Togo: Youth participation within the fight against HIV – stories

May 30, 2024

For the fight against AIDS to be effective, we must start with the principle of “doing with them”, not “doing for them”. Listening to and considering the needs of affected populations continues to be key to success. In West and Central Africa, young people aged 15 to 24 are most susceptible to HIV/AIDS, with over 300 recent infections reported every week. But how can we work with young people and make sure that proposed interventions meet their needs?

A very good example is the trail followed by a gaggle of young Togolese activists living with HIV: from the primary meeting with the Global Fund in 2022, to participation within the national dialogue and the event of grant applications for 2024-2026.

It all began on the AFRAVIH 2022 conference, when Réseau Grandir Ensemble ambassadors took part in a roundtable discussion with partners to elucidate the situation and wishes of young people living with HIV in West and Central Africa. This is how Emmanuel Hounsime, Kossi Dieudonné Awolokou-Fiotekpor, Dédé Tatiana Amegnran, Sitsope Adjovi Husunupe and Akolé Emmanuella Wilson-Bahun met Caty Fall Sow, currently director of the Department of Africa and the Middle East, who put them in contact with the Togo national team led by Sandrine Lourenço, portfolio manager and supported by Juliana Reindorf, program specialist.

The Global Fund enabled the network to satisfy with the National Coordination Mechanism after which with UNAIDS, a partner contributing to capability constructing of the group through national consultations to define the package of services that will probably be offered to this goal group and included in GC7. “We discovered that many things are being done for young people, but nothing is being done with them,” explains Eric Verschueren, director of UNAIDS Togo since 2019. “The aim was to engage representatives of youth organizations as active participants, not passive ones. With this support, the group successfully contributed to the development of interventions for young people and to the negotiation and writing of the Togo funding and HIV grant application.”

“Thanks to this first meeting with the Global Fund, other opportunities are opening up for us in Togo and we are more visible at national level as representatives of positive youth and young people.” —Dédé Tatiana Amegnran

Emmanuel Hounsime said: “It was an extremely rich experience for us. We had to cooperate with consultants and high-level officials, and even co-create documents that we had no access to before. It gave us a broader vision of our involvement and also encouraged us to be well organized.” Kossi Dieudonné Awolokou-Fiotekpor adds: “At the national level, we wanted to start advocacy activities, but we didn’t know where to start. Caty Fall Sow felt it was very important for us to participate in national decision-making. I was proud to be a (participating) young representative living with HIV and I learned a lot.”

This group of young people greatly appreciated this support, which reassured them that they were taken seriously and that their voices were heard. As Dr. Akouavi Angèle Maboudou, Strategic Information Advisor at UNAIDS Togo, explains, this ability to precise and defend their interests allowed them to persuade the chairman of the drafting committee to incorporate a package of specific actions for youth within the HIV grant 2024-2026.

However, there are still challenges in ensuring that a critical mass of young people speak the identical language. As Dr. Verschueren emphasizes, young people change into older people, and with them come other young people. Unlike many of the key populations with whom the Global Fund and UNAIDS work to fight HIV, including young people’s voices within the national response requires an ongoing technique of renewal.

By constructing links between its partners, the Global Fund can proceed to play a catalytic role, helping to make sure the participation of young people in the event of HIV policies. This happens more actually because, as Sitsope Adjovi Husunupe summarizes, “…engagement with various bodies has allowed me to see that the continued presence of teenagers and young people on the national stage is essential. Even with all the good will of policymakers, it is up to us, as teenagers and young people, to defend the needs of our peers and ensure that they are met.”