Power to You(th)

The project uses a holistic approach in an effort to create lasting change. It achieves this by actively involving young people by emphasising meaningful and inclusive youth participation (MIYP) and by employing a gender-transformative approach (GTA) (developed by consortium members Rutgers and Sonke Gender Justice) that challenges traditional views on gender. MIYP, promoted by consortium partner Choice for Youth & Sexuality, means that young people work in all stages of decision-making in organisations and can participate on equal terms with adults at a number of levels or, alternatively, work independently from adults and make decisions solely with the involvement of youth voices.

The theory of change of Power to You(th) is based on four key outcomes:

1. Young people demand accountability and responsiveness on harmful practices, SGBV, and unintended pregnancies.
2. CSOs amplify young people's voices to claim, protect, and expand civic space.
3. Societal actors support and promote youth rights and progressive social norms.
4. State actors improve policymaking, budgeting, and implementation at the local, national, regional, and global levels on harmful practices, SGBV, and unintended pregnancies.

The programme's strategies to achieve the above outcomes include:

• Empowering youth-led organisations: The programme works to invest in the capacity and leadership of youth-led organisations, enabling them to drive impactful change within their communities.
• Advocating for civic space: The programme works to create and maintain civic spaces where CSOs can advocate for accountability and transparency, holding state actors responsible for their duties in policy development and implementation around SRHR.
• Collaborating with social actors and cultural leaders: Recognising the importance of cultural context, the project collaborates with social actors and cultural leaders to foster positive social norm change, promoting equality and empowerment.

In its strategy development and implementation, the consortium strives to foster ownership at the country level, with locally formed coalitions and representation of beneficiaries (young women and girls) in its governance. Consortium partners offer technical support and funding depending on their area of expertise and presence within a country.

Activities undertaken by Power to You(th) to amplify youth voices and empower young people and to increase the capacity of CSOs to represent underserved communities and expand civic space include:

• Employing creative methods such as photovoice, participatory video, and/or documentary making to give young people a voice. Programmes are also applying traditional tools, such as surveys, and innovative tools, such as polls using mobile technology and interactive games, to engage with young people.
• Using tried and tested self-assessment tools that will help CSOs to analyse their general organisational capacity and their capacity for lobbying and advocacy. These tools include those related to assessing MYPE and the GTA. CSOs are also developing action plans through SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis and receive capacity strengthening on outcome harvesting (OH).
• Measuring and monitoring changes in social norms through national/regional opinion polls, community-level panels that provide real-time responses to polling questions, and/or community-level participatory social norm assessment tools.
• Mapping and tracking key legislation and budget arrangements using context analysis and budget tracking methods, supplemented by key informant interviews to gain insight from resisting and supportive actors.
• Embracing digitisation and innovation to improve planning, monitoring, evaluation, learning and research (PMELR) processes and extract real-time data and insights to improve programme outcomes, respond to contextual changes, and inform the programme's lobbying and advocacy.

The following are some examples of country activities undertaken by CSOs that have been supported by the Power to You(th) consortium:

• In Uganda, the programme is working with the Uganda Youth and Adolescents Health Forum to train youth advocates in the use of community score cards (CSC) as a tool to improve the district's adolescent health indicators. These scorecards are used to hold duty bearers and various stakeholders, including health care service providers, accountable and to practically lead the process of developing realistic solutions to the sexual and reproductive health (SRH), education, and community challenges identified during the process.
• In Kenya, the programme is supporting Husika Dada, an advocacy platform for young women and girls, both in and out of school. The members of Husika Dada participate in sessions to discuss issues affecting them and to develop solutions, which they then advocate for within healthcare systems, agriculture systems, and community structures. Husika Dada also provides training opportunities around advocacy and media, as well as leadership training.
• In Ethiopia, one of the programmes supported by Power to You(th) is the Empowerment of Girls as Advocates programme. The primary focus of this programme is to raise awareness about GBV and drive a transformative shift in societal norms within Ethiopia. Central to the programme are the training sessions designed to support discussions around existing societal norms related to GBV and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). These sessions offer varying modules tailored for teaching advocacy and empowering young women to participate in platforms where they can interact with decision-makers.
• In Indonesia, the programme launched the Small Grants Initiative (SGI), which provides support and resources to individuals, groups, and organisations, enabling them to conduct research and initiatives focused on issues affecting adolescent girls and young women. The outcomes, including policy briefs, infographics, and educational videos, have been disseminated within intervention areas, promoting improvements in communities and providing increased opportunities for informal CSOs and youth groups.

For more information, visit the Power to You(th) website.

KIT conducted baseline studies ("Young People's Perspectives and Decision-making Regarding Harmful Practices, Sexual and Gender-based Violence and Unintended Pregnancy") in all seven countries, which can be accessed here.