Bungoma County Chapter

Young people in Bungoma County face significant sexual and reproductive health challenges among them the alarming reported cases of teenage pregnancies and inadequate access to sexual and reproductive health services and information. In an earnest effort to address these challenges, the Bungoma Y-ACT Coalition seeks to domesticate the National Reproductive Health Policy to guide the County Assembly on the allocation of sufficient resources towards addressing sexual and reproductive health issues affecting young people within the county.

To kick-off this advocacy journey, the Y-ACT Bungoma chapter developed an advocacy strategy anchored on two goals; working with the Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) TWG to develop a Sexual & Reproductive Health policy that includes youth as a key component and the creation of implementation guidelines for the County ASRH Policy.

County Highlights

July – October 2021: MYE Scoring

New to the MYE squad is the Bungoma county coalition, conducted its baseline and end line MYE scoring activity in July- October 2021. The Y-ACT MYE Scorecard in tow, the team comprising of youth advocates and policymakers came together for an initial orientation session to enable them to familiarize themselves with the scorecard in July 2021 prior to the initial scoring activity. Even more exciting was the actual baseline scoring activity, which no doubt gained buy-in from both the policymakers and the youth advocates. A key highlight from the MYE Scoring activity was the development of an action plan to track progress in meaningful youth engagement

October 2021 – Formation of the Gender Technical Working Group

The Y-ACT Bungoma Coalition partnered with the county government in the formation of the Gender Technical Working group (chaired by the County Commissioner and co-chaired by the CECM, Department of Gender). The TWG was formed with the noble aim of spearheading matters gender within the county, with a key focus on addressing sexual and gender-based violence, development of gender policies as well as the development and implementation of interventions to address teenage pregnancies.

September – October 2021: #SautiSasa

Bungoma County was a key focus county for the second phase of the Sauti Sasa campaign, our bold, audacious and disruptive campaign geared towards addressing teenage pregnancies in Kenya. During this phase, the Bungoma Sauti Sasa Action Group worked alongside policymakers to ensure social contracts committing to addressing teenage pregnancies within the county were signed. Further, the SSAG led the distribution of dignity kits to 400 vulnerable adolescent girls in all 10 sub-counties.

Coalition Partners

Stage Media Arts CBO

Stage Media Arts was founded in 2002 as a talent-based group in Bungoma County with the noble aim of promoting and nurturing talents among youth within the county. Following the expansion of its scope in 2008, the group was registered under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development, Bungoma South to empower the community, build capacity and promote behavior change among the youth in and out of school using participatory methodologies in matters of Sexual and Reproductive Health, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health. Stage Media Arts’ goal is to empower young people to make their voices heard and enhance their access to health information, health supplies and youth friendly services, in line with its vision of a society where young people are free to make informed choices about their health without judgment and bias. The CBO currently works with an average of 45 youth within Bungoma County.