 Thank you for keeping us company. This is Y254 News Highlights. Now we're moving to our discussion Monday, where we are talking about the Nairobi Summit, the 25th anniversary on ICPD, and the theme immediately is accelerating their promise. That will be the driving agenda, but for us tonight here we'll be looking at what will be addressed in the summit. I'll be speaking to Marie Gathwethi, the communication consultant and the CEO of Violate Bitty Foundation, and just to bring you up to speed with what the summit is all about and where it began, something has been put down or noticed to just to make us to understand and this is in regards to what happened in Cairo. Now in 1994, 179 governments and other stakeholders held an international conference on population and development that is ICPD in Cairo. They adopted a landmark after a faceted plan to advance human wellbeing by placing the rights of individuals and the center of the global development agenda through a consensus member states developed the ICPD program of action that lays out a plan for advancing human wellbeing, positioning the human rights of individuals rather than numerical population targets at the center of the global development agenda. The plan was to be implemented in 20 years period from 1994 to 2014 which was never to happen, but now today the world is aiming to achieve the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 which is the SDG and Universal Sexual and Reproductive Health is essential to much of this agenda. Now ending poverty, security, good health and wellbeing, realizing gender equality and achieving sustainable communities among many other goals, agent and sustained efforts to realize reproductive health and rights are crucial. The summit will offer a platform for a broad range of public and private stakeholders which is something that will get to understand what will be happening there. Now heads of state and government, minister, civil society, youth leaders, parliamentarians, business representatives, media and others to come together and deliberate on the linkages between ICPDs and SDGs. Now the themes of this summit are five and that is what you want to address tonight. We begin with one which is the universal access to sexual and reproductive health as part of universal coverage and I want to begin with you Violet in regards to sexual and reproductive health and rights and inclusion. Would you support sex education and why? Good evening viewers, my name is Violet Mbitiasuvaad and sexual and reproductive health is is very key and it's also it was also recognized by the 179 member states in 1994 and that is why now because of them signing it now it became a program of action and sexual reproductive health is very key and they did this because at the beginning you found that there was high maternal mortality rate you also found that meaning high maternal mortality rate meant that when women were giving birth most of them died or even the kids died but upon now signing this program of action 25 years later now that we're in 2019 you find that 50% of now the maternal deaths have been reduced because of now these what's now the governments from all over the world did and you find that sexual reproductive health is very key because you find even among the youth they need to know this information so that they can know how to carry out family planning because you find like there is a there is you find like there is unintended pregnancy unintended pregnancy means that you with your partner and you engage in we can we can say sex and then you are not using a condom and then by accident now you get pregnant and it wasn't it wasn't it wasn't planned so that is why we are also pushing now even for family planning for them to access contraceptives for them even to access even this family planning services yes mariga we remember last year we had several cases of young girls doing kcp they were pregnant those are small girls i could say but now we having this summit and one of the agendas are to be addressed in regards to sexual reproductive health is about sex education to our young girls in school what's your take in this my take is that sex education is a human right at this pace because one of the most interesting arguments i've heard is that um the sex ed is coming too early for children you guys are joking the average age children having sex right now is 10 and 9 right people want sex ed for children to be at 16 how stupid how because you how do you give sex ed five years after your children are sexually active and that's that's that's what's happening sexual education doesn't tell children to have sex right no one sits in a class and shows them how sexual positions i don't know there's a lot of misconceptions about what it is sexual education involves talking to them honestly about sex about how it works about the actual physical effects doesn't involve things like scare tactics which we were involved in a lot of and statistically and through many countries have carried it out countries have effective sexual education programs tend to have children having sex later in fact if people actually read just a bit beyond their own religious beliefs and propaganda you'd understand that one would improve the livelihoods of all these people number two you'd reduce a lot of criminal activity criminal activity in terms of when you talk about the girls who couldn't do who were doing the kcp pregnant the majority of people doing this to these girls are not children they're adults these are 18 19 20 year old adults so one you'd have children prepared for sex even within their own age number two you'd have them have enough markers to know what sexual abuse is what rape is and it be able to report it and help to deal with some of these things and by three it helped them improve their own health one by reducing the stds and the std rates and two reducing the amount of and plan for pregnancies especially by teenagers i absolutely do not see how people are objecting to this many people will argue in the 21st century and things are not like they were before but now the people doing it are our small sisters our small brothers we could say our parents the current generation is not doing