We are not just “Participants at conferences” but “co-shapers of conference” agenda.

Girls reflect on their participation at the 2022 Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights (ACSHR)

“It was such a joy taking part at the Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights (ACSHR), which began some two decades back, just when I was two years old”, says 21-year-old Sandra ENIH, a MIFALI movement actor and Wfac Volunteer; “as a young girl who has now grown to become a young woman, I had no idea something like this was happening on the continent until when I joined Women for a Change who opened such doors of opportunities to many of us girls.”

In June 2022, Women for a Change delegated four girls to participate at the 10th ACSHR in Monrovia, Sierra Leone, between June 27 – July 1, 2022. Many of the girls were attending such strategic meetings out of the country for the first time. To Wfac, this was a crucial moment for the organization’s work in creating and facilitating the participation of young women’s rights activists in witnessing and being part of discussions on their rights. Nancy Makeoh Mafor, Ngimou Victorine, and Sandra Enih constituted the delegation. Each of them brought in unique skills and lived experiences related to the issue of discussion at the conference.

According to Nancy MAKEOH, the ACSHR allowed her to share stories and her collective journey in advocating for women’s rights. The event also served as an amplifier where feminists could connect and build strong alliances and networks working on the same and similar issues across the Continent. For Nancy further explained: “We can’t be talking about SRHR, which is particular to women and girls, without meaningful involvement of the women and girls from the grassroots level. We are not just conference participants but co-shapers of conference agendas”.

The event had a girls’ summit, which served as an orientation and preparatory session for adolescent girls who were invited, for them to know how to better engage in the youth as well as the main conference, especially as the majority of these adolescent girls were all attending for their first time such high-level event and following which was also the youth conference which together over 400 delegates, from more than 40 African countries. Like the girls’ summit, the youth conference was also an opportunity for all the young women and girls in the room to not just speak for themselves but for all young women and girls in the Continent and world at large, to share their stories and make their demands clear and straight.

Ngimou, 22, reflects on her experience, saying, “This is my first time participating in a space like this, and I think adolescent girls in Africa are more than capable of contributing meaningfully to the development of our continent if they’re engaged and taken seriously by our leaders”.

Recommendations by the youths and girls included conference organizers should apply an intersectional and intergenerational lens from designing to execution of the events. For funding agencies, long-lasting funding is needed for girls-led initiatives and movements.

Last but not least, meaningful commitment to ensuring women and girls access to quality SRHR services without the fear of being stigmatized or judged.

The Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights (ACSHR) is held every two years, and it seeks to bring together feminist activists, Governments officials, UN Agencies, development partners, and civil society from across the Continent to learn, connect and build consensus to end violence against women and girls on the African Continent and society at large. For its 10th edition, the theme looked at efforts in “Accelerating the Elimination of Sexual and gender-based violence in Africa”.

The conference had in total three parts: That’s – the Girl’s Summit, Youth, and Main Conference. It’s estimated that it brought together over 900 delegates, including young people and adolescents, and persons with disabilities across 45 African countries to Freetown to come to participate in the four days conference that was centered around deliberating on ways to eliminate sexual and gender-based violence in all its form on the African Continent. The 10th edition was co-convened by Purposeful and Action Health Incorporated.