Youth-led COVID-19 Response II Building on the Youth-led Covid-19 emergency project described above, the project concept has been further developed to strengthen health services in the project region in the medium term. Specifically, the project presented here builds on the outcomes of a reflection and final meeting of project stakeholders in October 2020 and responds to the need identified by the target group to strengthen SRHR and promote youth-friendly services and improve access to health for the population, particularly youth. This will specifically respond to the increase in teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, forced marriage and other forms of SGBV, as well as strengthen health services for marginalized populations (PLWHA and tuberculosis patients).

In the project presented, individual components of the previous emergency programme are taken up. There is still a great need for support for the chronically ill and psychological care, because the priority of the Ugandan health system remains the prevention and control of Covid-19. Important health services, especially for adolescents, continue to receive little or no attention - with serious consequences for SRHR and HIV care for adolescents in the project region. In addition to improving SRHR services, the focus is on psychosocial support for the chronically ill. This will be provided through two avenues: First, through the development and distribution of printed (psychosocial) support messages on Covid-19, HIV, TB and SGBV.  Secondly, online counselling will be offered via the Sautiplus app, where young people can speak to a counsellor via a confidential, toll-free hotline. 

This project will help address the above issues with the support of youth ambassadors, or CORA Ambassadors. This will specifically empower and support young people in Arua and Adjumani districts to access and use important and up-to-date information and life skills, as well as youth-friendly services such as family planning, contraceptives, ARVs and psychosocial support. The design involved various stakeholders and existing networks to ensure that local government and community policies are more supportive and respectful of young people's SRHR. 

A thorough review of available information on SRHR and adolescent mental health conducted by Cordaid and partners revealed that adolescents face several challenges, including limited access to SRHR services, mental health problems (including as a result of flight and displacement and uncertain future prospects), limited peer support due to lack of knowledge and support services, and an increased number of teenage pregnancies. These findings form the basis of the project proposal presented here. In this context, it should be emphasized that the project not only responds to current needs triggered by the Corona pandemic, but also builds on the long expertise of Cordaid Uganda and Amref Germany in the project region.

 In addition to facts, data and statistics from the Ministry of Health, UNHCR and local authorities, the project is particularly tailored to the needs of the young population, who even before the outbreak of the pandemic had no, or only limited access to health services.  Access to health services - especially SRHR and HIV care - is improved by training health workers in 10 health facilities on sexual reproductive health and youth-friendly services, conducting SRHR health outreaches in remote communities, and providing youth - especially PLWHA - with additional psychosocial support and exchange with other youth through CORA ambassadors and online applications. Accompanying this, Cordaid and the SRHR Alliance advocate for SRHR community outreach and SRHR services in health facilities to be made more youth friendly.    

The project draws on and builds on existing resources and networks for sustainability reasons. For example, it is planned to use existing digital platforms such as Sauti+ (with offline function) and the Uganda Network of Young People Living with HIV AIDS mobile quiz application. These have proven remarkably effective in the past in sharing SRHR and HIV information and facilitating referrals to health facilities (for further treatment) while creating space for peer support (peer education). 1. Youth (10-24 years) in Arua and Adjumani ,West Nile, Uganda are empowered to realize their sexual and reproductive health and rights
2. Increased access to and uptake of youth friendly SRHR and HIV services by young people (10 to 24 years old) in Arua and Adjumani.
3. District authorities and communities in Arua and Adjumani are more supportive towards gender equality and young people’s SRHR. Target group 	Description 	Number  
1. 40 COVID19 Youth Response Ambassadors (CORAs)	Youth between 18 and 24 years old (50% male and 50% female, 50% refugees and 50% youth from the host community). 
They will be selected from the 2 districts (Adjumani and Arua) or two sub-districts each (5 CORAs per sub-district). 	
2. 20 SRHR Champions	Community leaders, who are usually tasked with ensuring that SRHR violations are reported, followed up and reduced in the long term. This includes people working in protection departments and in the Refugee Welfare Committee. The training aims to improve their knowledge and positive attitudes towards youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health and rights. Gender transformative approaches will be part of the training content to identify and further challenge negative norms and misconceptions that perpetuate SRHR and SGBV violations.  	

3. 10 Health care facilities	

4. Health workers (80) and community health workers (80) from 10 health facilities will be trained on youth friendly services and referral mechanisms. A multi-agency approach will be taken to ensure that all staff are trained and involved in discussions.	160

5. 30 SGBV representatives (15 health workers and 15 police officers)	Targeted health centres and police/security leaders will be involved. They will be informed in dealing with SGBV and regarding referral mechansimem for SGBV in order to support SGBV survivors to access integrated services.

6. 40 religious and cultural leaders	These will mainly involve local leaders from host communities and refugee settlements, for example cultural leaders, religious leaders and local councillors. They will be educated about SRHR and SGBV among youth and how to respond in a youth-friendly manner when such violations are reported to them.	

7. 1200 Young people and adolescents (50% refugees and 50% from host communities)	Adolescents and young adults who will benefit from integrated information on COVID-19, SRHR, SGBV and HIV. They will have access to youth friendly services including COVID19 prevention materials, family planning counselling, contraceptives, HIV testing and counselling and referral to further treatment during the health outreaches. The target group includes PLWHA, but they are not quantified separately as a target group for reasons of anonymity and to protect against discrimination. The health services are therefore deliberately offered as an inclusive approach so as not to allow any conclusions to be drawn about the HIV status of the beneficiaries. 
	
8. 400.000 Young people and adults .These are reached indirectly through the digital platforms, radio education and social media campaigns of CORAs or SRHR champions. For this purpose, the number of listeners and the usage behaviour of the social media users (e.g. likes, shares and number of visits) are recorded and evaluated. The reach of the digital platform is not limited to the project region.