Stretchers Youth Org Educator

Stretchers Youth Organization

Stretchers Youth Organization SRHR Champion engaging with a fellow young person on the correct use of a condom in a Mombasa County village.

Stretchers Youth Organization, a membership organization located in Mombasa, Kenya, was founded in 2011. It is a youth-led and community-based grassroots organization that works from the ground up to promote and educate participants on health rights, good governance, and gender equality among indigenous youth and women in underserved sections of Kenya.

The group’s goals of improving health, governance, gender equality, and sustainability, make it an excellent partner for Population Connection, which supports the rights and empowerment of people—including youth–everywhere.

Stretchers is a good example of an organization helping Population Connection with its grassroots mission. By empowering and educating youth and adolescents about sexual and reproductive health and rights, it is helping to rein in rapid population growth, bringing it in line with the environment and improving quality of life for all.

“As a male SRHR champion, I want to thank Stretchers Youth Organization for this training, where I learned that it is important to advocate for contraceptives. Contraceptives help reduce unwanted pregnancies, and give girls and women a chance to have the number of children of their own choice. I will ensure that I pass this information to my fellow men in the community.” Participant in Stretchers Youth Training

Project Kibe

Population Connection most recently sponsored the one-year Stretchers project Kijana Imarika Bonga Elimika (Project KIBE). The goal of Project KIBE was to improve the sexual and reproductive health of children and adolescents, from 10–24 years of age, and strengthen HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services.

Mombasa’s young people contend with many health problems, the most prevalent being sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, drug and substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and sexual and gender-based violence. Project KIBE was intended to address the SRHR outcomes of adolescents and young people in the marginalized areas of the Jomvu and Changamwe sub-counties.

Project KIBE’s educational activities—mostly virtual  due to the pandemic—focused on its stakeholders. These activities included publicizing the project through outreach such as events for International Women’s Day, Day of the African Child, etc. Stretchers also calls attention to these issues through social media. One of the organization’s young activists did a live broadcast about teenage pregnancy on the Kenya Broadcasting Company!

Despite the logistical and health difficulties resulting from Covid-19, in 2020, Project KIBE reached 773 adolescent and young people with its educational programs, community youth villages, community dialogue, international days, policymakers meeting, and The Girl Summit event. The most recent event was an SRHR training for “champions,” adolescent stakeholders who advocate for, and educate their peers about, these issues. The April event attracted 25 Champions, who learned about SRHR practicalities and advocacy.

Learn more about SYO in this Q&A!

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Stretchers Youth Organization SRHR Champion engaging in a one-on-one session with a fellow young person on the correct use of condoms in a village in Mombasa County.

Improving health, leveraging young voices: Q&A with Stretchers Youth Organization

Through our Global Partners program, Population Connection supports a growing number of grassroots organizations around the world working to increase access to education, public health and family planning services. Their…

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