Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) is a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well being in relation to sexuality. Sexual reproductive health and rights include  the right to reproductive health, right to make informed decision concerning how many children you have among other rights.

Advocacy include the collection of strategies that can be used to achieve specific outcomes related to social, economic, political, cultural and legal change. Advocacy strategies that can be used to advance SRHR include;

Empowering individuals to know their rights – this is done through employing public engagement strategic communication and awareness to educate the individuals about their sexual rights and entitlements.

Activism – this is a participatory form of expression that gives a voice and visibility to groups that may not have the formal means to have their voices heard. It is the ability to communicate complex and political issues related to SRHR.

Capacity building – this is the process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts and abilities. Capacity building for youth-led, feminist and women’s right organization to effectively engage in coordinated and sustained advocacy for SRHR is a critical mechanism of driving SRHR advocacy.

Strategic litigation – engage in the legal action to hold levels of government accountable to their human rights obligations through the elimination of harmful laws and policies related to SRHR.

Leveraging human rights accountability mechanisms – by submitting evidence for monitoring basis, the universal periodic review process and regional human rights to hold national government accountable to their human rights obligation related to SRHR.

Engage in decision making by working together directly with the elected and unelected government officials including those at international level and individuals in position of power to build their understanding of capacity in relation to SRHR.

Building evidence based tools. This will be done by utilizing evidence based tools to build credibility to analyze human rights imperatives for a specific SRHR issues and adapted for diverse audiences.

Article written by Josephine Kasuni Mwangecho, SRHR Champion at Shakirina Youth for Development and Member Ryculture Health and Social Innovation, SRHR Youth Champions Network

Ps. This article was first published on her blog here where you can read more on her work.