Promoting Youth behavior change in SRH during the 2023 University Games in Ngaoundere

UNFPA Cameroon has been developing strategic partnerships with educational and research institutions in Cameroon as a way to support young people to fulfill their potential. Among key initiatives carried out in that regard, is the organization’s participation in the 23rd edition of the University Games that took place from the 29th of April to the 8th of May 2023 in Ngaoundere. Optimizing its comparative advantage, UNFPA provided sexual and reproductive health services and family planning commodities. It also co-led information-sharing activities in a single, ONE UN stand, and deployed a mobile clinic crew as well as a technology and entrepreneurial training team. The United Nations Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency directly reached about 82 497 young people with services and commodities that helped to empower them, paving their way for a potentially better future.

A joint team from the communication, youth and sexual and reproductive health units was deployed by UNFPA at the Ngaoundere University. The main objective was to provide sexual and reproductive health, including family planning counseling and commodities to an estimated 15000 target students, 18 to 25 years old on average, almost all being sexually active, coming from different regions of Cameroon, and gathering for ten days in Ngaoundere in the Adamawa Region. Government officials, the private sector, civil society organizations, and a large number of people, were also involved. The event ended up becoming a large youth-focused sensitization campaign for social and behavioral change. UNFPA seized that opportunity to engage youth people to rally its call for accelerating the achievement of the Three Transformative Results, namely, ending the unmet needs for family planning, ending preventable maternal deaths; and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices such as child marriage and early pregnancy. A call that has already been bolded in its 8th Country Cooperation Program with the government of Cameroon for 2022-2026.

Several UN Agencies participated in this annual University Games. They set up a single, ONE UN information stand at one corner of the Ngaoundere University Campus. Nearly 7 028 young people have shown an exceptional interest in the mandate of UNFPA, particularly aspects relating to the harnessing of the demographic dividend, keeping girls at secondary school and beyond; prevention of gender-based violence, and sexually transmitted infections, and HIV; and promotion of gender equality. UNFPA also deployed a mobile clinic crew that went inside and outside of the university campus, reaching some health facilities in the units of Nbe and Beka, where a large number of displaced persons and refugees has been established. The crew sensitized 2.458 young people interested in family planning counseling and commodities. Moreover, 7 200 female and 64 800 male condoms were distributed.

In addition, UNFPA supported the University of Ngaoundere and the Ministry of Higher Education in organizing an awareness-raising campaign through experience-sharing sessions between female experts and entrepreneurs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and the students. About 485 women and 526 men at school and university ages attended. This turned out to be one of the flagships and most innovative activities of the 2023 edition of the University Games in Cameroon, a yearly, national and roving event, which was resuming at the University of Ngaoundere after three years of break due to the Covid-19 outbreak in 2019.