Why do we need youth-friendly language? – Part 1

The way we communicate affects who understands and participates in advocacy and projects. It can either exclude certain groups of young people, or inspire them to take action. To kick off season two, Amal and Nour, two of our Youth Champions, sit down with Amanda and Jeremiah, incredible youth advocates in Uganda and Zambia. Learn about Amanda and Jeremiah’s journeys to becoming members of the Youth Advisory Board on the SHE SOARS* project, and how inclusive language plays a role in their lives and communities. They break down what youth-friendly language means and why it is so important when it comes to sexual and reproductive health and rights. The group also discusses the role of gender in programs designed for youth. They share how together, we can create a climate in which young people are meaningfully engaged in the topics that affect their lives.

*SHE SOARS, funded by Global Affairs Canada, is the Sexual and reproductive Health and Economic empowerment Supporting Out-of-school Adolescent girls’ Rights and Skills project. Learn more at: https://care.ca/shesoarsproject

Episode transcripts are available in French and English at: care.ca/shesoars.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the SHE SOARS podcast are the speakers’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, standards and policies of CARE Canada. The SHE SOARS podcast is a youth-led initiative that provides space for young people to discuss global Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights with the purpose of raising awareness in Canada. Listeners acknowledge that the material and information presented in the podcast are for informational purposes only and do not constitute advice or services. The podcast is for private, non-commercial use and speakers do not necessarily reflect any organization they work for.

Transcript

[00:00:01] Madeline: Hello and welcome to SHE SOARS. Her Voice. Her Rights.

[00:00:05] Amal: We are CARE Canada's Youth Champions, a group of young people across Canada who are passionate advocates for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).

[00:00:13] Lauren: We're excited to discuss and raise awareness about young women's rights and choices in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

[00:00:20] Amal: Together, we will explore how these global issues connect to our lives as Canadian youth and discover ways in which we can all take action.

[00:00:27] Lauren: We will also talk about the SHE SOARS* project, which improves access to health and education, which are areas we want to see change in.

[00:00:34] Everyone: Join us!

[00:00:40] Amal: Welcome back to season two of the SHE SOARS podcast. My name is Amal, and you might remember me from season one. Last season we discussed a variety of topics ranging from youth-led activism to sex education and climate change, linking it back to sexual and reproductive health rights. So in this season, we plan to cover a range of new topics, including engaging men and boys and women's rights, and highlighting voices from project countries. A reminder to our listeners, the SHE SOARS project is increasing access to youth-friendly health services and information for young people in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

[00:01:16] Nour: Hi everyone. I'm Nour. I'm also a member of the Youth Champions (YPEC) with Amal. And I'll be joining on season two of the podcast. I have been working on the YPEC Instagram content to raise awareness, and you can find us @carecanada on Instagram. I'm excited to join the podcast.

[00:01:32] Amal: In today's episode, we are joined by two members of the SHE SOARS international Youth Advisory Board, also known as YAB, Amanda and Jeremiah, who help lead the project. 

[00:01:44] Jeremiah: Hi Amal. Hi Nour. Thank you so much for hosting us on the podcast today.

[00:01:50] Amanda: Hi everyone. My name is Amanda. Warm greetings and warm hugs all the way from Kampala, Uganda.

[00:01:57] Nour: Thank you so much. Just to start off, Jeremiah and Amanda, could you tell us a little bit about yourselves and your background?

[00:02:04] Amanda: Hi, once again. My name is Amanda Joan Julian Mary Banura. I am a member of the Youth Advisory Board from Uganda. And for each country where the SHE SOARS project is operating, we are two members of the Youth Advisory Board. So in Uganda I sit on the board with my colleague, Patrick, and I am so happy to be on this podcast. 

[00:02:25] Jeremiah: My name is Lubumbe Jeremiah Mulanda, a Youth Advisory Board member for the SHE SOARS project from Zambia, currently based in Lusaka, and it's a pleasure to be here. And the Youth Advisory Board sends its greetings.

[00:02:38] Amal: Awesome. Thank you so much for introducing yourselves. I think our listeners would love to hear a bit more about your backgrounds. That would be really interesting to hear. 

[00:02:46] Amanda: I started my advocacy journey back in 2007 as a student in high school. And being a student leader, I was entrusted to make sure that the health of my fellow girls in school was a priority.

[00:03:02] Amanda: So we talked about issues of menstrual hygiene in school, body changes, getting to understand our body, feelings and emotions while at school. That started off my journey as an advocate and my first organization that mentored me in this was Action for Children.

