Tshwane Youth Indaba: A Youth-Led Accountability Commitment for SRHR in the SADC Region
At a three-day Youth Indaba in Pretoria, 60 young parliamentarians, advocates and researchers from 16 SADC countries — Mulika Tanzania among them — met to discuss how to hold governments accountable for commitments on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), HIV and gender equality.
The gathering noted that roughly three-quarters of the SADC region’s population is under 35, yet young people continue to face restrictive laws, under-funded services and weak oversight mechanisms — with 1 in 10 adolescent girls experiencing pregnancy and nearly a third of new HIV infections occurring among young women aged 15–24.
Delegates signed a joint commitment to strengthen youth-led accountability: building evidence-based advocacy, partnering with young MPs to push for domesticated SRHR policy and budget lines, and expanding youth representation within SADC parliamentary structures — grounding the commitment in the African Youth Charter and the SADC SRHR Strategy 2019–2030.
The organisation that strives to put young people and the marginalized community at the center of development and decision-making processes.
