SMART Advocacy: Strengthening Nigerian Youths’ Participation in Advocating for Their Own Sexual Reproductive Health

People smiling

School girls from Knosk School in Kuje Area Council of FCT received an orientation on how to use the AFP SMART Approach to advocate for change. Photo credit: Rain Vedutti Photography.

Your investment is pivotal in helping Pathfinder advocate for reproductive freedom for youth around the globe. In Nigeria, less than 10% of unmarried sexually active or married women age 15-24 use a modern method of contraception, and pronounced disparities exist among urban and rural women in early marriage, early childbearing and first contraceptive use.

Pathfinder works with young people to lead adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health (AYSRH) decision making in Nigeria by training them on developing advocacy strategy using the Advance Family Planning SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reliable, and Time-bound) tool to increase budgets and develop better reproductive health policies at the local, state and national levels.

Pathfinder’s SMART advocacy boot camp unpacks health and human rights barriers, while focusing on AYSRH and raising their awareness about Nigeria’s laws and policies and the gaps existing within them. The initiative also looks at ways to improve policies, raise funds and build implementation capacity.

SMART advocacy trainings are effective, focusing on actions that have the highest impact in the near term. It then connects these “quick wins,” involving increased funding, policy change or raising visibility about factors that fuel the continuing cycle of poor reproductive health outcomes, with long-term goals.

AYSRH state funding and policy change wins have already been made. Pathfinder’s SMART trainings with young people in Nigeria resulted in the Nasarawa state government, for the first time, creating a budget line for AYSRH with a dedicated first year sum of $5 million naira in 2021.

Pathfinder will continue partnering with and empowering young people to lead advocacy efforts to garner more government support for their health issues.

Your investment is pivotal to the youth around the globe whose reproductive freedom Pathfinder advocates for. Contact Fran Cifrino at fcifrino@pathfinder.org or 617-924-7200 to learn how your legacy could impact them, far into the future.