Center Co-hosts Workshop in Nepal for Youth Champions of SRHR

The Center for Reproductive Rights and its partner, the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD), hosted a one-day, national-level capacity building workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal titled “The Role of Youth Champions on Protecting the Gains and Advancing SRHR.” The workshop, held December 8, aimed to equip and strengthen the capacity of young leaders to build, enforce, and defend legal protections for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

At the event, college-student activists with legal, medical and social studies backgrounds – selected in coordination with a youth-led network – participated in sessions on:

• National and international jurisprudence, relevancy, and the importance of Supreme Court precedent, facilitated by Prabina Bajracharya, the Center’s Capacity Building Manager for Asia.
• Developing adolescent-friendly SRHR guidelines, facilitated by Sabin Shrestha, Executive Director of FWLD.
• The myths and misconceptions around SRHR, especially on the issue of abortion, facilitated by Prabhakar Shrestha, the Center’s Legal Advisor for Asia.

The Honorable Kalyan Shrestha, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nepal, presented the keynote speech, emphasizing reproductive rights as human rights.

“Youth are key actors in promoting SRHR,” said Bajracharya. “Nepal’s new law, the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act of 2018, ensures discrimination-free and adolescent-friendly SRHR services. The implementing guidelines for the Act should be developed in consultations with adolescents and youths.”

Here are photos from the workshop:

(Photos courtesy of FLWD.)