When you are a teenager in Côte d'Ivoire and want reliable informationabout your body, sexuality, and reproductive health,who can you turn to?
It is to answer this question and better understand the realities experienced by young Ivorians that the project Ma Réalité project was created.
The urgent need to act to prevent risky behavior
We already know that young people do not always have access to the sexual and reproductive health information or services they need. A few statistics illustrate this point:
- Adolescents and young people aged 10 to 24 represented more than one-third of the Ivorian population;
- 30% of young people aged 15-24 were sexually active;
- Only 7% of married or cohabiting teenage girls or young women aged 15-19 used a modern method of contraception, and only 11.5% of those aged 20-24.
Gaining a better understanding of the reality of young people's lives...
What would be the barriers that would prevent adolescents from using health centers to access information or services, or from referring to their parents or school health workers on SRH issues?
To gain a clearer picture, the project developed a qualitative and quantitative survey methodology, collecting more than 50 testimonials from interviews with young people in Abidjan, as well as a social audit of satisfaction carried out by young evaluators among approximately 450 adolescent users of health centers in the Abijdan district.
These data initially showed consistent difficulties in the reception young people by health workers, often reflected in feelings of humiliation, shame, or rejection, especially for adolescent girls.
As I was already sexually active, I approached the midwife, with great hesitation, to ask for advice. But she replied loudly, in front of everyone: "Are you in it too?" Humiliated, I left the room (...). I would have liked these health workers to have taken into account my rights to access SRH/FP by giving me the information I needed at that moment to help me make better decisions.
Secondly, a lack of "frank and caring" communication on these often taboo subjects, especially within families or at school, often with very harmful consequences for young people and their future.
I couldn't tell you exactly how many times I had abortions, until one day, after one of them, I bled heavily. The doctor told me that the abortions I had had damaged my womb and that as a result I would never be able to have children. I was only 20 when I received this bad news. I could have avoided this if I had received comprehensive sex education earlier.
Finally, many of the testimonies referred to violence or sexual assault experienced by young people, especially young girls, who did not know how to deal with these situations or where to turn to stop their attackers.
… To better shape the responses of parents, health workers, and the government
From the testimonials collected, the Ma Réalité project selected eleven to feature on a "poster wall": texts illustrated and transformed into giant posters, displayed at CSO events on SSR in Côte d'Ivoire, and shared in PDF format on social media.
Also with the aim of sharing and recognizing these realities, other testimonials have been developed into five short films, intended to challenge communities and political decision-makers on the need to bring about change.
Using these visual and audio products, the Ma Réalité project has built an advocacy platform. Like many other countries, Côte d'Ivoire has made international and national commitments to improve access to contraception and reduce morbidity and mortality related to sexual and reproductive health. To highlight these commitments and the urgent need for action, the project assessed the progress made on these commitments and launched a petition calling on policymakers to keep their promises and listen to the realities of young Ivorians.
Get the government to take action by empowering young people!
This project, led by AFJCI, APASU, and MESSI, was designed with the aim of empowering young people themselves. Young people themselves recount their experiences and have been trained in the use of a tool known as a "scorecard" to evaluate the services and information received by adolescents in their health centers.
Young people who are informed about their rights, who can express themselves about their realities, who can evaluate the welcome and information they have received, and who can see the impact of their participation on the project and the attention paid by the government and health providers to their views: this objective is at the heart of the Ma Réalité project, as an end in itself and an essential step in changing the situation of adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Côte d'Ivoire.