enough in terms of educating the young people of about sex but now if this summit goes through and every policy is passed assumably now with the comprehensive sexual education is it necessary for now and will it help us to achieve the reproductive health and rights as stakeholders in the sexual reproductive health field we have been engaging the ministry of health so that you can see whether now the curriculum can be introduced on on comprehensive sexuality education but you find like there is some resistance because you find like there are some stakeholders who may who are not are not for it but the good thing is that i think the time is ripe now because at the end of the day you find like parents themselves they don't talk to their kids about sex okay and comprehensive sexuality education we want it it is it is we are not saying that they should have sex now no it should be age appropriate when they are ready maybe after maybe they have finished school that is when now they can they can engage but what we want to tell them is that so that at least they can understand their anatomy so that they can know that if i do this i'll get pregnant and if i do that maybe i'll maybe make another lady or a kid pregnant but now when you introduce comprehensive sexuality education they become knowledgeable and once they become knowledgeable they will deter from it and they will do it at the right time because at the end of the day they will be told that if you do it at this moment these are the consequences that are going to happen so it is better you finish school and then now after that maybe now that is when you can you can engage in it but you find like some governments they are against it maybe because of culture okay and then you find that the blame is usually thrown on parents but parents they don't even know now how they can approach their kids and tell them about sex now the religious leaders now the churches they are calling for abstinence but not all not all all persons are equal there are some who can control themselves there are others who can't control themselves so for those who can't control themselves what is the solution and yet they are in school because at the end of the day if you don't inform them they will go to the internet and they can get this information from the internet and they can get it from their peers that is why we we we are engaging now even the government the ministry of health and also the ministry of education to see what can be done and there are many countries that are in Nairobi at the moment so the plan is that after now the conference there's going to be social accountability so that we can look at now the ratifications this what they have signed the commitment that they have made right them coming to fruition and one of them is going to be comprehensive sexuality education all right now mariga to to to wind up on this matter sometimes last year we had a problem with the ministry of education they didn't know there was a group of people going to schools and teaching them about uh these things now with this how do you think should should be the strategy on how to educate this group of young people i think just having real and honest conversations because i feel like there's a lot of piousness involved as a basis for these conversations these people talking about morality them and all they are to set 10 side chicks you know it's so funny how we selectively apply morality to children people talk about you know only having kids within marriage say half of us were not born outside of marriage and you're to begin with and people assume that talking you can prevent kids from having sex you can't that's one of the things i was heading for you can't prevent when kids around my age started having sex around 16 or 15 the age has just gone lower and preaching abstinence will not work not that people won't be abstinent but more kids and not have sex and so what do you do about it in a realistic manner when we were in primary school we had uh the comprehensive sex ed we got was by a video a scare video of STDs um i think yes let rafael tuju i've i've never forgotten that video it showed you that if you ever had sex you're going to die that was the main principle of that but it didn't matter people still had sex afterwards as you cannot scare scare tactics do not work with children when you have honest conversations about these you one would reduce amount of sex that's going on underage sometimes even most times between the children themselves but number two even if you don't you'd enable these children to make safer choices that's my bigger a more than being morally above all of these things all right now let's move to a different matter which is another same thematic area which will be addressed in this summit now it's about the financing to finish the icpd program of action are to sustain the gains made and i would want to ask these uh we are 10 years away from the STDs in our country now how can we have the opportunities uh make us accountable for the services they provide in the same vein have we been able to do this as a nation while every project every employment opportunity that comes there's corruption when will we get to our uh target as 2030 there was the abuja declaration so the in the abuja declaration uh like you found like african governments committed that uh they are going to ensure that 50 15 percent of the health of the budget the the national budget 15 percent of which should go towards health but in kenya at the moment you find that it is not at at at 15 it is it is even less than 10 percent and for us to ensure that we have universal health access that even that even uh budget or money allocated for for adolescent and youth sexual reproductive health and also for for even women women in general governments need to take this matter seriously because at the end of the day uh we have to attain the sustainable development goal especially goal three on gender on on on on on health wealth and health and well-being and also SDG SDG five as well the thing is government need to whatever like kenya is very good at signing policies but when it comes now to implementation now that is where the hurdle is but now we want