Sustainable Development girls: mapping youth advocacy and action to achieve sexual and reproductive health rights in Africa

The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN) recognise the importance of youth involvement yet the reality is that there is limited meaningful engagement especially in developing contexts on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). This open forum draws on a roundtable discussion with the goal of engaging youth and presenting Pan-African, youth and feminist perspectives on global and continental commitments to SRHR, in particular Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls". The SRHR Africa Trust (SAT) is a regional non-governmental organisation (NGO) which has established innovative youth hubs for 12-25 year-olds in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Hubs provide safe and secure physical spaces as well as virtual online spaces for youth dialogue, networking, capacity building and collaboration. Six youth (aged 16-27 years) who lead SRHR advocacy initiatives in the region were purposefully selected/ invited to participate in a virtual roundtable discussion to share their perspectives on global (SDGs) and continental (Agenda 2063, Maputo Plan of Action) commitments to SRHR . Thematic analysis of data was carried out. The participants' contributions revealed that there were some progressive shifts in discourse, for example, understandings of gender, during the discussion. There were also noted weaknesses, such as limited knowledge and engagement of Pan-African discourse compared to their awareness of the SDGs. Young feminists stated that given present societal constraints, specifically cultural norms and lack of political representation, it is unlikely that the SDGs will be achieved. Youth feminism and agency in menstrual health and working with positive adolescents, demonstrated the potential to shift the adolescent and youth gender and SRHR terrain on to stronger activist ground but this is subject to further ongoing and meaningful engagement.