[00:03:21] Amanda: That trained me how to be a peer educator. The language we speak as peers is not the same language that we speak with adults. So that is how I got into the space. And then gradually I have been climbing up the ladder of advocacy, being a youth representative on different organization boards.

[00:03:40] Amanda: I am currently the vice chairperson of the youth Straight Talk Foundation Board of Directors, and I run a youth-led organization called the Uganda Youth Alliance for Family Planning and Adolescent Health in Uganda. And I am also the current youth focal point for Family Planning 2030, a global network with an agenda of family planning based in Uganda.

[00:04:04] Amanda: I am also a freelance journalist. I write news articles with a magazine online on tech and health among other things. That's briefly about me. I'll slide it over to Jeremiah.

[00:04:17] Jeremiah: Thank you so much. Similar to Amanda, my advocacy journey also began when I was in high school. The first organization that I worked with was Plan International here in Zambia via the youth advisory panel, and it is through that structure that I learned a basic understanding of advocacy.

[00:04:36] Jeremiah: From there on, I moved to working with another organization called BBC Media Action on a project that was dealing with sexual and gender-based violence. But in the middle of moving from Plan to BBC Media Action, I came across SRHR for the first time and it really just mesmerized me and I wanted to hear more.

[00:04:55] Jeremiah: I wanted to learn more. And I think that is where my sexual and reproductive health advocacy journey began. From there on, I moved on to working actively with my Ministry of Health here in Zambia on a project called Adaptive Leadership, which focuses on reducing new Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections amongst young people with a special interest in adolescent girls and young women.

[00:05:17] Jeremiah: In the process, I started working with another organization called Zambian Youth Platform. I started representing the country and the region at various meetings and conferences.

[00:05:27] Jeremiah: My capacity was being built to understand the sexual and reproductive health of young people. And then in 2021 I was privileged to join this wonderful team, the Youth Advisory Board. Together with my colleague, Faith, we represent Zambia on the board.

[00:05:44] Jeremiah: Also, I actively participate on Comic Relief USA's youth advisory council. I advise and consult for many different organizations. I am also currently pursuing my Bachelor of Science in Development Studies at the University of Lusaka. In a nutshell, I am just a young person who is passionate about sexual and reproductive health, speaking for young people who can't come to such spaces, who don't have the privilege of being in conferences and meetings to air out their issues. 

[00:06:13] Amal: Awesome. Thank you so much for explaining a bit more about yourselves and what you do. We were also wondering how did you both become involved in the YAB and SHE SOARS project? What made you interested in joining?

[00:06:28] Amanda: Thank you for the question. My journey before from running the organization, Uganda Youth Alliance for Family Planning, it boosted me to different regions and the connections that I made from there, I think one recommended me as the search for the Youth Advisory Board members was launched. And when the link was shared with me, I applied, and this is how I got here. Now, here I am, I’m a YAB member. 

[00:06:53] Jeremiah: Mine is very dissimilar to Amanda's experience, quite the opposite, I must add. I found an ad via, I think it was Restless Development’s Facebook page. I was scrolling through Facebook one afternoon and then I found this call for applications for Youth Advisory Board members. Now what really caught my attention was the name sounded very appealing to me before I actually even opened the application or sought to really understand what this thing was about.

[00:07:18] Jeremiah: The name, Youth Advisory Board, I was thinking, I'm going to sit on a board. I went past the post because you know how it is scrolling on Facebook or any social media platform. But something just told me, you know what, go back and look at the ad and see what it says. 

[00:07:30] Jeremiah: I went back, followed the link and the instructions, and then there was this criterion that they had set. I looked at it with my background already. I told myself, I think I am more than eligible to be able to apply for this. And then I applied for the role and filled in a quick application.

[00:07:44] Jeremiah: And then I was selected to be a part of the Youth Advisory Board. I must also mention that we didn't know each other before being on the board, even for the in-country colleagues. We were in a similar space doing the same work, but we were all strangers. And I think because of that, we have built a bond together because we all started the journey together. 

[00:08:05] Nour: Thank you both for elaborating. What are some current topics or themes and activities that you focus on within the YAB and the SHE SOARS project in Uganda and Zambia?

[00:08:16] Jeremiah: The Youth Advisory Board solely exists to ensure that young people on the SHE SOARS project are meaningfully engaged. So I think you might think of us as the meaningful youth engagement police, on a joking level, because we ensure that is happening across all areas of the project.

[00:08:37] Jeremiah: When, for example, partners hold a meeting, are they engaging young people, not just inviting people to the meeting? Do the young people, for example, have agenda setting power? Then we go ahead and look at the documents that we use on the project. Are they conducive for young people to be able to understand?

