The Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) is mechanism that was set up in 2020 by C4PD to strengthen the Sub County work in SRHR. Muhoroni Sub County has a wide range of SRHR issues that need to be addressed collectively by the Sub County’s many stakeholders, particularly young people and adolescents. The project was established to address these issues and allow partners to coordinate their support for SRHR in the Sub County. In October 2020 C4PD secured funding from the Swedish Embassy in Nairobi through Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and its SRHR team to enable the Fund to expand the breadth and focus of its work. SRHR issues for adolescents and young adults from a youth perspective and applied a gender lens to the research call to identify specific challenges linked to gender inequalities and differences. The program helped identify and up-skill young researchers.

Our approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights is based on a human rights perspective that includes access to safe abortion and contraceptives, reproductive and sexual health services and sex education. Limiting access to SRHR therefore means a violation of human rights.

In itself, SRHR constitutes a sensitive issue in most communities, especially in low income communities where sexual and reproductive rights are often denied or politicised by political and religious leaders. However, C4PD consciously chooses to work in areas within the field of SRHR that promotes:

• Access to and acceptance of safe abortion
• Combating sexual and domestic violence
• Enhancing the sexual rights and health of marginalised groups, such as sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM), lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual, Intersexual people (LGBTI), people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV), single women and young people
• Promoting comprehensive sexuality education for young people

This is because we believe adequate knowledge of and access to SRHR will directly contribute to reducing the number of maternal deaths and deaths and injuries from unsafe abortions, and the percentage of people with sexually transmitted disease, such as HIV/AIDS. We are actively engaged in integrated programmes that link HIV/AIDS issues, gender-based violence, poverty and sexual and reproductive rights.

Strategies C4PD uses include joint policy advocacy to influence legislation and policies at sub county level, capacity development of (grassroots) organisations, networking, and development and dissemination of expert knowledge.  

The approach had an understanding that this was to contribute to increased adolescent and youth capacity, participation and leadership within the Adolescent, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (ASRHR) field and broader SRHR discourse.

This is because we believe adequate knowledge of and access to SRHR will directly contribute to reducing the number of maternal deaths and deaths and injuries from unsafe abortions, and the percentage of people with sexually transmitted disease, such as HIV/AIDS. So we are actively engaged in integrated programmes that link HIV/Aids issues, gender-based violence, poverty and sexual and reproductive rights.

Strategies C4PD uses include joint policy advocacy to influence legislation and policies at national and international level, capacity development of (grassroots) organisations, networking, and development and dissemination of expert knowledge.  

C4PD supports and works closely with communities that dare to stand up for the rights of groups who experience constant social discrimination, marginalisation and who are sometimes even considered outlaws under national legislation.

An important C4PD partner in the area of SRHR is NACC, NASCOP, WOFAK. The organisation aims to prevent unsafe abortions by providing access to sexual and reproductive health services to promoting the youth friendly health facilities.

Through our partners C4PD works to ensure that Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) can obtain safe, respectful and comprehensive abortion care, including counselling and contraception to prevent future unintended pregnancies.   

C4PD supports the community networking hub to share information, facilitate networking and coordinate advocacy campaigns/action to realise SRHR) for all in Muhoroni Sub County. It brings together organisations and individuals working on SRHR across Muhoroni sub County, and beyond. It complements, promotes and strengthens existing networks and knowledge management platforms and provides a meeting point at the intersection of HIV/AIDS, health and well-being, and economic, social and cultural rights.

Our SRHR activities have a strong relation to our other themes and programmes, such as Women’s Empowerment, HIV and Human Rights, Voice and LGBT Rights, and always seek to identify interconnections and opportunities to collaborate. A good example of interconnected activities is C4PDs’ wome@work campaign, which addresses women’s rights in the Sugar cane industry and advocates for decent work, while combating sexual harassment of women in the workplace.

We deal with the Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) especially for early marriages, teenage pregnancies, prevention of HIV infections, treatment with ARVs, teenage FP counselling and promoting Teenage Health friendly facilities within Muhoroni District. We also help Widows to start livelihoods, currently we have banana and poutry project for livelihood improvement.

The prevalence of teenage pregnancy in Muhoroni sub County is the highest in the Kisumu County, same to Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV).

We usually participate in international days like the International Youth Day, commemorated annually on the 12th of August and other national days relevant to our members like the soon coming international contraception day.

We are currently hoping to work with 10 secondary Schools (Koru girls, Muhoroni Mixed, Mnara Secondary, Achego Girls, Songhor secondary, Oginga Odinga, Got Abuoro, Thesalia secondary, Chemelil academy) and 42 primary schools.

We will be able to rehabilitate 3981 girls to get back to school after teenage pregnancy. We will target to reach over 23,000 girls with Family Planning messages and products and Sexual and Gender Based violence counselling.

We are in the process of working with women to enable them inherit land from their parents as well as husbands as their human right and women right. We will rehabilitate fishponds that were developed through the government Economic Stimulus Package (SP) in 2011 and allow women to run them instead of their husbands. Nearly 95% of this fishponds never went beyond the first fish culture.

Project activities

Coordination of key actors

Hosting meetings of the Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW),

Building capacity and sharing information on advocacy and related SRHR issues program’s attempts to Strengthen the efforts of civil society organizations (CSOs) working on SRHR in the Muhoroni;

Youth researchers gather and use data and information to better understand important ASRHR.

Provision of Family planning methods

Provision of reusable sanitary pads