Blog

You may wonder why we are talking about the very end when we just began the summit. Well read on, we shall get to that.

There are many tools that come to play when we are advocating for any issues; media, like-minded individuals and organisations, policy makers, to mention but a few. To advocate effectively, we need to learn how to handle and utilize all these tools, right? Well, partially.

We need to know what advocacy actually is and that is what we did today. Let’s run it down for you

Media, Universal Health Coverage and the Youth

At the start of the day, we had sessions on media as a tool for advocacy. With interactive quizzes and contemporary examples, Reach A Hand’s Communications and Media Manager Waiswa Batambuze did a remarkable job in a very entertaining session. He was closely followed by Kezaabu Bridget from Uganda Youth and Adolescents Health Forum (UYAHF) who’s highlights on the progress of Universal Health Coverage shed light on what priorities our ambassadors should set for advocacy. The morning was wrapped up by the National Coordinator for the SRHR Alliance in Uganda, Charles Owekmeno who spoke about youth-led advocacy and becoming SMART Advocates.

Smaller Groups, More Detail

There is something lovely about working with smaller numbers of people. The message trickles down easier. Having done advocacy sessions at the macro level, we headed into breakaway sessions to make the topic easier to understand. The four groups talked about advocacy around policy, HIV prevention and marginalized young people. We were glad to be joined by Richard Lusimbo from SMUG who was the gel through the sessions.

Finally, the Very End

With the country entering advanced stages of Corona Virus control, we had to end the summit today (sheds a tear). Well, apart from missing our official closing ceremony and interactive panel, we covered the gist of what the summit was meant for so there is a silver lining. Our key asks were put together in a neat position paper which will be availed to the public for review.

And with that, we closed the 4^th edition of the Y Plus Summit and opened the Y+ campaign for 2020 which will come to an end with the Yplus Pageant Grand Finale. #YPlusSummit20 may have ended but #ChangingTheNarrative just begun.

To all our partners, service providers and young people, we are super grateful to y’all for coming through. The summit would have been just another good idea if it wasn’t for you. Mwe abasinga!