The International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region, Inc. (IPPF / WHR) has a network of member organizations in the Eastern Caribbean that provides women, men and youth with services and information about sexual and reproductive health. These organizations also have a youth arm, called Youth Advocacy Movement (YAM), The Lobi Foundation, an accredited member organization of the IPPF, also has a YAM

YAMs encourages young people’s participation in youth programs. The members, between the ages of 10 and 24 years, design strategies to educate young people about sexual and reproductive health. They also work towards putting peers at ease as much as possible in order to lower the threshold to make use of the available services.

This group was first called the Under Twenty Club (UTC) and its members were then younger than 20 years old. In 1998, the name UTC was changed to YAM in order to better reflect their mission of: "Strengthening young people in order to enable them, to deal with issues related to their development including their sexual and reproductive health rights”

In Suriname, the first YAM meeting took place on Saturday May 12th 2001.
The young people who were present, were provided with information about the purpose of the YAM, so they could decide for themselves if they wanted to become part of YAM SURINAME. After this first selection, the YAM members officially presented themselves to the Board of the Lobi Foundation during the Annual Meeting on Saturday May 26th 2001. This was also their first formal activity as the Youth Advocacy Movement of the foundation. 

Main goal of the Youth Advocacy Movement:
To strengthening Caribbean youth to advance their sexual and reproductive health.

Sub goals of the Youth Advocacy Movement:

1. To strengthen the capacity of Caribbean YAMS to provide support and information and to work on the leadership qualities of young men and women between 10-24 years in sexual and reproductive health for adolescents.
2. Strengthening YAMS to be a regional voice for young people through the development of good networks, the use of information and to advocate for the sexual rights of their peers.
3. To increase increase the access and use of sexual and reproductive health services as well access to Comprehensive Sexuality education among Caribbean youths.
4. To increase increase the understanding of sexual and reproductive health and rights among young people, parents and policy makers by making effective use of the media.

 

Our YAM has its own FaceBook page: Youth Advocacy Movement Suriname