Qualitative‌ ‌pilot‌ ‌study‌ ‌on‌ ‌measuring‌ ‌sex-positive‌ ‌approaches‌ ‌in‌ ‌sexuality‌ ‌education‌

How to measure sex-positive approach in sexuality education for young people

Get Up Speak Out (GUSO) was a five-year programme (2016-2020) developed by a consortium consisting of Rutgers, Aidsfonds, CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality, Dance4life, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Simavi. The programme was financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the SRHR Partnership Fund.

The programme addressed the following problem: “Young people do not claim their sexual rights and their right to participation because of restrictions at community, societal, institutional and political levels. This hinders their access to comprehensive SRHR education and services that match their needs and ability to make their own informed SRHR decisions”. The GUSO consortium addressed this problem in seven countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Pakistan and Uganda. The change that was envisioned is that all young people, especially girls and young women, are empowered to realise their SRHR in societies that take a positive stance towards young people’s sexuality.

This is a report of the pilot study, or ‘pleasure audit’, that was conducted to understand and unpack what is meant by an environment that is ‘positive towards young people’s sexuality’; what role ‘pleasure’ plays in this; how pleasure is discussed, if at all; which contextual factors affect this discussion and how the sex-positive approach can be strengthened. The pilot study was conducted in Ghana and Kenya. This report presents the findings from the data collected in Kenya.