Women Deliver Seed Grants

     Women Deliver. with generous support from Johnson & Johnson, has provided 20 Young Leaders with seed grants to implement projects that will advance the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women across the world. Learn about the recipients and their advocacy projects here.

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Jasmine George, a Women Deliver Young Leader from India, is creating sex-positive audio podcast modules in the regional language of Hindi on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), including family planning, comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), and others. Jasmine, along with the team at the SRHR advocacy organization she founded, Hidden Pockets, worked closely with four young people to identify youth priorities in comprehensive sexuality education. These meetings developed the basis for content for CSE podcasts that will be developed in partnership with these young people.

This is what elevating youth voices looks like.

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Rakibul Hasan, a Women Deliver Young Leader from Bangladesh, is implementing Peacemire, a seed grant project that uses digital storytelling and advocacy workshop to reduce early forced marriages and gender-based violence. To date, Peacempire has worked with two schools and madrasas to conduct lecture series on sexual and reproductive health and gender equality. In addition, they have also led interactive workshops to raise awareness and increase knowledge of child marriage and gender based violence among young people.

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"Together with community leaders, including chiefs and religious leaders, we at the United Ideas Project have united hands with adolescents speaking with one voice, encouraging them to practice safe sex, so that we end AIDS by 2030. We provide HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC) services to adolescents in high risk areas and refer those found positive to start Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). Through community youth clubs we identify and provide ART adherence support to adolescents living with HIV & AIDS. With United Ideas in the fight against AIDS, we believe we are contributing to the eradication of AIDS.” - Williot Lumbe, Women Deliver Young Leader and 2016 seed grant recipient

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Project Unbreakable - Update from Unami Moatswi

Project Unbreakable is a campaign to sensitize and raise more awareness on sexual harassment as a form of gender-based violence. It was targeting young women in the University. The project has so far reached out to students on campus and it has found out that students are unaware of any policies or mechanisms to address sexual harassment when it happens. 

I had an opportunity to present on young women’s rights focusing on sexual harassment at thee African Union Commission High level dialogue on the status of women’s rights in Africa in Arusha, Tanzania. There, I presented on young women's rights, focusing on their rights to safe spaces and dignity. I touched based on sexual gender based violence which includes sexual harassment, and exploitation due to issues like unemployment, underemployment of young women. The dialogue is to feed into the African Union 10 year strategic plan for the promotion and protection of human rights. 

In terms of gender-based violence in Botswana, the project is adding value by recognizing sexual harassment as a form of gender based violence that’s hardly talked about in society. However, it is first and foremost about these young women’s right to dignity and safe spaces. 

-Unami Moatswi, Women Deliver Young Leader and seed grant recipient

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"When I learnt in 2015 that my community (Alimosho) recorded the highest number of adolescent girls who had been sexually violated in Lagos Nigeria, I heard a disturbing alarm go off in my head. A major concern for me was the absence of an organized community-driven intervention to enable mothers, fathers, guardians, and grassroots leaders to protect thousands of vulnerable girls from this raging menace. Through the Women Deliver funded project "Safe Kicks Initiative: Adolescent Girls Against Sexual Violence", my organization has been able to establish 6 after-school education clubs across the community and develop a holistic curriculum to educate adolescent girls about sexual violence. So far, 273 adolescent school girls have been engaged in our weekly club meet-ups, featuring group conversations, simulations and drama skits on sexual violence, as well as basic Taekwondo classes to develop their self-defense skills. More importantly, the girls are amplifying their voices for change by drafting the first ever Community Action Plan for the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Alimosho. We have successfully mobilized key community stakeholders -- particularly the Local Government authorities -- to embrace the Action Plan as an effective tool in waging a ruthless war against sexual violence."

-Olaoluwa Abagun, Women Deliver Young Leader

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Young people deserve accurate, fact-based comprehensive sexuality education. Francis Oko Armah is making that happen for Ghanaian youth. 

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Young people face unique challenges when accessing contraception and safe abortion. Sruthi Chandrasekaran is uncovering those realities. 

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Women Deliver Young Leader Rawan Saad of Jordan is spearheading the My Mirror project to empower young Jordanian women. This is the power of youth voices.

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What does youth policy advocacy look like? Catherine Nyambura is using her seed grant to ensure that young women have a say in national policy and a seat at the table. 

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Marinella is using her seed grant to produce a youth advocacy toolkit on comprehensive sexuality education. This is the power of youth advocates.

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Jasmine George is speaking openly to other young people about sexual and reproductive health and rights. Learn more here. 

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Unami Moatswi is mobilizing young people on college campuses in Botswana to converse openly about and ultimately end sexual harassment. Learn more  →  womendeliver.org/unami-moatswi

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Caren is leading the charge for safe abortion in her rural Kenyan community. 

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Rakibul Hasan is using his seed grant to bring together diverse groups into a powerful coalition to end early forced marriage and violence against women.

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This is what youth advocacy looks like. Boris Nwachukwu, a Women Deliver Young Leader, is mobilizing young people in Nigeria for their sexual and reproductive health and rights.

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Learn more about Onward Chironda and all other seed grant recipients here  → womendeliver.org/youth/young-leaders-program-detail/2016-recipients

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Larz Gerrand, a Women Deliver Young Leader, is launching SPEAK: a Speaker Program for Empowerment, Advocacy and Knowledge. Learn more here  → womendeliver.org/larz-gerrand