Advocacy is one of the main strategies of PPAG used over the years at the local and national level to influence policy and practice in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights. It seeks to ensure that government commits to and implements Global, Regional and National Policies, Protocols and Commitments on SRHR.
The Advocacy Unit is responsible for the promotion of the interests of PPAG by ensuring that key stakeholders are engaged at all levels to promote the SRHR needs of young people including adolescents marginalized, vulnerable groups (including persons with disabilities and key populations) and men in underserved communities.
Projects
Reproductive Health Education (RHED) Project
The RHED Project seeks to improve the sexual and reproductive health rights of young people by ensuring that key government stakeholders are strategically engaged in the development and adoption of reproductive health education guidelines for both in-school and out-of-school young people. As a critical component of mobilizing support from other stakeholders in advancing RHED, PPAG continues to engage other CSOs as partners to collectively advocate for the roll-out of interventions that will lead to the achievement of the Universal Health Coverage, SDGs (3 & 5) and FP2030.
Youth Against SGBV
This is a youth-led project that seeks to empower young people as advocates against SGBV and also advocate for government allocation of resources towards the DV Victims support fund. The project was designed by the youth wing of the Association called Youth Action Movement (YAM) and is being led by young people as a mechanism to promote meaningful youth participation in program implementation in the Association while empowering young people as active advocates of change on sexual and gender-based violence. The project also focuses on engagements with key stakeholders to resource the fund to serve its intended purpose and to empower young people and communities with right-based information to reduce the incidence of SGBV through prevention and report of cases. Media engagements and community outreaches among others are key strategies that are being utilised at the national and community level to reach young people and community members.
Ensuring Comprehensive Abortion Care Accountability in Ghana
This Project, funded by the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RSFU) seeks to increase access to comprehensive abortion care services. The project is aimed at ensuring that duty bearers are committed to improving access to CAC to women and sexually active girls by including safe abortion services in their district/metropolitan/municipal action plans in Ashanti, Central and Northern Regions, enhancing the buy-in of facility management teams and ensure that service providers have the competence, skills, knowledge and attitudes required to provide quality CAC free from discrimination or stigma in the six project districts and finally, empowering women and sexually active young girls in project district to seek CAC services and strengthen 18 CSOs to monitor the provision of CAC services engaging with duty bearers on safe abortion provision by December 2022.
Contributing to Global Advocacy and Accountability on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Project (GAAP)
The project is being implemented with funding support from RFSU, the IPPF MA in Sweden. The project aims at equipping PPAG to influence policy commitments made by Ghana on SRHR at the regional and global level as well as work with key partners to ensure that, regional and global commitments on SRHR priority areas that are signed upon, are domesticated and translated into national legislation, policies and budget allocations are made to these areas in the national budget. The challenge of the absence of RHE guidelines and the societal myths about Comprehensive abortion care continues to rage on, despite the several advocacy works that have been done. Working with relevant stakeholders, the project which is in its last year will seek to consolidate the gains made in the past years and contribute to improving the CAC and RHE sectors of the SRHR sector. The project will continue to influence national country statements presented at major SRHR conferences and follow up with implementation at the country level as well.
Research On LGBTQI+ Bill and It’s Implication On Service Provision
A private members bill known as the “Proper Human Sexual and Ghanaian Family Values Bill” sponsored by eight (8) Members of the Parliament of Ghana has been presented to parliament for the purpose of providing for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values; proscribe LGBTQI+ and related activities; proscribe propaganda of, advocacy for or promotion of LGBTQI+ and related activities; provide for the protection of and support for children, persons who are victims or accused of LGBTQI+ and related activities and other persons; and related matter”. The aim of this research is to properly assess the barriers to healthcare accessibility (operational/legal/security) by the LGBTQI+ community, and the potential challenges in service provision to healthcare providers and stakeholders if the bill is passed into law. With evidence-based understanding of the situation, CSOs providing critical healthcare services to the LGBTQI+ community and other sexual and gender minority groups, will make a case for a continuous provision of SRHR services.
