Resilient Youth for Change

Resilient Youth for Change – YOCA is a legally registered organisation working with children, adolescents, youths, households and communities to respond to problems affecting them. The focus of YOCA is promoting and advocating for Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (ASRHR) and Social Justice in Zambia. Core to this process is our human rights based approach embedded in the meaningful engagement of children, adolescents, youths and women in the decision making processes and programs affecting them. We believe that Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) have a high level of expertise and understanding about the health and wellness of themselves. They have ideas, from lived experiences, about what will help them to be healthier and what makes it harder to be healthy. Adolescent Girls and Young Women have specific knowledge of what might be needed to promote health and what causes poor health in their area and can best represent local strengths and struggles. It makes sense then, to seek information and knowledge from Adolescent Girls and Young Women and to find ways to encourage them to express their ideas and share knowledge. YOCA works in partnership with other stakeholders to implement a mix of biomedical, behavioral, and structural interventions to meet the HIV prevention needs of particular individuals and communities so as to have the greatest possible impact on reducing new infections.