The Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (AYSRHR) space is truly an inspirational field, full of passionate individuals who seek to improve the lives of adolescents and young people everywhere. It is the space where I started my advocacy journey and shaped the future that I am living right now. It is a space that gave me a platform, raised my visibility, and allowed me to fight for the issues that affected me. However, as great as this space can be, it can do better for young people. The same space still faces many challenges of representation, power-sharing, and tokenism, to name a few. 

Since 2017, the Youth Investment, Engagement, and Leadership Development (YIELD) Project has engaged stakeholders and generated learning around solutions to improve youth partnership to advance Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

In addition to undertaking and promoting research that contributes to building the field of AYSRHR, the YIELD Project has cultivated a global community of stakeholders that is committed to improving and systematically integrating the practice of meaningful and inclusive youth partnership in AYSRHR at all levels.  

The YIELD Project is transitioning to the YIELD Collective Action Learning Hub to expand and deepen cross-stakeholder work to accelerate youth partnership in the AYSRHR field. Meaningful youth partnership initiatives are underway and a dedicated structure to catalyze change within and across stakeholder groups is necessary to ensure the institutions and the people within them continue to develop new, more effective ways of working.

I joined the YIELD Hub because we are aware of the issues related to the meaningful and inclusive partnership of adolescents and youth in the field. However, significant improvements are still pending to reach an area that works with youth and not for youth only. If you and your organization are interested in improving the field of AYSRHR and youth partnership, I encourage you to follow our work and get involved as opportunities arise, we look forward to working with you!

Sincerely,

David Imbago

YIELD Hub Manager