by Justin Ngong, Officer, Communications FP2030 Northwest and Central Africa hub

The fourth edition of the Ouagadougou Partnership Coordinating Unit’s Regional Youth Dialogue, held under the theme “Financing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: What Strategy for the Sustainability of Youth Interventions?,” served as a key platform to unite youth leaders and partners from the OPCU together with the NWCA Hub, to officially launch the “Made Possible by Family Planning” campaign across Francophone countries, mobilizing collective efforts to expand the campaign’s reach in this part of Africa.

A defining moment of the launch was the co-creation session, where youth leaders actively brainstormed strategies and approaches to ensure continued support for family planning, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), domestic resource mobilization, sustainable health financing, and meaningful youth engagement. Their discussions reflected a keen awareness of the shifting financial and programmatic landscape and the need for adaptive, impactful responses.

Youth leaders emphasized the importance of community-driven action, advocating for the decentralization of the campaign from institutional settings to the grassroots level. They stressed the need for the campaign to reach local communities, where the most vulnerable beneficiaries live, particularly rural women and young girls. Engaging traditional and religious leaders and creating platforms for people from rural communities to share their stories about how family planning is transforming lives, families, and communities will reignite local momentum and reshape narratives around family planning.

Throughout the event, youth leaders and partners stepped in front of the camera to share their personal experiences and highlight what family planning has made possible for them and their communities. These testimonials aim to inspire action and amplify campaign activities across Francophone Africa, where this campaign is being launched for the first time, further anchoring the campaign in the lived reality of the people it targets.