The Ministry of Youth and Sports (MINJUD) in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) held a workshop to introduce the new manual on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health for Portuguese-speaking countries, from 11 to 13 September in Luanda.

This seminar stems from one of the recommendations of the XI Meeting of the Conference of Ministers of Youth and Sports of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) in Sao Tome and Principe, where MINJUD in Angola was chosen to lead the coordination of the CPLP editorial committee for the development of a sexual and reproductive health training package for adolescents and young people, based on the Conceptual and Methodological Youth Guide on Sexual and Reproductive Health.

The guide is designed especially for adolescents and youth from CPLP countries who act as educators in schools, health services, non-governmental organizations, communities, associations and youth platforms for the promotion of sexual and reproductive health, gender equity and human rights of teenagers and young people.

The workshop was attended by around 85 participants including Provincial Coordinators from the association ‘Informed, Responsible and Organized Youth’ (JIRO), representatives of civil society organizations, youth leaders, community activists and religious entities.

UNFPA Representative Florbela Fernandes provided opening remarks at the workshop regarding the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the involvement of 179 world leaders who established a consensus placing human dignity and the right to family planning at the center of development actions.

More recently, African leaders have made a commitment to promote comprehensive sexual education by including appropriate topics in primary and secondary school curricula to promote comprehensive sexual education to inform youth, lower teenage pregnancy rates and in return keep girls in school and eradicate harmful practices.

The workshop included participation of high level government representatives such as the Secretary of State for Sports, Mr. Carlos Almeida, and the Secretary of State for Public Health, Mr. José Manuel Vieira Dias da Cunha, whom reiterated Angola's commitment to strengthen efforts towards the empowerment of adolescent and youth.

Angola will assume the Presidency of the CPLP in 2020.