Results related to the intended outcome 2017
Question: Summarize results related to the intended outcome (this information will be sent to Open Aid)Answer: A number of notable results were achieved in the reporting period in pursuit of the overall goal of improved health and well-being of girls, adolescents and young women in more equitable and inclusive systems for health. A total of 147,251 young people aged 15-24 accessed youth-friendly services (including information) offered through SAT support, exceeding the year's exceeding target of 10,000.
Ending child marriage is one of the areas SAT identified as a way of contributing to an improved environment where women and girls can realise their rights and wellbeing. At country level, 37% of SAT communities had implemented plans on eliminating early marriage, compared with the target of 30%. This was achieved through working with traditional leaders,by promulgating protective by-laws and by mitigating girls leaving school, among others. In Malawi, for example, over 85% of traditional leaders in SAT communities have developed by-laws to end child marriages.In Zimbabwe a community referral system was designed with the help of child care workers so that any child marriage is reported to local leadership and SAT partners conducted community awareness in support of this measure.
At regional level, SAT worked with principals, teachers, CBOs and pupils to develop school plans and materials in two areas: tracking school retention through pupil wellness tracking, and tracking school re-admissions. By the end of the year under review, SAT and its partners had worked with 396 schools (compared with the targeted 60 schools) in implementing the re-admission programme.
In supporting menstrual health, SAT partners in 18 communities provided some 5,827 girls with over 25,000 re-usable sanitary pads. The production of sanitary pads has contributed to ensuring that girls and young women (10-24) have increased access to affordable pads. In the period under review, SAT secured the intellectual property rights to manufacture re-usable sanitary pads in Zimbabwe has since applied for certification by the International Standards Organisation. In Malawi SAT procured 9 sewing machines and is in the process of training 15 people in two communities to produce re-usable sanitary pads. Youth hubs were established within SAT offices in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe as well as at the SAT regional office. Substantial activity took place in the hubs (one receiving up to 50 young visitors a day), but alignment between the hubs, and message quality have arisen as issues to be addressed urgently in the new year.
Challenges encountered in the reporting period include increasingly hostile operating environments for LGBTI programming e.g.Tanzania and the persistent service-delivery level barriers that limit access to SRHR services for young people in the region. In addition, efforts to engage SADC on CSO collaboration were unsuccessful.
