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SAYWHAT
5th National Students Conference
Students and Youth Working on Reproductive Health Action Team
(SAYWHAT)
December 02, 2010
The
Students And Youths Working on reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT),
is this year hosting its 5th National Students Conference on SRH.
The conference which is running under the theme "Rights, Right
into the decade", will see 75 students from 35 tertiary institutions
in Zimbabwe converging at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Harare on the 12th
-15th of December 2010.
The conference's
theme "Rights, Right into the decade" reaffirms the
need to put more focus on students Sexual and reproductive health
rights in the coming decade. A right based approach to programming
for students in tertiary will be essential in averting the challenges
they currently face. It is essential through this platform to interrogate
how the right to health remains a key element in addressing the
Sexual and reproductive health concerns of students.
The SAYWHAT
National students' Conference on SRH has over the years become
a major conference in Zimbabwe which provides students from various
colleges in Zimbabwe a platform to share experiences, interrogate
sexual and reproductive health interventions and policies for students
and set priorities for future programming. The conference among
other things aims to capacitate students on approaches and skills
that can enhance their participation in crafting SRH responses within
tertiary institutions.
The annual conference
shall draw expertise from various stakeholders such as ZNFPC, UNFPA,
PSI, SAfAIDS,
ZLHR,
and ZWRCN
who are some of the key players in SRH programming in Zimbabwe.
A regional delegation of students from University of KwaZulu Natal,
University of Pretoria, Catholic University of Mozambique and University
of Zambia shall attend the conference for experiences sharing and
fostering of regional networks that seeks to establish a regional
agenda on SRH.
Students'
access to and enjoyment of sexual and reproductive health continue
to be threatened by unavailability or unaffordability of accommodation
within colleges, limited or no budget for students' health,
limited capacity for colleges to offer essential reproductive health
services such as management and treatment of STI's among other
things. It is such critical issues that the conference seeks to
interrogate and propose strategies around.
The conference
will engage the policy makers, stakeholders, college authorities
and students in addressing students SRH concerns and identifying
actions and plans that avert the vulnerability of students in tertiary
institutions.
The conference
will have key presentations on the state of SRH for young people,
capacity building sessions on key aspects on SRH responses and policy
and strategy dialogue sessions that shall unpack relevant and important
policies and strategies around SRH responses.
As a key outcome
the conference shall compile a position paper that speaks to the
students' position over issues that should assume center stage
for SRH responses in the coming decade.
The conference
will honor some students that have made outstanding contributions
to the SRH cause in tertiary institutions. For the first time there
shall be some parallel satellite session that shall be lead by a
panel of students on:
- "Entering
colleges as Virgins and exiting as Victims": The Big sister,
young Sister dialogue on averting vulnerability for female students
- 'It
is a men's issue too: Male student's Participation
in SRHR programs within institutions'
Visit the SAYWHAT
fact
sheet
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