THE group in its name “ASPIRE” speaks to what their work entails; it stands for Advocates for Safe Parenthood; Improving Reproductive Equity. ASPIRE Youth Network Guyana aims at becoming the leading voice for adolescent and youth health. This group of dedicated young people are working together to ensure that the future of youth is safe, healthy and effectively managed. ASPIRE is managed by a diverse group of young professionals who are working towards the development of this generation and those to come. They believe in educating and equipping young people with the essential knowledge and skills to ensure that they are ready to assume leadership positions in our society. Their vision suggests that young people can lead in the response to Sexual Reproductive Health intervention; since young people are the people who are largely affected negatively due to the lack of education and access to services.

The journey of this youth network first began in 2015, after the founder decided to merge a seasonal programme he was operating during the summer vacation. The summer programme called “The Bold Approach” is a two-year-old project that brings together young people from across the country to develop advocacy and build their capacity on various reproductive health-related issues. The aim was to encourage young people to have a bold approach to conversations about sexual reproductive health. Upon sharing the vision with ASPIRE representatives from Trinidad and St. Lucia; the Guyana chapter was birthed and commissioned a solid plan for advocacy by setting up the local leg of ASPIRE.

This active youth network aids in the provision, education and advocacy of many issues and topics that plague the youth of our country. Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Advocacy is one of many of those issues. ASPIRE safeguards the Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights of all Guyanese; especially women and girls. Also, through community advocacy to increase information about contraceptives and family planning and through education and awareness will be conducting projects geared at sensitisation of the Guyanese people about these and many other issues. The organisation is geared at addressing Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights and a large focus will also be placed on Comprehensive Sexuality Education and this will be taught through partnerships with organisations, government agencies and community and youth-based groups. ‘Women’s Rights are Human Rights.’ As such, ASPIRE is an organisation that aims to promote the importance of women’s rights advocacy. They are committed to ensuring that the rights of all women will be upheld, and they aim to speak out on issues where that may not be the case.

The main women’s rights issue that we hope to effectively address is abortion. This is because some Guyanese often remain ignorant to many of the issues surrounding the accurate and scientific explanations for abortion. Gender Based Violence is also another issue that this network seeks to advocate for. Gender-based violence is a crime and a human rights violation that occurs, often repeatedly, in the lives of a great number of women (in comparison to men) around the world. This group of young and vibrant youngsters also focuses on fostering conversations with young people on the subject of the importance of maintaining good mental and physical health. They usually host an annual “health minds-ready body”, a dance and Zumba class where they find time during warm-up and warm-down to discuss the importance of mental health care.

Dennis Glasglow is the director of the Youth Aspire Network Guyana group. He stressed that “YOU-th Can Do It”–ASPIRE is fully aware that more than 60 per cent of Guyana’s population are young people”. He continued by saying, “many of them do not have exposure to leadership and management and we hope that through empowerment and teachings, we can be able to strengthen our future by investing in our youth-NOW.” They strongly believe in investing in young people and preparing them to assume leadership positions in the country. Currently, the Aspire Youth Network is working on six capacity-building sessions that will be executed in the first phase of the new year 2020 (one session a month). Currently, Aspire Youth Network Guyana has an ongoing social media recognition campaign. It is an annual initiative that seeks to recognise the hard work of youth across Guyana for their contributions in their specialised fields. They are a network, not to be confused as an organisation. If you or someone you know have similar interests in advocacy and volunteerism to help aid in the eradication of the issues mentioned, then you can surely join the network. You alongside five-10 persons can start their own Aspire unit in your community to help make a change in the lives of your fellow youth!