THOSE THAT INSPIRE
The Youth advisory Board Members are excited to present to you an intriguing figure with a lot of inspiration as the personality to represent our usual "Those that inspire". He is a youth advocate and development enthusiast who has over the years been critical in advocating for access to sexual reproductive health and rights for young people. He previously chaired the Marie Stopes Ghana Youth Advisory Board where he amplified his advocacy for increased investment in youth sexual reproductive health and rights in Ghana and positioning young people at the core of sustainable development.
He has also served as the Chair of the Ghana Health Service Youth Advisory Board for the National Adolescent Health and Development Programme where he played critical roles leading the Ghana Health Service youth Advisory committee over a past two mandate.
He is an alumnus of the Kufuor Scholars Programme and currently serves as an Emerging Public Leaders Fellow with the Ministry of Finance. He is also the European Commission's Young Leader, 2019 which led to his participation in the 2019 European Development Days in Brussels, Belgium on "Addressing Inequalities and Building a World that leaves no one behind", where he was a panelist on the High Level Panel on Ensuring SRHR for all as a catalyst to addressing Inequalities. He was also part of the Council of Europe's Youth Delegation to the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg, France in 2019.
This time, we are bringing to you an exclusive interview with this gentleman who has SRHR issues as his topmost priority. Sit back. Relax and Enjoy……………..
YAB: What is your name please?
Guest: My name is Aaron Atimpe. My friends call me Aaron, yh.
YAB: How long have you been an advocate on SRHR issues?
Guest: Erhmmm……In many different ways, I have been an advocate for SRHR from a very early stage of my life. My advocacy at the frontline for SRHR issues however took shape from 2016 till date, and for the rest of my life going forward. It has become a lifetime commitment now.
YAB: What is and has been your inspiration to advocate on SRHR issues?
Guest: As a development enthusiast and one who grew up and schooled for the most part of my early education life in the village, SRHR issues have either stood clearly to me as the barriers to achieving development at the local level or to many people, especially young girls achieving their dreams and living up to their full potentials. Its impacts run through a lifetime and are even more critical at the early stages of growth. This understanding brought me to the realization that advocating for, and tackling SRHR issues is not a choice but a development imperative that needs the attention of all.
From a very personal level, I have sat in class with girls who were as brilliant or even more than I am, but whose dreams and aspirations have been cut short because they fell victims to foul SRHR choices. These and many other experiences inspire my advocacy for SRHR issues.
YAB: What are some of your greatest achievements since you started working on SRHR issues?
Guest: (giggles a little) For me, the greatest achievement in SRHR activities will be when all the SRHR issues especially of young people are given the needed attention and sustainably tackled. However, there have been very proud moments and accomplishments along my SRHR advocacy journey.
Firstly, it is very important to me, to mention that, the greatest platform ever I got as an advocate in this field, has been the privilege of serving on the maiden Marie Stopes Ghana (MSG) Youth Advisory Board as its Chair. This privilege exposed me to limitless opportunities and learnings, and for that, I am eternally grateful. In that regard, one of the very proudest moments for me as an SRHR advocate is when through the MSG Youth Advisory Board together with other Youth Groups, we pulled through, the first ever Youth SRHR Parliament that took place historically in the Parliament of Ghana. This event, no doubt, is the most successful youth SRHR event ever yet in Ghana and I am proud to have been a front liner in that historic moment not just for the very unique aura it generated, but for the impact it had in charting the path and igniting a youth led conversation for SRHR financing. It is my hope that this light that was lit on the conversation for SRHR financing will be sustained and not dimmed going forward
YAB: Does the SRHR advocacy work affect your social life? How are you combining both?
Guest: (giggles) As expected, in a very conservative and religious society like ours, the resistance and sometimes, stigma, is always going to come with this job. But it serves to remind me and other advocates of the enormity of the task we have. So yes, my social life has been affected as an advocate for SRHR, but I should say that, this influence is largely in the positive - enhancing my social life choices and in dealing with others, I can clearly gauge the limits to which I can go without having them tell me which lines not to cross.
This advocacy has become a part of me essentially, hence there is no challenge of how to combine that aspect of my life with others. Every step of it has been a learning process which I welcome.
YAB: What aspect of SRHR are you most passionate about and why?
Guest: I am most passionate about SRHR financing and youth participation in SRHR policy and programming. The reasons are very simple and natural.
First, SRHR financing because, all our advocacy and the excellent policies and programmes will come to naught without the necessary funding available.
Secondly, youth participation because, no one knows our issues and challenges than we do. And in the same regard, we have the best solutions to our problems, hence there is the need for us to be engaged not as passive agents at the receiving end, but as very active partners playing central roles in every step of the process from beginning to end.
YAB: Thank you very much Aaron Atimpe for your time with us.
Guest: Thank you
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