Community engagement has been regarded as a vital component to ensure that adolescents and young people have access to information on Sexual and Reproductive Health and rights (SRHR) to reduce the possibility for youth to be exposed to Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) including HIV, early and unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, child marriages and gender-based violence (GBV).

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), through the Safeguard Young People (SYP) Programme, with funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and other partners, led a two-day field visit to Karongi and Nyamasheke districts of the Western Province in Rwanda.

To tackle the issue of early and unintended pregnancies, UNFPA is supporting the Government of Rwanda in implementing Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)  both in and out of school countrywide. CSE is a curriculum-based education that is age-appropriate, socio-culturally sensitive and scientifically accurate information on Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) to help young people to make safer choices. So far, 121 master trainers have been capacitated and over 1.5 million students received knowledge and skills on culturally sensitive and age-appropriate CSE to make informed decisions. Anthanasie Mukankusi, Vice Mayor of Social Affairs, Nyamasheke district urged teachers to mainstream the concepts of CSE into daily teachings.