THE United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has introduced the Our Rights, Our Lives Our Future Plus (O3 PLUS) programme, an initiative that aims to ensure young people in higher and tertiary education institutions (HTEIs) realize positive health, education, and gender equality outcomes.
By Michael Gwarisa in South Africa
Implementation of the O3PLUS programme follows the successful execution of the O3 programme, UNESCO’s flagship initiative which was launched three years ago. Unlike the general belief that students or learners in higher and tertiary education settings have reached the tertiary level of education that equips them to avoid poor health outcomes, a baseline study conducted in all of the 24 participating institutions across Zambia and Zimbabwe, shows that too many young people are still growing into adulthood with very limited knowledge about their reproductive health and sexuality despite them being in tertiary institutions.
According to the survey, there is a sizeable proportion of unmarried students not using condoms in sexual encounters (as high as 37.2% and 25.2% among females and 24.6% and 13.2% among males in Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively). Furthermore, slightly more than 24% and 16.4% of female students in Zambia and Zimbabwe, respectively, have experienced some form of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in institutions of higher learning, hence the need to institutionalize Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in HTEIs.
Speaking at the O3 and O3 PLUS Annual Review and Partners Meeting in Johannesburg, Regional Director and Representative, UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa, from Professor Hubert Gijzen said the recently launched O3 PLUS, builds on the current O3 programme to focus on young people in higher and tertiary education institutions in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Thanks to the generous support of the governments of Sweden, France, Switzerland, Norway and Ireland, and the Packard Foundation, these programmes align with current efforts by UNESCO to address the intersections of SDG 4 (education), SDG 3 (health), and SDG 5 (gender equality) and contribute to a sustainable future for Africa’s children and young people.
“Despite a challenging context of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing opposition to CSE, we are pleased to note that UNESCO through the O3 Programme made some significant strides in the delivery of its mandate. 2021 marked the third year of implementing the O3 programme – the largest comprehensive sexuality education programme in Africa. It was also the first year of implementing the O3 PLUS programme,” said Professor Gijzen.
He added that the O3 and O3 PLUS programmes have successfully contributed to raising the political priority of CSE in many countries in the region.
“I would like to share my thoughts on the new O3 plus and how we plan to take this good initiative to scale. From the beginning, I have been excited about the O3 PLUS, for me, it is a logical thing to do because it provides a continuation of the O3. We take the child from primary to secondary school through the O3 programme. And when they graduate into tertiary education, we continue with them through the O3 Plus.”
He also said there were additional reasons to support the O3 plus – considering that the highest rate of new HIV infections is seen in the higher and tertiary education age group and the inclusion of this age group helps to mitigate the opposition I talked about earlier.
“I therefore hope that, in this meeting, we can talk more about how to bring other countries and partners on board to take the O3 plus to scale. 2021 marked the third year of implementing the O3 programme – the largest comprehensive sexuality education programme in Africa. It was also the first year of implementing the O3 PLUS programme. In the next few days, you will hear from our UNESCO colleagues, and government partners about the amazing work done in 2021 and results achieved, in spite of a complicating COVID-19 situation.”
The O3PLUS project aims to reach 108,254 students with accurate, rights-based CSE in 24 HTEIs across Zambia and Zimbabwe by 2024. This represents 80% of the 135,318 students enrolled in the 24 institutions. UNESCO, in partnership with the Ministries of Education in Zambia and Zimbabwe, launched the O3 PLUS project at an event held at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare on 28 October 2021.