[00:08:54] Jeremiah: We also go a step further in interacting with the young people in the districts where this project is being implemented to understand what their needs are and what they would like to see changed.

[00:09:04] Amanda: Yeah. In addition, the topics really cross-cut because if you look at the setting of the SHE SOARS project, we not only focus on sexual and reproductive health, but we have gender equality issues.

[00:09:19] Amanda: We have issues to do with livelihood. We have some programs to do with savings and girls and boys groups where they come together to discuss issues concerning gender norms.

[00:09:29] Amanda: Everything is in there. It's called SHE SOARS, but without leaving out the boys. SHE SOARS is sexual and reproductive health and rights, empowerment of girls who are out of school, making sure that they thrive.

[00:09:40] Amanda: But we bring in the boys because girls drop out of school when they get pregnant and they don't get pregnant on their own. We want to address all the challenges that young people face, so we talk about menstrual hygiene, body changes, livelihoods and family planning. Those are some of the themes we bring out. And policy and advocacy. 

[00:10:00] Amal: Thanks so much for talking about what YAB does. It sounds like you do a variety of things to include boys and girls within the SHE SOARS partner countries. So today we are going to be focusing on inclusive language, which we know YAB is an expert in. Could you please explain to our listeners what it means when we say youth-friendly language and inclusive language and touch on why it is important?

[00:10:23] Jeremiah: Thank you so much for that very important question. Youth-friendly and inclusive language simply means that all people, including young people and persons living with disabilities, understand the information that is being shared. Whenever we communicate as organizations, many times we overlook that the people we are communicating to understand the information. Most times, it is the young people that are being communicated to, but we don't pay attention to ask ourselves, for example, we have created a podcast. But what about the listeners? Are they able to understand the language that we are using, for example, the terminology and context that we are using?

[00:11:06] Jeremiah: And when I talk about young people, I mean young people who are in urban settings and rural settings. This is where things like translation of this material comes in because not all young people are able to understand English.

[00:11:20] Jeremiah: To cut a long story short, youth-friendly language is simply language that young people can understand. And when we bring in inclusion, we bring in all the other diversities of young people, persons living with disabilities, people with different needs.

[00:11:38] Jeremiah: Are we ensuring that when we communicate, we encompass all of these people? And then why is it important? I believe that when we communicate, we want the young people to listen. We aim to ensure that we are not only communicating, but that young people understand.

[00:11:55] Jeremiah: Because imagine you put out these beautiful messages for people out there. You go on national television, you print magazines, you go on social media, hoping that the people are understanding, but they don't. How then are you able to achieve your goals?

[00:12:12] Jeremiah: It is impossible. So first and foremost, it is important for us to advocate for youth friendly and inclusive language so that young people understand, and this is what we have done on the SHE SOARS project. One quick example is that when we came onto the project, we quickly identified that some of the documents that we had or that we were going to develop did not have youth-friendly and inclusive language.

[00:12:36] Jeremiah: So we started reviewing almost everything, the project implementation plan and different strategies to ensure primarily that young people understand. 

[00:12:46] Amanda: Yeah. Thank you, Jeremiah. To add on, when we talk about inclusive language, it means breaking down those big words to be understood by everyone. Because they always say there is nothing for us without us. There is nothing for the young people without the young people.

[00:13:01] Amanda: The ones who are doing the programs, who are designing the policies are all not young. They are out of that bracket, but they are designing activities to be implemented for young people, which does not make sense. And having inclusivity with all groups, including persons with disabilities.

[00:13:18] Amanda: You cannot design a program that is meant for all the able-bodied young people, and you leave out, for example, those who cannot read, those who cannot hear. And you expect it to be inclusive. That is what I can add on top of what Jeremiah already said.

[00:13:34] Nour: Awesome. Thank you so much. So, my next question would be what role does inclusive language play within your own lives and experiences?

[00:13:44] Jeremiah: I think on a personal level, if you are speaking to me and I don't understand what you are saying, you are speaking Greek. We can't develop an understanding.

[00:13:53] Jeremiah: We can't work together. And that is a barrier already. So even before a project starts, an initiative starts, there are already these barriers that are created, and you don't have the buy in of the young people simply because they don't understand what you're saying.

[00:14:07] Jeremiah: Inclusive language plays an important role because I think even from my own experience, if an organization comes to myself as a young person and says, this is what we want to do, in very simple layman's language, I am able to buy in and say, I think we can work together. But if they came to me and used all of this domain knowledge, spoke of these big words... And sometimes even using acronyms themselves in a project like SHE SOARS that is very big, I personally struggled with understanding because we had acronyms like GESI (Gender Equality and Social Inclusion), which simply means gender strategy.

