Youth Advisory Group (YAG)
|
|
|
YAG, March 2006 |
YAG
The Youth Advisory Group is an initiative launched by Youth Incentives. With the aim to promote the involvement and participation of several groups of young people from different countries that work in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights. This group is created with the objective to diffuse a better understanding of the concept of sexuality as a broad concept (not only involving sex, but also feelings, relationships, choice, rights and pleasure), and to empower young people in making inform choices about their sexuality.
Why the YAG?
For Youth Incentives sexual education includes emotions, enjoying safe sex, communication, respect for each others bodies, opinions and needs, the right of young people as sexual beings, and the recognition of young people as responsible persons able to make choices and take responsibility for those choices. Sex education is not just related to reduce the risks of potentially negative outcomes of sexual behaviour such as unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and infection with sexually transmitted diseases, but should also focus on the positive side of young people's relationships. Youth Incentives is sure that with the correct information and access to services, young people can both enjoy their sexuality and do it responsibly.
In this way Youth Incentives considers fundamental the experiences that the groups of YAG members have had so far, since they are working with other young people and had reported excellent results. We, as Youth Incentives, are perfectly conscious that there is nobody more indicated to know what young people needs and wants than other young people. We want our programs for young people being not just addressed to young but being made for, with and from young people.
How does it work?
The YAG began in March 2006 with a visit to the Netherlands from young people from Bangladesh, Mali, Turkey, Tanzania, Slovakia and Russia; they are experts in working as peer educators in sexual education issues in their countries and abroad. Youth Incentives proposed to them the idea of creating a network to share their experiences and together we created this idea, including the web site as one of the priorities.
The YAG is coordinated by a Youth Incentives’ volunteer, who is having virtual contact with them. The YAG will have a yearly meeting in The Netherlands and several simultaneous conferences on line trough the year.
