GOLD and the MDGs
GOLD Peer Education Development Agency supports the MDGs and is working with our partner organisations to address issues related to the MDGs at a grassroots level as well as working with national advocacy partners to ask governments to keep their promises.
Teenage pregnancy has been identified as a key issue of concern by GOLD Peer Educators and their peers and here we take a closer look at this issue and explore of how it can be tackled through advocacy. Perhaps you can use these ideas for your Stand Up Take Action activity.
What are the MDGs?
In 2000, 189 countries came together and committed to halving extreme poverty by 2015. Governments from wealthy countries pledged to provide funding to support poorer countries reach these goals by providing financial support and fairer trade. Poorer countries pledged to uphold good governance and to invest in key sectors like education, health and social services.
We are the first generation in history that has the capacity and resources to end extreme poverty!
These commitments tackle poverty broadly through 8 specific goals, The Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability
- Develop a global partnership for development
Across the world millions of ordinary people have come together and joined the campaign to STAND UP AGAINST POVERTY alongside governments and civil society organisations. Isn’t it time YOU stood up?
Messages from GCAP SA to GOLD Implementers:
Dear GOLD Community
Your work is tremendous. It remains the pivotal anchor in the work that we do, as a collective, but from the ground. Peer educators work with the youth, who are the future of the country and enable the government, business and any stakeholder to function. How irreplaceable this work is! At any level of engagement, this is the greatest of all contributions.
We are proud of you, and as a coalition, we will continue to work in the context that you inform.
Thank you, for being the few of many positive stories that enable our country to go forward.
Regards
Watson Hamunakwadi
GCAP-SA Coordinator
Your government is committed to the MDGs
Our governments in South Africa. Botswana and Zambia signed the Millennium Declaration and since 2000, the MDGs have shaped most of the development plans and targets in areas like health, water and sanitation, education and social services.
September 17th -19th, 2010
When world leaders gathered at the United Nations for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Review Summit in September, the voices of their citizens followed them, telling them, loudly and clearly: “We will no longer stay seated or silent in the face of poverty and the broken promises to end it!” Millions around the world joined for 3 days of action against poverty!
Well done to all young people who took part in the Stand Up Take Action Campaign
Go to www.standagainstpoverty.org to
read about all the Stand Up
Take Action events
Teen Pregnancy and the MDGS
We know teen pregnancy is a big problem, it is an issue that cuts across many of the MDGs. We’re going to explore how we can tackle it as part of our efforts to realize the MDGs. Teenage pregnancy is an issue that cuts across many of the MDGs. By working to combat teenage pregnancy and support pregnant teens and teen parents, we will be addressing a number of the MDGs at the same time!
MDG 1: Eliminate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
- Young girls might fall pregnant because they exchange sex for stuff to support themselves and their families.
- The economic burden of child rearing and the negative effect on education can mean young parents find themselves in a cycle of poverty.
MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
- Teens might fall pregnant as a result of unequal gender power relations (e.g. unable to negotiate saying no to sex, condom use, coercive sex)
- Teen mothers are vulnerable to exploitation.
MDG 4 Reduce Child Mortality
Children born to teenage mothers have a higher chance of dying during childhood.
MDG 5:Improve Maternal Health
- More women die in pregnancy or childbirth where they do not have access to quality healthcare services.
MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases-
- Sexually active teens are at risk of becoming infected with HIV/AIDS and other STI’s
HOW CAN TEEN PREGNANCY BE AN ADVOCACY ISSUE?
It’s easy to see that teenage pregnancy can be a problem for an individual and can affect a community, but how can we turn it into an advocacy issue? How can we tackle this issue by asking for change in our community and who can we ask? Let’s look at the causes and effects of the problem to give us some ideas.
