This toolbox, FLOURISH , is a collection of programming, advocacy,
leadership, and mentorship resources and information that inform the
collective action of emerging girls and young women leaders pursuing
gender justice in health.
It can be used to design, implement,
expand, and strengthen programmes and activities of girls and young
women and helps enable practical, meaningful, and impactful advocacy
and leadership work across a wide variety of settings. FLOURISH has
been written and inspired by young women leaders all over the world,
with leadership from partners including Positive Young Women Voices
(PYWV), the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV (Y+
Global), and the Africa Youth and Adolescent Network (AfriYAN).
In
supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this toolbox
is part of an important effort to find innovative solutions in
various forms and ways of thinking towards empowering girls and
young women and promoting real and sustainable change. In addition
to helping build and support their capacities and skills, it also
aims to raise awareness about the need for substantial investments
in community-led organizations, groups, and networks of girls and
young women in all their diversities. All local and global
development partners should recognize and respond to the fact that
such investments are essential for real change in all aspects of
gender justice.
At the heart of this toolbox is the belief that the
substantive leadership of girls and young women must be encouraged
at all levels if we are to achieve gender justice locally,
nationally, and globally. Making significant progress toward this
goal requires increasing and supporting their opportunities to shape
policies and practices related to the health and rights of
themselves, their peers, and communities – including by holding
governments, multilateral agencies, policy makers, programme
managers, and other decision-makers to account. This type and scope
of direct engagement is essential to ensure that gender equality
commitments are translated into sustained and meaningful change in
areas such as HIV prevention and treatment, human rights, and sexual
and reproductive health.