Baseline Fact Sheet on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Children and Adolescents in Yemen

‘Protecting adolescents from gender based violence through the promotion of their Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR)’ is a project co-funded by the European Union and SIDA that started in 2010. Within this project, Save the Children Sweden (SCS) carried out a baseline survey in Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and Yemen as a preparatory activity focusing on Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) of children, their parents and service providers with regard to: * Knowledge of SRHR * Related risks and protective behaviours * Utilization of protective mechanisms. The baseline KAP study found that there is a significant lack of knowledge on SRHR topics for both service providers and parents and a strong need for child friendly education materials on SRHR. The project is very timely and relevant in the region where there is a high prevalence of harmful traditional practices (such as early marriage and FGM), child sexual abuse and other forms of gender based violence. Save the Children’s activities include: developing child friendly education manuals, establishing child friendly spaces and information points, training adolescents to conduct peer to peer trainings, establishing/strengthening referral mechanisms, sharing regional best practices and creating advocacy plans on both national and regional levels. The Yemen study was carried out in three governorates in the south – Abyan, Aden and Lahj – amongst both the Yemeni and refugee population –the refugees are mainly from Somalia. As Yemen is a very diverse country the findings are not representative of the whole country.