Equipop is a partner in the EDUCASSO project, led by RAES, which aims to contribute to the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education in Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire by March 2020.
In both countries, considerable progress has been made: a roadmap for comprehensive sexuality education exists, and the law on reproductive health is in the process of being revised. The task now is to strengthen the capacities of stakeholders in order to establish a concrete advocacy action plan.
To this end, two coalitions have been created in each country. They are led in Guinea by AGBEF and the PROSMI Foundation, and in Côte d'Ivoire by MESSI and AFJCI. These coalitions also bring together:
- the main ministries concerned,
- parent-teacher associations,
- United Nations agencies involved in the process,
- family planning CSOs,
- religious leaders,
- and young ambassadors for reproductive health.
Equipop is involved in the project to train coalitions of actors in an advocacy approach that has already proven its worth in family planning, AFP SMART. In each country, a week of training is needed to review all the steps required to jointly develop a relevant and effective advocacy strategy for decision-makers.
In Guinea, after a week of training, the goal is to convince the Minister of National Education and Literacy to initiate a joint decree for the establishment of a technical working group for the integration of comprehensive sexuality education into school curricula by July 2019.
It is up to the coalition to advocate effectively for him to commit to laying the groundwork for the introduction of ECS in Guinea!
