#SheReady

The #SheReady is a series of virtual dialogues aimed at supporting and advancing the voices of adolescent girls and young women from Eastern and Southern Africa to give them the space to approach controversial subjects, often left out from the mainstream HIV, sexual reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence and human rights conversations. 

The aim is to shift narratives from talking about adolescent girls and young women to them identifying topics of discussions in relation to their actual needs and inviting a diverse set of stakeholders to engage in conversations with them and create a safe space for such conversations.

The topics that we have unpacked include: 

  • Disability, leadership, and sexuality: how girls and women living with disabilities dream of, engage in, and enjoy (or not) sex, what do they want the world to know about their sexuality and leadership capabilities.
  • Of pinks and blues: what gender roles are young African women wanting to keep and which ones do they want to discard? How long can we continue using culture as the excuse not to change.
  • Criminalisation of my sexuality – growing up as a queer person in Southern and Eastern Africa: being lesbian, bisexual and/or trans.
  • Bodily Autonomy and Agency: What does reproductive justice, access to abortion rights mean for AGYW, what is needed to achieve this.
  • Dollars in my pocket:  AGYW leading economic empowerment decisions including micro-economic and macro-economic funding for young women-led initiatives.
  • Male Involvement in  
  • AGYW projects: Will it work to ensure AGYW and ABYW work together to eradicate harmful social, gender and cultural norms.
  • Sex work is work Lessons about autonomy and safe sex practices. 
  • Structural and systemic violence: Dealing with sexual harassment. Where do we go from here?  How do we access justice?
  • Effective Engagement of AGYW in programmes: Dismantling manels and getting our space.
  • Reproductive justice and consent: A dialogue between AGYW and adolescent boys and young men in unpacking sexual consent and reproductive justice.