Youth Debate on abortion, 28 September 2007
Youth Incentives, Rutgers Nisso Groep, MYBODY, CHOICE, WGNRR, Hivos and Share-net organised a debate on abortion for young people on 28 September 2007 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The debate had a double aim: increasing young people's knowledge about the issue and instigating a debate. It also aimed at appealing to the politicians to safeguard safe and accessible abortions worldwide for every one. Please read more.....
Discuss and dance for a good cause, 24 August 2007
Youth Incentives participated in a debate on the epidemic of hiv/aids in China. The debate took place at The Balie in Amsterdam. Please click here for more information.
Spotlight on women’s sexual empowerment, 8 March 2007
On International Women’s Day – 8 March – the House of Representatives received a petition in which we asked special attention for the global inequality between men and women, especially with regard to sexuality. Youth Incentives, the international programme of Rutgers Nisso Groep, is the initiator of this scheme. The Netherlands has taken it upon them to protect women worldwide by launching international schemes focussing on the ‘empowerment’ of women. Read more in the press release....
International expert meeting, 7 and 8 December 2006
International experts from all over the world and from different organisations visited Youth Incentives to advise them on themes related to our work. The international expert meeting is annually organised and gives us the opportunity to discuss the present international trends and consult the experts about selected topics. This year's topic dealt with partnership. For this expert meeting we invited representatives from VSO, Youth Action Movement, Family Planning Association of Bangladesh, and Siyakhula ( a youth organisation from South Africa that combines soccer with sexuality education) and the Worldbank. The discussions touched questions like 'What do we mean by equal partnership?', 'How do we build capacity with our partners to organise youth adult partnerships?'. We looked at Youth Incentives' present partnerships and discussed how we could enhance them. The expert meeting was very inspiring and helped us a lot in improving the quality of our work.
UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Education (IATT) Symposium, 6 November 2006
Youth Incentives attended the symposium Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS and SRHR in education: challenges in reality. The symposium in Amsterdam was organised by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in its capacity as a member of the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Education (IATT). Participants for the workshop were drawn from Dutch NGOs, some African Government organisations, International NGOs, bilateral and multilateral donor organisations.
Several papers were presented on HIV/AIDS mainstreaming in education activities and the lessons learned. Youth Incentives, as one of the Dutch NGOs, had a stand at the Information Market and was able to show case its products and give information on its work.
Two of the major problems identified during the IATT symposium are the lack of participatory teaching methodologies and skills for teachers, and lack of suitable training manuals for teachers to use. Youth Incentives has the relevant expertise in these areas and can provide technical assistance, together with its partners, to develop relevant materials and build teachers capacity to use them.
Training Youth Coalition on safe abortion, 19 - 21 October 2006
In January 2006 Youth Coalition asked Youth Incentives to set up a training course on ‘how to talk about safe abortion’. A a three-days training for eight new members of Youth Coalition was organized in order to improve their facilitation and advocacy skills and their understanding of safe abortion. The training was held 19 – 21 October 2006, in the Kargadoor, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
The training combined theory and practise. Youth Incentives chose to show participants how the Netherlands deals with safe abortion, instead of merely focussing on argumentation, so the participants could learn to express their own views and to depend on their own considerations.
A crash course on advocacy and facilitation and a visit to the Dutch abortion clinic Mildred House in Arnhem were also included in the training. The members of Youth Coalition were enthusiastic and made great contributions to the training by providing feedback and explaining the situations in their respective countries.
Lunch meeting with Council members of Earth Charter Network, 3 October 2006
Youth Incentives was invited to a lunch meeting with council members of Earth Charter Network. The advocacy officer of Youth Incentives, Ms. T. Bronner, joined this meeting. After lunch various youth (serving) organisations were invited to give a presentation on their work with young people related to the Earth Charter Initiative. Ms Bronner spoke about the linkages between Earth Charter principle 7, that calls for the ‘adoption of patterns of production, consumption and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights and community well being’ and the Plan of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. She also addressed the need to be non-judgemental towards young people’s sexuality, in order to address and combat sexual violence: “Only in a world where sexual and reproductive rights are respected, we can create sustainable livelihoods and build towards an equitable future.”
Study Tour for Youth, Utrecht, 8-10 March 2006
Fourteen participants from different countries (Bangladesh, Malawi, Mali, Russia, Rwanda, Slovakia, Tanzania and Turkey) participated in a study tour in Utrecht, The Netherlands. This study tour, organised by Youth Incentives, took place immediately after the international conference 'What About Sex?'.
The specific objectives of the study tour were to:
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give participants an understanding of the evolution of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Netherlands;
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introduce the participants to what the RAP-rule means in practice;
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identify practical actions for partnership and youth participation in sexual and reproductive health and rights programmes;
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give the participants an insight into projects and programmes with a participatory approach;
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give participants an opportunity to enlarged their own networks;
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set up an International Advisory Group
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start up on the building of the website www.RAP-rule.org
The study tour was designed to be very participatory allowing participants to exchange views with each other, ask as many questions as they wanted and have room for in depth discussions on issues of their interest. Participants agreed afterwards that the study tour had been a great eye-opener for them and that they were very interested in keeping in touch as an international group of young people working on (inter)national projects geared towards increasing youth participation.
Lecture in Amsterdam, 6 December 2005
At the Vrije Universiteit (Free University) in Amsterdam Youth Incentives was involved in the modules on Sexuality and Health 2005-2006 to present a lecture on Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Netherlands.
