Consortium of Networks Led by Young People

The “Consortium of Networks Led by Young People” was a regional consortium of two youth-led networks: Youth LEAD and Y-PEER.

 

Grantee type: Regional Consortium

Grant: $1,116,060

Grant period: 2016-2018

Lead organization: Youth LEAD

Partner organizations: Youth Peer Education Network (Y-PEER)

 

Youth LEAD, based in Bangkok, is a regional network focused on young key populations (YKP) and HIV. Y-PEER is a global network focused on young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Together, Youth LEAD and Y-PEER worked in consortium to support youth-led organizing and advocacy in 21 countries of Asia and the Pacific.

• Young Key Populations (YKP), including adolescents (ages 10-19) and young adults (ages 20-24), face disproportionate risks for HIV infection, in compared to other youth groups, because of a lack of tailored and YKP-competent programs to help YKP overcome stigma and discrimination, human rights violations, violence and lack of empowerment and experience in negotiating safer sex.
• In Asia and the Pacific, approximately 28,000 adolescents ages 15-19 became newly HIV infected in 2017. Nearly all of these young people are in key populations such as young men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers and/or people who use drugs.
• Young people in Asia and the Pacific face systematic barriers to information and services. Countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan require adolescents 18 or younger to obtain parental or guardian consent to access HIV testing or other sexual and reproductive health services. These and other countries have laws criminalizing people for sex work, drug use or same-sex behavior.
• Improved access by young people to HIV information and testing and broader sexual health services requires country-level organizing and advocacy by adolescents and young people. This organizing and advocacy requires sustained regional support.

 

RCF funding 2016-2018

The Consortium of Networks Led by Young People received US$ 1.1 million in funding from the Robert Carr Fund during 2016-2018, which was a continuation of steady RCF funding support for both Youth LEAD and Y-PEER since 2012. This funding was allocated to both core and strategic program costs of both Youth LEAD and Y-PEER to help build the capacity of each network and to support collective action across the Asia Pacific region. In 2019, the Robert Carr Fund awarded an additional US$ 1.76 million in funding to an expanded global youth-led consortium involving Youth LEAD, Y-PEER, Youth RISE (a youth-led network focused on drug policies and harm reduction), and Y+ (the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV) as an increased investment in the successes of this youth-led work.

 

Geographic coverage

The Consortium of Networks Led by Young People was a regional network convening and supporting organizations and individuals in 21 countries of Asia and the Pacific, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

 

Population coverage

Through this regional consortium, networks led by young people in more than a dozen Asian and Pacific countries supported the empowerment, leadership, health and rights of young people, including young key populations (YKPs) such as young men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers and/or people who use drugs.

 

Activities 2016-2018

With RCF funding in 2016-2018, and funding and support from UNICEF, UNFPA, and the Global Fund, Youth LEAD and Y-PEER provided small grants, trainings, technical assistance and mentoring to youth-led organizations in 21 countries of Asia and the Pacific. Youth LEAD and Y-PEER worked together and with other international partners to organize youth-led meetings and advocacy at regional conferences such as the 2018 Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) and Asia Pacific Population Conference (APPC).  Youth LEAD and Y-PEER, with support from UNFPA APRO, the Global Fund, UNICEF EAPRO and along with other partners, developed a regional Asia Pacific Young Key Population Implementation Toolkit and a regional Legal Advocacy Toolkit for Young People, supported UNICEF EAPRO in an assessment of adolescent needs in four Asian countries, produced a website to map youth-friendly health services across Asia and the Pacific, and led and participated in regional trainings for adolescents and young people about HIV and sexual and reproductive health and advocacy for human rights and access to services.

 

Results 2016-2018

Sustained support from RCF for Youth Lead since 2013 and for Y-PEER since 2016 has helped both networks to build organizational strength and capacity for services and advocacy. RCF funding now accounts for over 90% of the core operational funding of both Youth LEAD and Y-PEER, and with that support both of these networks operate with democratic and representative regional governance, strong youth leadership and participation, and experience and credibility with policy-makers in the Asia Pacific region.  Key results during 2016-2018 include:

• Network strength and influence: Support from Youth LEAD and Y-PEER helped youth-led organizations to sustain and grow in more than nine countries (notably, in Bhutan, Indonesia, Kiribati, Myanmar, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam). Youth LEAD gained significant new funding and support from the Global Fund, and Youth LEAD and Y-PEER have expanded their collaborations globally with other Youth RISE (a youth-led network focused on drug policies and harm reduction), and Y+ (the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV).
• Human rights:  Youth are actively advocating in multiple countries to reduce age of consent for HIV testing and other health services and to reform laws criminalizing people for sex work, drug use or same-sex behavior.
• Access to services: Youth-friendly approaches to sexual and reproductive health services have been recommended, piloted or implemented in many Asia Pacific countries (with recent commitments made in national plans of Laos and Nepal) and youth-led advocacy is underway to scale up PrEP in countries such as India, Thailand and Vietnam. As one example of local impact, a small US$ 7000 grant from Youth LEAD to the youth organization Lighthouse in Vietnam supported the piloting a peer-led youth-to-youth health outreach campaign and rapidly reached 441 young people with HIV testing, including 21 who were HIV-positive and linked to treatment and care.