Greetings to all of our readers.

We hope this newsletter finds you in good health and well-being. As we continue to navigate through these uncertain times, it is important to prioritize our physical and mental health. This month, we are prioritising the promotion of women's health and wellbeing.

Thank you for always supporting.

USAID Youth Summit: Empowering Young Leaders for Positive Change

VIAC, sponsored by IREX, took part in a Youth Engagement Summit in Accra, Ghana. The summit was a tremendous success, uniting a diverse cohort of young leaders and representatives from local youth-led organisations throughout Africa and internationally. The summit gave a platform for 75 attendees to exchange their experiences and expertise on using data and digital tools for bringing about positive change in their communities. This enabled them to enhance their proficiency in promoting significant, broad-based youth engagement in both global and local development. Consequently, delegates were better equipped to generate improved outcomes for their sectors and youth.

Informative Session on Menstrual Health Management for Adolescent Girls

VIAC recently held a menstrual health awareness session for adolescent girls residing in the crisis-ridden Nitop located in the North West Region of Cameroon. VIAC functioned as a facilitator during the sessions, leading conversations on concepts like stigma and myths regarding menstruation that impede young women from receiving accurate knowledge about menstrual hygiene management. The sessions concentrated on exchanging knowledge, experiences, and queries. Adolescent girls were instructed in menstrual cycle calculations using the calendar method and menstrual beads. The peak of these sessions was witnessing adolescent girls confidently discuss their menstrual health experiences with pride. 

Safe Abortion VCAT and GTA Sessions: Promoting Access to Safe and Legal Abortion Services

Societal beliefs and conventions, such as patriarchy, continue to prevent women from accessing safe abortion services and contribute to the stigma surrounding abortion. That's why we continue facilitate VCAT and GTA safe abortion sessions, aimed at broadening access to safe and lawful abortion services by providing a space for people to not only access information, but also to examine the social norms and cultural practices that promote abortion stigma in relation to reproductive health needs. We will continue to campaign for access to safe and legal abortion services to ensure that women's reproductive health rights are recognised and protected.

Breaking Silence Comic Book: Raising Awareness about Safe Abortion and Raise Consciousness on  Abortion Destigmatisation

Sponsored by AWDF, we have developed an innovative tool to eradicate unsafe abortions in communities. Breaking Silence is a comic book intended to promote consciousness regarding the consequences of unsafe abortions and to establish candid and straightforward discussions about abortion as a means of protecting women's reproductive health. The primary objective of this publication is to combat the stigmatisation surrounding abortion and to urge individuals to pursue safe and legal alternatives. Providing accessible information aims to enable individuals to make informed decisions about their reproductive health. This comic book shares the stories of people seeking abortion in an accessible and engaging way, helping to break the silence regarding this pervasive issue in many communities in Cameroon.

Harnessing the leadership of adolescent girls and young women in the response to HIV/SRHR in CAMEROON

The HER VOICE Foundation aims to reduce HIV infection rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially among young girls and adolescents. Recently, it extended its efforts to 13 African nations, including Cameroon. VIAC, a HVF beneficiary, combats HIV infections affecting adolescent girls and young women in Cameroonian communities. For the past three years, we have relentlessly worked in various fields, including menstrual hygiene management, contraception, tackling gender-based violence, and advocating for leadership and decision-making positions for girls and young women. To bring us closer to our objective, VIAC, together with five other HVF beneficiaries, arranged a workshop and press conference in Bafoussam. This was to create an advocacy paper that can help voice the challenges encountered by adolescent girls and young women advocates in being part of leadership circles that strive to prevent HIV infections among young people. Additionally, the press conference was held to discuss the advocacy paper.

DIGITAL ADVOCACY

This November, we will initiate our 16-day activism campaign to encourage gender equality, terminate all forms of violence irrespective of gender and empower communities to take action. We will conduct workshops and discussions, disseminate personal stories of GBV victims to increase awareness and invite individuals, organisations and community groups to participate. We also encourage like-minded organisations to partner with us. Our objective is to establish a safer and more equitable society where every individual can live with honour, courtesy, and parity.

 HOTLINE

ABOUT VIAC

Vision in Action Cameroon (VIAC) is a youth-led not-for-profit organization that supports and enables adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and communities in programs and influences change in the areas of Research (Evidence Generation), Advocacy (community mobilization), information & communication. VIAC is committed to feminist principles, using gender transformative and rights-based approaches.

At VIAC we believe that reproductive Health is a fundamental human right of every woman and man throughout her/his life cycle.