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Buiding Community Support and Dealing with Resistance to Sexuality Education

Buiding Community Support and Dealing with Resistance to Sexuality Education

Background: Despite recognition of the need for
Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and growing
acceptance that CSE is a right; availability of evidence
of effectiveness and cost effectiveness; availability of
tools to advocate, plan, monitor, and evaluate programs;
and inclusion of CSE in international declarations
and regional/national plans of action, progress at
implementation of CSE in many countries has
been slow.
Across settings, a common challenge is moving from
small-scale projects or weakly designed and executed
programmes with poor quality and limited coverage to
large-scale, well-designed and well-conducted programmes
coordinated by Ministries of Education and
included in national school education policies and
A small number of countries have scaled-up and
sustained CSE, and can provide insights into effective
strategies and investments. They offer useful lessons on
how to face and overcome five barriers that are widespread:
lack of commitment, comfort, capacity, cash,
and accountability. Additionally, they offer lessons in
preventing paralysis due to backlash during
implementation and reviving progress if they become
stalled by resistance.
Objectives: In my presentation I will set out the factors
that have enabled some low and middle income
countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to scale up
and sustain comprehensive sexuality education, when
so many other countries have been able to do so.
Keywords: Support, Opposition, Sexuality education
Source of Funding: World Health Organization
Conflict of Interest and Disclosure Statement: I am
an employee of the WHO. I do not receive any payment
in cash or in kind from any sources, apart
from WHO