Sexuality, Young People and Rights
Subtopic 4: Practices and Strategies - Next Steps – An Introduction 

The discussions on the e-forum have so far been thought-provoking and we look forward to more debate and discussion on these issues. Over the past few weeks we have discussed extensively the lack of spaces for young people particularly when it comes to sexuality. Further, access to information and services on sexuality is curtailed for young people. Young people are not even thought of as entitled to rights or able to participate in decision-making processes. However, all is not bleak. There is exciting and innovative work on sexuality and young people that is also going on. Let's talk about this now.

We have reached the last rung of the discussion in this e-forum and we have designed this subtopic for participants to discuss and share the different practices and strategies adopted in your specific work settings. All of us have our individual experiences of working with young people and sexuality based on which we know what works and what doesn't in our contexts. Let us use this space to share such experiences and to learn and devise further strategies from our collective experiences and practices. So, for this subtopic, please talk about specific experiences at the ground level through working directly with young people as a group or talk about practices and strategies when working at the policy making and advocacy levels.

Also, I use this opportunity to invite any interesting resources and materials on young people and sexuality that you may have come across and would like to share with the group whether in the form of websites, books and other documents that people have found relevant and interesting. This would definitely help in developing a consolidated resource pool of material and we at the Resource Centre could put it together and send the compilation back to the group.

Please feel free to write in your analyses, observations, thoughts, comments, and examples addressing any or all of the issues raised above. Alternatively, please pose new questions you feel are relevant for this sub-topic.

We look forward to a lively and exciting discussion!

Regards,

Arpita Das (Moderator)
The South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality