June 2, 2022

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Social Development (MYSD), Dr. Olugbenga Aina, has affirmed that the Lagos State Government will continue its support for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Youth-Powered Ecosystem to advance Urban Adolescent Health (YPE4AH).

Dr. Aina spoke during the official launch of the ‘TEENSMATA’ campaign held at the Lagos State Youth Development Centre, Gbagada, Lagos, on Tuesday.

Represented by Mrs. Helen Adeoye, Assistant Director of Youth, MYSD, the Permanent Secretary commended the proponent of the initiative for complementing the efforts of the Lagos State Government to inculcate good morals in the youths and give them necessary guidance.

His words: “I must commend all those involved in this project, particularly all the stakeholders, for protecting the health and well-being of our out-of-school youths, engaging them with life-changing programmes as well as embarking on activities to ensure a brighter future for them. As a responsible government, we assure you of our continued support”.

Earlier in her welcome speech, the Chief of Party (COP), USAID-YPE4AH, Boladele Akin-Kolapo, who was represented by Daini Babajide, the Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Lead of the project, stated that the TEENSMATA initiative has come to stay after engaging and earning the support of key stakeholders, including the government, adolescents, influencers, community leaders, union leaders and private sector among others.

Akin-Kolapo averred that the official launch of the TEENSMATA initiative aimed at fully implementing the project’s objectives, creating awareness and visibility as well as mobilising traffic to the designated TEENSMATA Youth Hubs located in selected Lagos State Youth Development Centres.

According to her, the project is expected to improve the life skills of adolescents for healthy living and future planning while providing leadership skills to foster an enabling social and policy environment for adolescents’ health and development.

“It also includes access to livelihood that will increase youth workforce readiness, job opportunities and entrepreneurship to address socio-economic determinants of adolescent health”, the COP added.

The Strategy Manager of Yellow Brick Road, one of the implementing partners of YPE4AH, Carol Ofem, stated that “TEENSMATA” campaign with the theme: “Shine Well Well”, will, at the individual level, address the lack of in-depth Sexual Reproductive Health/Family Planning (SRH/FP) knowledge among poor urban adolescents and debunk common myths preventing them from seeking SRH/FP services.

She also reiterated that at the interpersonal level, the campaign will aim to cause shifts in mindsets or perceptions, just as it provides adolescents and parents/caregivers with the tools and language to have open and honest conversations about sex and sexual health.

Ofem stated further that the campaign will work to ensure the healthcare providers within the community level ecosystem are trained to provide youth-friendly counselling and services, adding that the advocacy will also seek to achieve a change in the attitude of influencers, including parents, caregivers, community leaders, religious leaders and trade masters

Participants at the event included YPE4AH Implementing Partners, Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) members, Lagos State Government officials, Community Leaders, Market Leaders, Influencers, CDA Leaders and representatives from the Private Sector, among others.