Phase one of the Joining Forces project was carried out from January - December 2007 and contributed to the achievement of its goal through the following objectives:
objective 1: to enhance the capacities of 10 young people from the IPPF EN YSAFE network to advocate for increased support for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in national and European development aid programmes, with a focus on adolescents and youth; and
objective 2: to strengthen the linkages between young people from the YSAFE network and young people from the south as advocates for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights as an essential component in development and poverty alleviation, with a focus on adolescents and youth.

The project increased young people’s capacities to become advocates for Sexual and Reproductive Rights in a development environment, and in particular in the South. During the course of the workshop, young advocates were trained in advocacy skills for increasing government and public support for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in overseas development aid (ODA), firstly at a national level, and subsequently, in partnership with the IPPF Africa Region’s (AR) Youth Action Movement (YAM), at the EU-level.

Four of IPPF EN’s Member Associations were selected to partner with the Regional Office: The Netherlands, Ireland, Latvia and Poland. IPPF chose to involve two Member Associations which already have experience in advocating for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in ODA (the Netherlands, Ireland) and two Member Associations from new EU member states (Poland, Latvia), whose governments must now become involved in ODA. From these associations three young people were selected from the Netherlands and Ireland, and two each from Poland and Latvia.

The first training workshop on ODA for young people was held in Brussels (February 26-28 2007). During the training, the young advocates were introduced to various aspects of advocacy at a national level. The topics covered during the workshop ranged from introducing the evidence-policy gap and how to effectively address this, to various messaging techniques, presentation skills, tools for effective advocacy campaigns and introducing basic advocacy skills. By the end of the workshop, each country team developed an action plan for small-scale in-country activities. These advocacy action plans were then taken back to their organisations. These advocacy actions took place in 4 European countries from March to June 2007 and included a postcard campaign (Latvia), article writing for MA website (Netherlands), a letter campaign to parliamentarians (Poland), and conference on SRHR + ODA for young people (Ireland).

The second workshop focused on advocating for ODA in the European context and took place parallel to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (referred to as the EU/ACP JPA) in Wiesbaden, Germany in June. This Assembly brings together Members of the European Parliament and Members of Parliament from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries twice a year to discuss European Commission development aid programmes and funding in these regions. IPPF EN invited 6 young people from the Youth Action Movement (YAM) to join the young European Network advocates in order to share experiences, identify firsthand the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights needs of young people in Africa and jointly advocate at the EU-ACP JPA in Wiesbaden.At the EU-ACP JPA in Wiesbaden the young advocates held a demonstration where they emphasized three main dilemmas linked to the lack of funding for SRHR, and held up cards indicating some of the consequences of these dilemmas. The dilemmas were: 1) sexual and reproductive health and rights are neglected in country strategy papers; 2) decreasing resources for SRHR and 3) the funding gap equals a violation of the right to health and human rights. They young advocates also handed out a letter developed by several European NGOs drawing the attention of the Assembly members to the lack of attention paid to SRHR in the country strategy papers (CSPs) was also handed out.