[00:14:44] Jeremiah: So, for some young people, immediately they hear this and it is already a barrier for them because they don't understand what is happening, and it is hard for them to be able to meaningfully engage. So, you see where the problem is. You invite them to meetings, they will come and sit like they are listening. And they will leave. You would be thinking that they have understood, but they would not have understood because of the language that you have been using. It is very important.

[00:15:10] Jeremiah: We use youth-friendly and inclusive language because it fosters meaningful youth engagement.

[00:15:16] Amanda: Yeah. And just to add on to what Jeremiah is saying, I remember as I was starting my advocacy journey, I had to really take time to understand the terminology being used. And so inclusive language to me is very important because it makes my life easier to be able to articulate issues being faced by young people.

[00:15:38] Amanda: And for example, when it comes to sitting on boards, they usually presume that by the time you are on the board, you know a lot of things. Jeremiah just said GESI. The first time they mentioned GESI, I was thinking, what is that? Is it spelled with a ‘G’ or with a ‘J’?

[00:15:52] Amanda: So there were many things I had to connect. And at some point, I think one of us had to ask, what is that? It relieved me and triggered my mind to always ask, what does it really mean in terms of hands-on implementation? And I think every day is a learning opportunity for all of us. So inclusivity in terms of language is a crucial thing in terms of being able to grow in a profession. Thank you.

[00:16:20] Amal: Thank you both for explaining how inclusive language plays a role in your own lives and experiences. I know especially in the advocacy space, sometimes the terminology can be very confusing and there can be so many acronyms. So we were wondering, what does inclusive and youth-friendly language look like in your communities and within your respective countries? 

[00:16:40] Jeremiah: Thank you so much for that question, Amal. I would like to acknowledge the work that CARE and its partners, especially on the SHE SOARS project, are doing to ensure that the communication they give out to young people is youth-friendly and inclusive. And I think one of the ways that they are doing this is ensuring that structures like the YPEC for example, which are the Youth Public Engagement Champions, the Youth Advisory Board, and many other structures that we have on the project always hold partners accountable.

[00:17:14] Jeremiah: They assist in reviewing the information to ensure that it is youth-friendly. I must add that there are a lot of young people who need the information that organizations are communicating, but sometimes it might not be translated. Sometimes there are too many acronyms. Sometimes it is not involving persons with disabilities, with different needs, and that poses a barrier. 

[00:17:43] Jeremiah: So in my community, there is work that is happening, but it is not enough. This is why we are asking different organizations and our governments to ensure that when they communicate at any level, they ensure that the information is youth-friendly and inclusive. This should begin at the highest level in terms of the policies that we have.

[00:18:02] Jeremiah: Are we ensuring that even a young person is able to understand the information and the strategies? Because young people are the biggest chunk of the population, so you want to ensure that they understand what you are doing.

[00:18:14] Jeremiah: And let's not forget young people in the rural areas. What I am seeing in my country here in Zambia is most of the organizations are out in the rural areas to ensure that they do not leave the young people in rural areas behind.

[00:18:26] Jeremiah: So there is something that is happening, but there is a lot that we are desiring as young people. And how we can achieve that is by bringing young people closer to the decision-making table when we are formulating our strategies and plans so that they add their input and ensure that we communicate in an inclusive and youth-friendly manner.

[00:18:46] Amanda: In my community and in Uganda, inclusive language or youth-friendly language is a bit different because there are some terminologies which we are not allowed to use in-country anymore. So you cannot say, I am an advocate for sexual rights in Uganda. You will be given a red light immediately. So within the community and the country at large, we need to acknowledge our rights, our sexual rights and reproductive rights, but we cannot use the word ‘rights.’

[00:19:21] Amanda: So it is a bit limiting in terms of youth-friendly language, but then we are trying to reclaim our space as young people to make sure that our voices are heard more because we have so many very good policies that speak to young people and adolescent health. And we have had them being reviewed time and time again to change the language. Yeah.

[00:19:45] Nour: thank you both so much for your elaboration and mentioning that meaning might be lost in translation and communication on a higher level with policies is important and the different terminologies being used. Speaking of formulating your plan, why would it be important to take gender into account in program design and implementation for youth? 

[00:20:07] Amanda: So when we talk about gender, gender norms and gender inclusive language it is broad and it something that I am so passionate about because lately I have got to understand what gender transformative norms means. And it is something that we do every day, we have seen it, but just because of the terminologies, personally I did not really link the two.