Causes
Male Gender Roles
Poverty resulting in transactional and trans-generational sex where girls are unable to negotiate condom use or saying no to sex
Boredom - no recreation facilities
Low self esteem
Lack of information on safer sex and abstinence
Lack of support for those who choose to abstain
Sexual Coercion/Rape
Peer Pressure
Limited assess to contraceptives
Stigma around condom use
Lack of communication between parents and teens about sex
Domestic Violence
Gender Inequality
Need to prove fertility
Effects/Consequences
Teen mom often has to drop out of school to look after her baby
Teen father might also drop out of school to get a job to support the family
School drop out - limited education - low paying job = poverty trap
Social and financial stress of raising a child - no social life
There are higher rates of mother and child mortality related to teenage pregnancy
Higher rate of contracting STI’s and HIV with teen sexual activity
Increase number of OVC’s in community if parents are infected and die of AIDS
Young parents might suffer from stress and depression
Cycle of Poverty
WHAT CHANGES WOULD WE LIKE TO SEE?
- Recreation centres and programmes to give youth positive ways to relax and have fun.
- Community leaders speaking out against practices where men force women and young girls to have sex or where sex is exchanged for food or stuff.
- Community leaders challenging stigma around condom use.
- Quality, accessible and youth friendly health care services
- Community leaders challenging attitudes that link male masculinity to being sexually active.
- Parents or older relatives like aunts and uncles talking to their children about sex openly.
- Sexuality education and life skills training in schools.
- Support for teen moms (and dads) to return to school and complete their schooling.
- Support for teens who choose and believe in abstinence.
Now that we know what we want changed, we can turn these ideas into Advocacy Action ideas…
TAKE ACTION 1: Ask the people in power to do something
Here are some ideas of how you can let your voice be heard …
Ask the school principal/life orientation teacher/pastor for time during a long assembly/life orientation lessons/free periods/youth service at church to;
- deliver lesson deliveries that look at issues related to teen pregnancy. The GOLD lesson deliveries that would be particularly relevant are: Choices and influences, Our immune system and HIV, HIV Testing and HIV and AIDS and me
- do a drama or presentation around Teen Pregnancy or HIV transmission and prevention.
Ask your school principal, pastor, ward councilor and other community leaders to speak out against attitudes and practices that promote the spread of HIV&AIDS and gender inequality such as;
- practices where men force women and young girls to have sex or where sex is exchanged for food or stuff.
attitudes that link male masculinity to being sexually active and fertility to early pregnancy
- attitudes that encourage having something on the side/ having more than 1 sexual partner at a time
- attitudes that look down on condom use
- attitudes that look down on abstinence
- attitudes that do not respect women or consider them less important than men.
Write a letter/get a petition signed and present it to;
- Your school principal asking for more support for pregnant teens/teen moms to continue their schooling. This could include:
- Looking into childcare options for teen moms, so they can return to school knowing their children are safe.
- Sending lessons and homework plans home to pregnant moms while they are away from school, so they can keep up with their school work if possible.
- Your ward councilor and clinic superintendent asking for longer clinic opening hours and a non-judgmental, youth friendly environment.
Your ward councilor asking for a youth recreation facility where youth can relax and enjoy themselves in a safe and healthy environment.
- A respected community leader, asking her/him to encourage parents/adult role models to speak openly and in a non judgmental way to teenagers about sex, relationships and values.
- Your clinic superintendent or ward councilor asking for a PMTCT programme be run from your clinic where HIV+ pregnant teens can access treatment so the chances of their babies being born HIV+ is greatly reduced.
TAKE ACTION 2: Be the change you want to see in the world
Many of these actions count as peer educator services!
- Perform a play or drama which communicates the facts about HIV transmission and prevention or challenges attitudes around gender inequality.
- Conduct a series of Lesson Deliveries or Talk Groups looking at issues related to teen pregnancy,
- Volunteer at the clinic – ask the clinic sister how you can help.
Mobilise a group of unemployed women in the community to look after the babies and
- children of teen moms so they can return to school knowing their kids are safe.
- Organize a pool of peer educators who are prepared to look after the babies/children of teen moms after school. The teen moms can then get a chance to concentrate on their school work and a schedule can be drawn up for peer educator babysitting duty.
- Share correct information with your peers about having boundaries, abstinence as an option, safer sex and HIV transmission and prevention.
- Encourage pregnant teens to get tested for HIV so they can know their status.
- Encourage HIV+ moms to get onto PMTCT programme to get drugs so that if the mom is HIV+ the baby has a much lower chance of also being HIV+
- Support pregnant teens by going with them to the clinic.
