English - UNFPA Botswana

Reaching out to Young People Provision of
SRH in Mahalapye Youth Centre
Young people dialogues
on HIV and GBV at the
Mahalapye Youth Centre
The year 2012 saw the Mahalapye
adolescent and Environment Park
Youth centre carry out various activities
to reach out to young people with
Sexual & Reproductive Health (SRH)
information. These are some of the
activities the youth centre carried out:
About 70 young people from
Mahalapye and surrounding villages
gathered together to dialogue on HIV
and GBV. A lot of thought provoking
discussions were held on how young
people perceive GBV. It was worth
noting during the dialogues that while
young people acknowledge the
existence of GBV, a lot of cases go
unreported and service providers deter
survivors from reporting.
Participants of the ‘as we see it’ GBV
dialogue at the MahalapyeYouthCentre
One of the participants shared that ‘we
don’t report as men because, the
police officers laugh at us especially
when a man has been beaten by a
woman”. One participant added that
the response of the Police when a man
report their case; [“O ka betswa ke
mosadi, e le gore o monna o ntseng
jang; ke eng o sa e go mo ipeletsa”] -
“How can you be beaten by a woman,
what kind of a man are you? Go and
beat that woman!”
This was an exciting event that not only
brought young people to dialogue on
the wider SRH agenda but included
discussions on opportunities available
to young people on livelihoods. The
captivating presentations on accessing
funding for young people to start
businesses were done by the
Department of Youth, Local Enterprise
Authority (LEA) and Citizen
Entrepreneurial Development Agency
(CEDA).
ASRH Sessions
Contributions from parents during parent-youth
dialogue session
Different groups of young people
(young people living with HIV, YPLWHIV,
youth with disabilities people and
teenage mothers) participated in
outreach sessions focusing on SRH rights
and responsibilities. Specific sessions for
these groups focused among others on
benefits of finishing school and family
planning for teenage mothers during 6
consecutive sessions. For YLWHIV, the
sessions were substantive on living
positively. A total of 79 young people
(26 disabled, 22 teen mothers and 31
YLWHIV) were reached through the
empowerment sessions
Parent-youth dialogue session
Discussion between parents and their
children on sexuality matters is key to
ensuring that there is open and
effective communication on pertinent
issues that shape the future of young
people. The centre reached out to
parents and youth of Mookane and
Bonwapitse villages to disccuss on
sexuality and establishes whether there
is communication among these
groups. Through lively discussions, it
was evident that there is limited of any
discussion on SRH issues between
parents and their children. A follow up
session was organised to establish
whether parents were using skills learnt
from the session. During that session, a
significant number reported that they
are now comfortable and confident to
discuss sexuality issues with their
children, and expressed gratitude to
the dialogues on sexuality.
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