Youth Incentives and World AIDS Day, 1 December 2005
The ninth Dutch National Congress STI/HIV/AIDS was organized on the 1st December
2005 at the Congress Centre (RAI) in Amsterdam. In total 900 participants were present. Youth Incentives was present with a stand and in the afternoon it facilitated a workshop on the RAP tool entitled: Let RAP rule! Sexual and reproductive rights of young people. About 30 people, adults and youth, participated in the workshop which was held in the afternoon. Participants were very enthusiastic about the way Youth Incentives together with its partners developed and tested the RAP-tool in the four countries participating in the Youth Incentives Fund. The difficulty of talking openly about sexuality in different cultural situations was discussed with and among the workshop participants. For interested participants the RAP tool was handed out and at the end, cards were exchanged and new contacts were made.
Meeting with the Eastern Europe Women's Group, 23 November 2005
Youth Incentives met the Eastern Europe womens' group at the end of 2005. This group started to be active in the Non-Governmental-Organisation-network, an initiative during the Dutch EU chair to put reproductive health on the agenda. The group lives in Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and has Pskov (Russia) as a twinning city. The International Women's Centre in Arnhem is also involved. At the moment they are developing their aims and strategy. Therefor they visited Youth Incentives/ Rutgers Nisso Groep to hear about their existing projects. Exchange of experiences and sharing of opinions took place.
Sexuality education: a essential part of prevention strategies, November 17, 2005
Rutgers Nisso Groep and International Planned Parenthood Federation invited Dutch parliamentarians, UN Family Planning Association, StopAidsNow! and other representatives of civil society to discuss the importance of the integration of sexual and reproductive health services into HIV/AIDS programmes and how this can be implemented. In a breakfast meeting on November 17, 2005 special attention was given to the role of sexuality education.
Aids and Reproductive Health: everybody’s business, October 25-28, 2005
Youth Incentives participated in this conference, organised by the Dutch Ministery of Foreign Affairs (DGIS/VR). The conference took place in the Netherlands and the aim was to update Dutch representatives of embassies on the topic Aids and Reproductive Health, Everybody’s business. Youth Incentives presented the experiences with the RAP-rule in developing countries. The topic for discussion concentrated on how to put sexuality on the agenda. Even within embassies sexuality is a non-issue that requires a better understanding in order to deal with the programmes on HIV, AIDS and Sexual and Reproductive Health. Youth Incentives can play an important role in training (embassy) personnel on discussing sexuality.
Seminar on International Development and NGOs, October 18, 2005
Youth Incentives attended a seminar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands. The title of the seminar was Fast Forward: International Development and Non Governemental Organisations (NGOs) beyond the Millennium + 10. Mr. Paul Bekkers, the Director Social and Institutional Development and AIDS ambassador, and Dr. Alan Fowler from South Africa were the main speakers. Participants' working groups were also formed, each tasked to deliberate on a particular question and to give feed back in a plenary session. The group debates and feedbacks were very interesting as they brought the issues of relationships between northern and southern NGOs and its implications for the ability of southern NGOs to function effectively, vis- a-vis DGIS's current development frameworks and NGO financing rules.
A Healthy 2015!, October 12, 2005
Youth Incentives attended a congress at the Dutch Royal Tropical Institute on October 12th, 2005. The theme of the congress was: 'A Healthy 2015! How practical is A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals?'. It explored the central question: 'What can we do practically to achieve the Millennium goals for healthcare?'.
Four papers were presented under two sub-themes: the first was 'Millennium Development Goals: Where are we now?' and the second was 'Bottom-up views on the Millenium Development Goals'.
Youth Incentives invites young people to discuss the work plans for 2006, September 8, 2005
Sixteen Dutch young persons gathered at Rutgers Nisso Groep in the Netherlands, to discuss the work plans for 2006 on September 8, 2005. All the youngsters are members with organisations that are active in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights. After introducing each other, the objectives of the organisation were presented and than the framework for 2006. After a short break the group was divided into two groups. The first group discussed the national plans for Rutgers Nisso Groep and the second group discussed the plans for Youth Incentives. Some interesting project proposals came out of the discussions. The young people strongly emphasised on the importance of the role of the local NGOs, the embassies and the community leaders. They also stressed that parents and teachers have to be included in programmes targeting young people. Youth Incentives is currently reviewing how these thoughts can be integrated into real projects and programmes.
Understanding and managing Reproductive Health: 'the Dutch Approach', August 22 - September 9, 2005
The Institute of Social Studies (ISS) organised this short certificate course in collaboration with Youth Incentives, World Population Foundation and Netherlands School of Occupational Health. The course took place in the Netherlands.
The contribution of Youth Incentives in this course consisted of a one-day workshop on 'Young people and sexuality'. Youth Incentives had invited their partners in the south to take part in the course, but due to limited time and to difficulties of obtaining a visa only one member of a Youth Organisation from Tanzania was able to come. Eventually only ten participants were able to attend the course. The low number was disappointing, but it gave room for active participation and created space for in-depth discussion.
The last day of the course the participants gave their final presentation. The students were given total freedom to organise the morning, to show the teachers their learning experiences and how to move forward. Instead of listening to ten individual presentations, the students had decided to present their experiences through a role-play around the issue of teenage pregnancy. What was so striking was the way the participants demonstrated their increased understanding of the issues, the complex interaction between structure, culture, poverty and morality, which they picked up in the course. After the presentation feedback was given by the teachers.
The course was evaluated very well. The independent evaluators from ISS were so enthusiastic that they immediately informed the Dean, who personally came to hand out the certificates.
