As you empower their health and well-being, these young people unlock the potential for an even better tomorrow.