The 4th annual Youth Peer Education Network (Y-PEER) meet held in Phuentshogling saw discussions on various issues related to sexual and reproductive health rights. The participants also agreed to align their works to achieve the global transformative goals of the three Zeros by 2030.
The three-Zero goals are Zero maternal deaths, Zero unmet needs for family planning and Zero harmful practices such as unplanned pregnancy, domestic violence, violence against women and children among others.
The goals were set during the international conference on population and development held in Nairobi in Kenya, last year.
Close to 150 Y-PEER members from across the country gathered for the annual meet this time. Besides working to meet the three Zero goals, they went around meeting various stakeholders in Phuentshogling discussing youth issues. The findings will help in framing a new youth policy. At the moment, the department of youth and sports of the Education Ministry is in the process of reviewing the Youth Policy 2011.
“I went to Nairobi summit in Africa to attend the International conference on population and development representing the youth and as a Y-PEER member. I realized that what I learnt in Nairobi summit is being learnt here in national Y-PEER meet, too. We can, therefore, come together and fulfil the commitment that we made,” said Pema Choden, a participant from the Royal Thimphu College.
“As a Y-PEER member and a youth, I feel that I have a huge responsibility. When we attend such meetings, we get to learn many new things. For instance, we are taught on policies such as the national youth policy, which I am sure, many youths are not aware of,” said Yeshi Dorji, a participant from Sherubtse College.
“As peer educators, the name itself justifies that we have to advocate and sensitize our peers. We are therefore building a resilient community. We can’t change or make the policies but we can create a platform whereby people will know about sexual and reproductive health rights,” added Sangay Dechen Gyanzo, also a participant from the College of Natural Resources.
Y-PEER Bhutan was founded in 2012 and today, it has over 1500 members from across the country. Globally, the unit is active in 52 countries.
United Nations Population Fund and the department of youth and sports under the Ministry of Education organized the meet which ended yesterday.
Sonam Penjor
