Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)
At ADJC we strive to advance the SRHR of vulnerable women, and young people as fundamental rights that have been overlooked by different actors including policy makers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We do advocacy activities to influence decision making processes over restrictive policies and laws to create an enabling environment for women and young people in regard to SRHR. We also build the capacity of our target beneficiaries to be able to claim their rights and effectively contribute to their wellbeing and development. As part of SRHR, ADJC focuses on three thematic areas including:
- Improving youth and adolescents' SRHR education
The Eastern DRC region which is our operating area has been characterized by civil wars and armed conflicts since year 1996. The situation has pushed a large number of populations particularly young generations into ignorance and poverty due to destruction of infrastructures. In addition, the majority of populations in this region are Christians who regard the SRHR education as taboo. Therefore, ADJC conducts SRHR education campaigns to increase knowledge of young people about SRHR, related rights information and services.
- Ending period poverty among vulnerable adolescent girls
Lacking necessary sanitation products to manage their period has been a big challenge for many of our target groups which creates a high school dropout among adolescents in this region where population lives into extreme poverty. As ADJC, we have found a sustainable and environment friendly pathway out of this period poverty. One of our responses brought to these communities include production and free distribution of washable and reusable sanitary pads to vulnerable adolescent girls to keep them in school
- Economic empowerment of teen mothers
Teen mothers in our target areas face challenges linked to the situation of giving birth at early age as well as extreme poverty in their households. At ADJC, we do employ an ultra-poor graduation model to boost households’ economic empowerment. The approach is a way of exploring how social protection, livelihood promotion and access to finance can be sequenced to provide a pathway out of extreme poverty for vulnerable teen mothers. Our interventions in this regard include provision of assets or cash transfers to teen mothers who have shown a business ideas. We also provide change through linkages to formal employment services, technical and business skills training, and access to markets.
