Comprehensive sexuality education

With support from the Joint UN 2gether 4SRHR programme, a research partnership with the University of Oxford and University of Cape Town was established with the aim to improve HIV, SRH, and the overall well-being of adolescents by providing sustainable and scalable services. The partnership, which was ongoing from 2018 to 2023, investigated drivers of HIV and SRH risk in adolescents, and was committed to generating and using the latest evidence to propose practical solutions, shape programmes and guide decision-making for adolescents.

The results of the partnership are being used in integrating evidence into programming for adolescents throughout the region. They are summarized in a synthesis report, along with the six evidence-to-action briefs featured here.

This regional report aims to strengthen risk-informed programming and facilitate scale up of simple and effective tools to identify and reach those adolescent girls and young women who are most in need of services and support. All the available tools included in the review are linked in the annexes and included in UNICEF's AGYW Programming and Implementation Repository. 

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with collaborating partners from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Secretariat of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), have developed this guidance to build upon and complement the UN International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (ITGSE). It offers more in-depth programmatic guidance on how to develop CSE programmes that are appropriate and safe for different groups of children and young people, especially those who are unlikely to be addressed in CSE programmes for children and young people generally.

Available in English and Spanish.

The AGYW Programming & Implementation Repository contains resources relevant to AGYW programming that have been collated to support enhanced implementation and programming of Global Fund Catalytic Funding for HIV prevention among AGYW in Eastern and Southern Africa. Developed in collaboration with Global Fund in response to an identified need from the SEA sub-region, we are confident that you will all find the repository useful in your support of national AGYW programmes.

The repository is housed on Google Drive and is accessible without a Gmail account. The resources are organized in folders by key programming area and are easily searchable through a google sheet. Powerpoint slides have also been developed to help you navigate through the repository.

The spreadsheet and slideshow are available for download above.

This article is part of the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) ALL IN Blog Series on Rwanda's operational plan for adolescent HIV and sexual and reproductive health

The right of access to comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) is grounded in fundamental human rights and is a means to empower young people to protect their health, well-being and dignity. This Operational Guidance sets out UNFPA’s framework for CSE, which is one of five prongs to UNFPA‘s Adolescent and Youth Strategy. This document guides UNFPA’s support to governments and other partners as CSE programmes, both in and out of school, are designed, implemented and evaluated. Building on current standards, it outlines steps to identify priorities, implement actions and evaluate outcomes – providing country-specific examples, tools for programme managers and technical advisers.