Supporting Youth Activism Means Supporting Youth Activists
In this segment, Jonathan Gunthorp, Executive Director of SRHR Africa Trust (SAT), and youth activists Prudence Chavula from Malawi and Teboho Bertha Mohloai from Lesotho discuss what youth-driven and led activism means, and how youth activists impact grassroots and policy spaces. Gunthrop describes the Regional Youth Hubs SAT established to provide supportive physical and virtual spaces for activists across the continent working to advance sexual and reproductive health rights and gender equality. Chavula and Mohloai share their different paths but common challenges in their interactions with funders and donors.
About Our Guests
Prudence Chavula is 24 years old and from Malawi. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Administration from the University of Malawi. In 2015, she established a youth-led, girl-focused NGO, Go Fund a Girl. She has placed the girl child and young women at the center of her work and activism and is leading a massive gender-based violence campaign.
She started her activism journey during her teens by volunteering for CAMFED, a NGO that supports young girls to go to school by providing scholarships and bursaries. Its goals are to provide an enabling environment for the girl child and young women to become powerful agents for social and economic development. The organization provides much-needed information and support on issues such as gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS, comprehensive sexuality education, and sexual reproductive health and rights for adolescent and young people in Malawi. Go Fund a Girls has provided financial support, over 1,000 school uniforms, and supported 60 girls to return to school. It also started a hygiene management project where 3,000 girls and young women were trained on menstrual hygiene and provided reusable sanitary pads. Although to many this would seem to be a massive achievement, Prudence is driven to expand her projects to reach many more girls and young women. Despite the challenges of funding for youth-led organizations she is not deterred because she knows that Go Fund a Girl is the right model that will change the trajectory of the girl child and young women in Malawi.
Jonathan Gunthorp is Executive Director of SRHR Africa Trust (SAT) and serves on the United Nations AIDS Global Programme Coordinating Board as an Africa NGO Delegate. He is also a member of the 10-person Civil Society Reference Group which advises the African Union Commission on its work to end child marriage across Africa. He recently served on the International Program Committee (IPC) of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)+25 Summit. Jonathan is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and has traveled extensively as part of his work in over 11 African countries. He is a self-described anti-apartheid activist who never grew out of the struggle for social justice.
Teboho Bertha Mohloai is 31-years-old and from Lesotho. She is a leader and an advocate for sexual reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and gender equality with a special interest in girl’s and women’s health and development. Her areas of expertise include community capacity building, mobilization, training, and process facilitation for girls' and women’s development and advocacy. Teboho holds a diploma in adult education.
Teboho currently holds various voluntary leadership positions including as the Secretary-General of the African Youth and Adolescents Network on Population and Development She has over five years of experience working as a youth advocate and activist in sexual and reproductive health rights, gender equality, policy review, and development, social behavior change communication and HIV. She has experience working with and representing the Lesotho Planned Parenthood Association, African Youth and Adolescents Network, and the United Nations Population Fund East and Southern Africa in regional and international conferences