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Yvonne


Title and Organization:		Regional Focal Point - East Africa, GYCA
Gender and Age:		Female, 30
Location:		Nairobi, Nairobi Area
Country of Residence:		Kenya
Country of Birth:		Kenya
Languages:		English , Swahili , French



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About Me

My name is Yvonne Akoth. I am a youth activist and the Regional Focal Point for Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA) in Eastern Africa. In Kenya, I am the focal point for an End Violence against Girls and Young women Campaign in the Kenya Girl Guides Association. Currently, we are working on launching a gender sensitive curriculum for young people to address and prevent gender based violence.
With more than 6 years’ experience working with youth, I have acquired a lot of knowledge on HIV/AIDS, STIs, sexual and reproductive health information as well as rights, peer education, advocacy, life skills and contributed in the development of Kenya Girl Guides Association’s and the Kenya Ministry of Education’s, Alcohol Prevention Manual.

As a youth representative, my interest lies in reducing the spread of HIV and AIDS among Africa’s youth, with special focus on girls and young women, by advocating for gender equality and sexual and reproductive health rights for young people. My academic area of specialization is International Relations, Gender and Development as well French language studies.

In Kenya, I have had the opportunity to attend national events such as the 3rd Conference on Peer Education, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS organized by the National Organization of Peer Educators in 2008, Kenya AIDS National Strategic Plan (KNASP III) launch 2009, HIV Free Generation Campaign launch in Nairobi, Men Engage Kenya Network Stakeholders Workshop – Engender Health, World AIDS Day 2009 campaign with PEPFARS partners from various USAID projects, (USAID) APHIA II Nairobi Prevention partners sharing forum 2010 and Guidelines for mainstreaming GIPA in Kenya’s HIV/AIDS response workshop in 2011 among many others. These have provided me with the opportunity to play an active role in halting the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people and strengthening my advocacy initiatives as well.

On the International platform, I have received a lot of capacity building opportunities from the World Association of Girl Guides and Girls Scouts (WAGGGS), UNAIDS, UNESO, UNFPA,GYCA, Southern African AIDS Trust (SAT), the Government of Kenya etc. In addition to my work, I participated in panel discussions at the World Youth Conference in Mexico 2010 and the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Austria 2010. I have also had consultations with World AIDS Campaign (WAC) and UNDP on AIDS and the MDGs in Africa in Nairobi, the UNAIDS CSO Universal Access Consultation for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) in South Africa, the 16th ICASA Community Programme design in Ethiopia as well as participating in the Africa Union, UNAIDS and WAGGGS side event s during the United Nations High Level Meeting (UN HLM) on youth in New York, July 2011.As a youth leader, I have been privileged to represent my country as an official youth delegate to the Horn of Africa Youth Forum in Djibouti 2010, the World Youth Conference in Mexico 2010 as well as the Mali Youth Summit in Bamako 2011.

I embrace team work, dialogue and partnership, and believe that together we can impact positive change in our community and in Africa as a whole.

I believe that African governments should strengthen their efforts to ensure youth development and empowerment. Hence a change of attitude towards African youth is imperative, where we are no longer seen as problems or challenges but as opportunities that are worth investment.

Countries Visited

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