Submission ID 118275
| Issue/Objective | Introduction: In order for them to influence policy and take leadership in advocating for their health in cultures where adolescents and young women (AGYW) are marginalized it is important that they are empowered to meaningfully participate in decision making. This presentation will discuss a participatory approach through which the AGYW were empowered to identify advocate for and implement the priority health, economic and macro-level interventions. |
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| Methodology/Approach | Methods: The study was conducted in two mining communities in Ghana and Uganda. We employed the modified Nominal Group Technique to engage the AGYW. After coaching the AGYW, they were engaged in a process where they identified and discussed the prioritization criteria which was used in the prioritization process. The prioritization process employed the nominal group discussion technique to support the participation of everyone. |
| Results | Results. The AGYW were able to identify 5 top economic, health and macro-level interventions. The nominal group technique, coupled with the coaching and providing information, ensuring that everyone understood before the ranking supported the AGYW to identify priorities which resonated with the decision makers. The process was also empowering whereby some of the adolescents started to advocate for themselves for interventions at the community level. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | Conclusion: The participatory approach supported the AGYW to meaningfully engage in priority setting. This was empowering and the skills acquired were used by the AGYW in other aspects in their lives. The priorities were deemed feasible and reasonable by the decision makers which negates the narrative that communities may have inappropriate expectations. Participatory approaches such as those used in the study would facilitate meaningful engagement of culturally and socially marginalized AGYW in any kind of leadership and in decision making |
| Presenters and affiliations | Lydia Kapiriri McMaster Univeristy Elizabeth Kwagala Makerere Univeristy Deborah Mensah University of Ghana David Owiledu Universtiy of Ghana Lydia Osei University of Ghana Stephen Wandera Makerere Univeristy Hannah Chidwick McMaster Univeristy |
