YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD STORMS PRINCIPAL STREETS OF ACCRA
It was fun, educational and very engaging as MSIG’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB) stormed some principal streets of Accra to promote Family Planning, especially the uptake of Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARCs) among 15 – 19 year olds.
The 6-7 hours event aimed to provide Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) information and also create publicity for the Dansoman Centre and its readiness to provide quality and affordable Family Planning services to the general public, but more especially to sexually active adolescents and young people.
On the morning of Saturday 25th August, 2018, a truck fully branded with MSIG’s LARC banner hit the road with sound systems amidst music and dancing to grab attention and deliver our message to the public. The YAB team was supported by MSIG’s Marketing Coordinator, Client Activation Officer for South-eastern, the Youth Project Assistant, and Community Mobilisers from Willows International, our R3M partner.  The team also secured police escort from the Dansoman Police Station for the event, which saw the truck move through the principal streets of Dansoman, Mamprobi, Bukom and Jamestown, where the 2018 ‘Charle Wote’ Festival was on-going. The team took advantage of the festival to educate the crowd on modern contraception and other reproductive health issues.
On the ground, the team engaged both young and old on one-on-one, and small groups on the need to engage in protected sex to prevent unintended pregnancies and STIs. For girls and women who already had children, the need to use modern contraception to space births to improve both maternal and child health was emphasised. The team gave also out Marie Call cards to the audience and encouraged them to call the contact line for support  whenever they needed. The team distributed more than a thousand condoms, fliers and call cards. These are expected to translate into increased call volumes to Marie Call from those parts of the city. The Dansoman centre is also expected to receive high client patronage, particularly adolescents as an aftermath of this street carnival, in the coming weeks and months.  The float formed part of the YAB’s annual plan of action for 2018.
Float in pictures…
Figure 1: The Branded Truck on tour

Figure 2: YAB member engaging a group of young women

Figure 3: YAB in “work and happiness mood”

Credit: MSIG Youth Advisory Board


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