we want them that to ensure that they increase the health budget so that we can reach people living at the grassroots because you find even at this age at this time and age you find like there is maternal mortality and this maternal mortality we are not saying just women who are over 18 you find like even they are kids who have gotten pregnant and they die while giving birth and even kids also die while giving birth the other thing you find is that you find that there's increase of HIV and AIDS okay among adolescents and youth and because of lack of comprehensive sexuality sexuality education you find that many things arise from it is is it teenage pregnancy and if it is teenage pregnancy if that's kid can't can't can't sustain the child who has been born you find now that they have now engaged into the cycle of poverty and they drop out of school and now that affects now their education and now they become illiterate and at the end of the day you find that this Kenya is so competitive people are looking for jobs even those who have graduated they are looking for those jobs so you find like this particular kid there they have dropped out of school because of pregnancy and they don't have a source of income right so as a policy maker what do you need to do then that that is why it is important to put into consideration the funding for even awareness on their sexual reproductive health and also still pushing for comprehensive sexuality education yeah all right now uh Mariga social uh accountability is a process by which citizens who can hold politicians and policy makers accountable for the services they provide the other day we saw the electries in Kambu uh going around they want their governor out they want to see him returning the money but now as a nation we've had so much about corruption how we moved as a people united to see that we have fought corruption for us to achieve the SDGs I don't think any country at any point moves together as a nation there's we have a bit of an idealistic view about how change or fighting corruption works many countries even the countries which are a couple of countries right now which are protesting very heavily against their own government right and this goes across Africa so this goes all the way from Spain um Spain has its own issues the UK has have has its own issues for a while Chile has its own issues for a while all of these countries but you see all of these countries when you look at the protests that are having their total number of people on the streets and maybe a hundred thousand at most if you look at it hundred thousand there's a percentage of Kenya's population it's a fraction you need only 3.5 percent of a nation to achieve a revolution maximum all we be aiming for is three but there are very many other complications that come towards holding people accountable ones that the context in which people are having is that we expect people on the street and people to protest people to complain in a situation where a lot of these people are struggling to survive we have the economy which in all for all intents and purposes is undergoing a recession people are losing their jobs left right and center and so although people do feel the pinch of the corruption in many situations people feel helpless people are just trying to survive get on day by day people on average people earn less than 10,000 shillings a month in Nairobi this person has a wife and a family you are telling them they're not angry enough they're angry but they're tired they haven't eaten their first thought and every thought needs to be how they're going to survive and so it takes a bit more than anger in many situations to get people calling the government accountable because people are angry let everyone seems to say Kenyans aren't angry enough they are but anger on its own does not provide change very many other aspects that lead to holding people accountable before I let you go on the same area now what's the role of private sector in contribution and investment in the sustainable development goals the private sector I don't know my I do not believe in private sector for public good the private sector is there for profit at best and the points at which the private sector help the public just happen to go with the intersection between what happens for them and their profits and what's happened to our good so I don't I have no reliance on private sector for my own good or for the good of citizens and how then we are speaking of unemployment in our country and so these are the people who will be in the private sector we want to have tenders in the government but I am a private person so how then will I not contribute if I'm given certain tenders there's this lack of accountability what's happened and what I feel is an extension of failed leadership from the top downwards is that there's been a tumble effect down especially when it comes to how the government works and how accountability works we start at the top where we've had scandals all the way up from literally the president and deputy president and people think that's innocent until I tell you this is exactly how it happens so you start from the top you've had scandals across every single ministry you can think of but doesn't end there you've had scandals across past status you've never even heard of existing and so there needs to be and so there needs to be way more accountability especially but you see a lot of the the biggest issue in why the large part of the private sector won't call for accountability is that they benefit from some of these systems all right yes now violet what will take governments to eliminate preventable and prevent maternal and unato deaths what it will take governments to prevent to prevent maternal deaths is first of all they should have the will to ensure that because you know like there are three zeros in the icpd program because you know like there are three zeros in the icpd program of action and one of them is zero maternal mortality so we want to ensure that all countries in the world no one dies out of maternal because of maternal death so so as you can as i've said it should be zero then to ensure that it is zero then first of all we need political