Since 2017, YAAI has reached more than 100,000 young people in Tanzania’s southern highlands through incorporating behaviour change communications, youth leadership, advocacy, research and data, and innovation in their messages about SRHR. One way we do this is by leveraging the famous East African music genre called Bongo Flava.
The “Ubongo na Flava” project, which translates to “Brains and Flavor”, is a YAAI project that uses this type of Tanzanian music to design advocacy campaigns for youth on important topics in SRHR.
YAAI has been working to form coalitions, including the CHAGUA and Tanzania Youth and Adolescent Reproductive Health (TAYARH) projects, aimed at promoting adolescents and young people’s SRHRh and women’s autonomy. Through these collaborations, YAAI has participated in the National Family Planning Technical Working Group and contributed to the development of National Cost Family Planning II and the National Accelerated Investment Agenda For Adolescent Health and Wellbeing.
YAAI recently began piloting a digital media platform for reproductive health promotion called “Contraceptive Conversations.” The program has a strong social media component, which includes engaging in timely discussions on adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health (AYSRH) issues on their Facebook page.
Through our YAAI Fellowship,15 new champions and youth leaders have developed the skills to become SRHR advocates in Tanzania. Through the fellowship, young people learn about service delivery, social entrepreneurship, and advocacy within SRHR.
To promote male participation in SRHR, YAAI will implement a gender-transformative program in the southern highlands of Tanzania in 2022-2023. In partnership with USAID and IREX, this new program will draw from the “Emanzi Boys Training Curriculum”, an existing program under the Youth Power Action project that covers topics such as SRH, gender issues, and economic empowerment. The ultimate goal of the program is to promote positive reproductive health behaviors among men and boys.