At the “Gender and Social Norms Influencing SRHR in Eastern and Southern Africa: Translating Evidence into Policy and Action” workshop held in Nairobi in May 2025, five youth advocates from the UNITED! Movement—Brenda Bakobye (Kenya), Wiseman Nyondo (Malawi), Puvii Hengari (Namibia), Idah Omondi (Kenya), and Jerop Limo (Kenya) stood not as participants but as leaders shaping change. Coming from grassroots movements, feminist collectives, and youth-led networks, they joined this regional dialogue to confront the norms that quietly shape sexual and reproductive health outcomes across Eastern and Southern Africa.
While many national policies acknowledge the impact of social and gender norms, these norms often block implementation, driving stigma, exclusion, and unequal access to SRHR. The workshop was more than a discussion; it was a space where young leaders moved beyond diagnosing problems they have lived to co-creating solutions they are ready to lead.
This is their collective blog.
“The issues weren’t new. What was different was being asked, ‘What would you do differently?’ and knowing they meant it.”Idah Omondi
In our communities, girls are expected to be silent, boys to be in control, and LGBTIQ+ youth to hide. These expectations translate into barriers that no single policy can address on its own. The workshop acknowledged that adultism, the systemic dismissal of young people’s agency, remains a significant and often, at times, a silent barrier to SRHR.
What made this gathering different wasn’t just who was in the room; it was how decisions were made. We played an active role in shaping and finalising the regional policy brief on transforming social and gender norms in SRHR. Our experiences—whether from peer education, feminist organising, or health outreach weren’t anecdotes; they became evidence. The policy brief we co-authored now reflects a regional commitment to invest in youth- and community-led interventions, revise restrictive laws, and strengthen accountability mechanisms.
“I saw my words reflected in the actual policy text. It was powerful to feel that what we shared was taken forward.”Brenda Bakobye
Challenges remained. Technical language and limited informal spaces for youth-to-youth dialogue, but this was not symbolic participation. It was the start of shared ownership.
[Photo of UNITED! Movement leaders speaking on issues impacting young people; courtesy of the UNITED! Movement Facebook]
Now, these young advocates are taking the policy brief back to their countries, localising it for youth dialogues, translating it into local languages, and using it to engage governments. In every context, the UNITED! Movement is ensuring the brief is not a document that gathers dust but a living tool for advocacy and change.
“We’re making sure the policy brief doesn’t collect dust. In our communities, it’s becoming a living tool—spoken, heard, debated, and used.Wiseman Nyondo
This experience has reshaped our role from advocates to norm shifters. We are challenging institutions to see youth engagement not as a checkbox but as a methodology. We are reminding peers and policymakers that youth-led change is not aspirational—it is already happening.
“Norms don’t shift because policies say they should. They shift when young people lead from the inside, and the system makes space to follow.”Jerop Limo
In a region where norms shape futures with quiet precision, the UNITED! Movement is speaking louder. We are organising, challenging, rewriting, and reimagining together. For governments and regional bodies, this means including gender and norms integration as a line item under SRHR portfolios, linking budgets to time-bound, youth-inclusive outputs, and investing in systems that advance gender equality.