will all right so the government in the world they should commit money towards now funding adolescent and youth sexual reproductive health programs especially ones that are going to prevent uh even it is just like malaria and even uh and and and and even hiv and uh and even uh mefan even unintended pregnancies that maybe result that that much result that's why i'm saying that now the government should have the political will they should set aside money for that the citizens themselves they should now engage in health budget advocacy because when they engage in health budget advocacy where you usually found the you find the civil society organizations citizens should hold their government accountable because at the end of the and at the end of the day each country has its own constitution and and like the one in kenya it says that everyone has the highest attainable needs the highest attainable rates of reproductive health and in kenya it is in our constitution so it is by law so it is not like government are citizens are asking the government begging the government please do this please do this no no it is the right as citizens to request for these services and the and and and the government role is to hear their people because at the end of the day all the governments in the world the budgets that they pass they have to be there has to be public participation and which has to go through the citizens and then now once there is public participation now the now the funding can be released for the different health programs including now for preventive yes i won't let you go on that i want to understand we have our own project by the first lady magrid kenyata beyond zero campaign would you see it has worked for us well i can say that it has worked it has worked here in kenya and you find like even in some in in in some counties which health services couldn't be reached you found you found that the beyond zero now enable them to enable the service to be to get there but at the end of the day you find that even though beyond zero has done its part in kenya we haven't yet reached the state where we can say the zero maternal mortality so that means that they still work to be done and the different stakeholders now like the donors the UN agencies and the CSOs the the private sector they should all work hand in hand so as to ensure that we achieve the zero maternal mortality rates all right especially about beyond zero i have a lot of issues with beyond zero particularly because that's not the function health is not the function of the office of the um first lady right that's what the function you should not at one beyond zero is riddled with scandal on its own which people tend to avoid and number two the primary function of reducing this is not beyond zero it's a ministry of health you've lost significantly more in the ministry of health than beyond zero could ever contribute and beyond zero is also a private sector initiative in many ways a lot of the money involved was fundraising right we pay taxes i do not support a parallel program to fundraise when we have the ministry of health losing billions of shillings each year and so even in terms of accountability like beyond zero a lot of reports rely on are from beyond zero they cannot they cannot tell us what their effects are they are still maternal deaths going on and so one i don't hold beyond zero responsible for anything it's not there oh we didn't vote for the we didn't vote for the first lady and whatever these these programs are just parallel the bigger question goes to the ministry of health ministry of health has the audacity to donate money to beyond zero which is supposed to be doing its own work so when i feel like there's a slight problem because beyond zero creates a slight problem because it takes responsibility away from the ministry of health that's why i want to interject on what you have said okay what i'd like to say is that uh you find that you you you find that uh now like the beyond beyond zero now that is the office of the first lady isn't it right and you find like in kenya like we have the 47 governors and there is the office of the first lady there but but one thing you should note is that the government has many priorities but the funding is limited and they and you find that like the government depends on the national revenue that is going to get it's going to get from taxes but that is not enough to cover all the sectors in the country and that is why you find that like even when the first lady started the beyond zero that is why you find that the private sector and other organizations chipping in right because at the end of the day health affects everyone of us because you can't just rely on the government alone the the tax money alone to cater for health i'm saying but the reason why i'm saying is that you find like like now the government you find like yes you can look at the budget yes like we had the three trillion budget isn't it but yeah all of it was not for health you find like it was never enough it was never enough actually to never be enough it will never it will never be enough but it could be true it's a program we lose a third of our budget to corruption correct now when you talk about lack the government lacking capability i disagree we lose a third out of three trillion we're losing one trillion shillings this year to corruption the ministry of health and the scandals involving a lot of these things could more than the quadruple what the beyond zero is producing we don't it's not a lack of funding i disagree the lack of funding corruption loses us way more money than than beyond zero could ever collect the bigger question told me the government accountable the beyond zero came to bring some sanity in a way but that's a conversation that we can never conclude and it's very debatable and our time is up unfortunately many things for coming marigah and violet marigah is a communication consultant and the violet he's a ceo of violet in bt foundation they have been my guest coming up next is why mashawiki keep it tuned to y254 i'll be seeing you again next week on monday until then have yourself a very good night and a wonderful week my name is dereba hilavi goodbye