[00:20:28] Amanda: When it comes to gender concerns into program design and implementation for youth, it is a very big step because usually young people or young girls have self-esteem issues. That position is for boys. Boys are better than us. They are stronger than us, or something like that.

[00:20:44] Amanda: And then there is usually that sort of attitude that is given to girls. They are judged by their looks. They are judged by their voices. They are judged by their energy levels, which is something that is against gender transformative norms and gender inclusivity. So when it comes to programming for youth, I take it so personally to consider gender concerns.

[00:21:09] Amanda: And I think we are beginning to see a change in policymakers and program implementers appreciating the role of gender. And the people we have worked with so far in Uganda, the partners we are working with, they are appreciating that. We see sometimes they are like, okay, Amanda, you should go first.

[00:21:28] Amanda: What do you have to say? We are learning to strike a balance between over listening to the girls, like overdoing it and leaving out the boys’ voices, because we are all equal partners. We all face similar challenges, but in a different way. So we need to accept each other, give each other space and hear out each other's concerns and create solutions together.

[00:21:53] Jeremiah: Thank you so much, Amanda. First and foremost, every organization out there that exists sets up a project to achieve a certain goal. Now, for that project or initiative to achieve its goal, you need to be able to include gender. And what is gender? Gender is male and female, and of course all of the others. So when we are including gender, when we are able to make it a priority, not just a side issue.

[00:22:25] Jeremiah: We are able to ensure that we deliver to the young people what they really need. And this is why on the SHE SOARS project there was a deliberate effort, for example, to create a gender strategy. We also have a GESI advisor.

[00:22:37] Jeremiah: Most of the issues that we have here are embedded so much in culture and where there is culture, there is gender. These two things move hand in hand. So if you want to be able to design a project that will tailor to the needs of young people, you need to be able to include gender concerns. And when we do that, we will be able to deliver what the young people need. Secondly, the involvement of gender enhances that how we communicate is inclusive. Because the more we involve gender in our programming, the more we understand how this young person is like.

[00:23:13] Jeremiah: How do they look like? Where do they go? How is their reproductive health? And all of those issues. So the more we dig deeper into understanding gender, the better interventions we design. That is why it is important.

[00:23:25] Jeremiah: In the SHE SOARS project, we have a component that we call engaging men and boys, because we understand that boys and men can be allies of change.

[00:23:35] Jeremiah: Just like myself here, you can have another man speak as passionately as I speak about these issues in the communities. Organizations are beginning to realize the importance of not just prescribing everything for young people, but to be able to go and ask them and ensure that they communicate in a gender inclusive and youth-friendly manner.

[00:23:55] Jeremiah: The impact of inclusive language in my daily life is that I feel very happy when an organization, when my government is communicating something to me, that I am able to understand, be it a speech, a policy, a strategy, be it in the newspaper, everywhere.

[00:24:12] Jeremiah: As long as I am able to understand, I feel that I can do my part in ending the problem or being a part of the solution. But if this language that is being communicated, I cannot understand it, I shun away from that because I cannot understand how I am going to be a part of this initiative.

[00:24:29] Jeremiah: So inclusive language plays an important role in the lives of young people, including myself, because when language is inclusive, what we are doing becomes inclusive. Then young people are able to be meaningfully engaged and they can contribute to all of the projects, programs and initiatives that we are trying to do.

[00:24:50] Amal: Thank you so much, Amanda and Jeremiah, for joining us today and talking about yourselves and the amazing work that YAB is doing in regards to youth and inclusive language. 

[00:25:03] Amanda: Thank you for having us.

[00:25:05] Jeremiah: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[00:25:07] Amal: Thank you all for listening. Stay tuned for episode two of this new season where we will be continuing our discussion with YAB and sharing actions that you can take to make language around sexual and reproductive health and rights more inclusive towards youth. And to note, this season you will hear some new and different voices from the Youth Champions in Canada and partners on the SHE SOARS project, like members of the international Youth Advisory Board.

[00:25:38] Amal: Thanks for listening to SHE SOARS. If you liked this episode, please share it on social media, connect with us in the comments or give us a like.

[00:25:46] Lauren: Make sure to catch our next episode by subscribing to our channel and following us wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:25:22] Madeline: Follow @carecanada on Instagram for updates on our show and the project.

[00:25:57] Lauren: SHE SOARS stands for Sexual and reproductive Health and Economic empowerment supporting Out-of-school Adolescent girls' Rights and Skills in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

[00:26:07] Madeline: The project is funded by Global Affairs Canada. Check out our global partner organizations:

[00:26:12] Amal: Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Restless Development for even more project updates.

[00:26:22] Lauren: Thanks again for listening. Until next time!