Lundazi men of change under Adaptive Leadership (AL) Zambia has taken the lead in sensitizing the community on sexual reproductive health education.
Daniel Nyirongo, a headman of Gobede Village has been instrumental in advocating the end to child marriages and unwanted pregnancies in his chiefdom.
Headman Gobede said the involvement of men in the community sensitizations has helped to improve communication strategies for parent child dialogues on SRH issues.
“I have been using public gatherings as a platform to educate community members on the consequences of teen pregnancies and I always make it a point to tell parents on the need to interact with their children on sexual reproductive health and act as their role models,” he said.
Headman Gobede stated that before Adaptive Leadership was introduced in the area, most men knew that health matters are for women and children, but now there has been a mindset change.
More headmen in Eastern Province are now encouraging the community to interact with their children on sexual reproductive health issues, to ensure that they have the right information needed to make informed decisions.
Chris Tembo, a village headman for Chazyoka village, has also been instrumental in championing community based interventions for strengthening adolescent sexual reproductive health education.
Headman Tembo said, before Adaptive Leadership was introduced in the area, he never saw the value of raising awareness on sexual reproductive health for adolescents and young people in the community.
“In all our community gatherings, it has become mandatory to talk about health and social challenges such as unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), defilement, rape and substance abuse among others.
He said, this has helped in reducing teenage pregnancy in the area and enlightened the community of the value of education.
In addition, Adaptive Leadership Lundazi district Manager Charity Phiri said the introduction of men of change, has enhanced the work of the organisation in implementing its work.
Ms Phiri said the encouragement of male involvement in sexual reproductive health education has helped to ensure that adolescents and young people get the message quickly and make informed decisions.
