Young people in Kenya face severe threats to their health and well-being and an uphill struggle to stay in school, postpone marriage and child bearing, find gainful employment and remain free of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. According to Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS), 2008-09, 3 percent of women age 15-19 are HIV infected, compared with less than 1 percent of men age 15-19, while prevalence among women age 20-24 is over four times that of men in the same age group The data show that  3 percent of youth age 15-24 are HIV-positive. Young women age 15-24 are more vulnerable to HIV infection than men of the same age. Young people are becoming sexually active at increasingly younger age because of early physical maturity, social pressures and availability of contraceptives. At the same time, the lengthening of the socially defined period of adolescence due to increased education and delayed marriages means a large proportion of unmarried adolescents are sexually active.

The strategic objective of organization goals is to strengthen commitment on support for sexual and reproductive health and rights and needs of adolescents/young people. To achieve this strategic area FHOK uses various strategies, provision of youth friendly integrated services, sexuality education, peer education, advocacy and empowerment of young people. Through outreach activities 477,901 adolescents were reached with ASRH information, 23,536 with clinical services, 19,483 with VCT services while 1,574 received counseling services. The Youth Centres are located in Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Nakuru and Kisumu. Integrated outreach activities include VCT/SRH mobile and Moonlights provided an avenue for the young people to access the services with reduced barriers.

With support from UNFPA, FHOK provided integrated Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV prevention services ion Nairobi and Mombasa Youth Centres. In addition to address Most at Risk Population (MARPS), “Better Options Project” was implemented that focused on HIV prevention targeting highly vulnerable

women from Kibera slum in Nairobi.

The issue of sexuality education has become an exceptionally controversial one. It is a curriculum that teaches knowledge, behaviours, attitudes and skills that promote committed family relationships, healthful relationships, good character, healthful sexuality and reproductive health. Sexuality education seeks to assist children in understanding a positive view of sexuality, provide them with the skills about taking care of their sexual health and help them to acquire skills to make decisions now and in the future. Youth sexuality education – “YES Project” is being implemented in Rachuonyo, in Nyanza County with support from Danish Agency (DANIDA) with an overall goal of increasing access to comprehensive youth friendly and gender sensitive sexuality education. A partnership with the Ministry of Education has been established and thirty teachers from different schools who were trained on comprehensive sexuality have formed a health club in each of the school.

With support from Family Health International (FHI) a wide range of SRH services were provided to people in the transport sector commonly known as “Matatu” in Nakuru town. Trained peer educators facilitated open forums for people in this sector together with their spouses to discuss openly SRH issues affecting them.
To improve sexual and Reproductive Health and rights of young people, FHOK through Young Men as Equal Partners (YMEP) project funded by SIDA until year 2009 received a one year funding from IPPF and SALIN. Several In-school activities involved partnership with the Ministry of Education. They included, inter school

debate, health club activities, exchange visits, outreaches by health service providers to schools among others.

There has been decrease of pregnancies in school where this project has been implemented. Further health service providers have indicated that young people were reporting fewer incidences of sexually transmitted infections as a result of increased adoption of safe sexual practices like condom use and abstinence.
Friends of Youth (FOYs), a five year project came to the end in December 2010, which was supported by CDC through POP Council. The overall goal was to promote positive behavior change among youth in urban areas of Kenya and provide youth friendly HIV testing and support services. It was implemented in Nyeri ,

Nyahururu, Embu, Thika and Nairobi.

FHOK has Youth Empowerment Programme that empowers young people to make responsible decisions about their livelihood opportunities and to address Sexual Reproductive health issues as part of a broader view of sustainable livelihoods.

FHOK partners with Organizations providing sustainable livelihood skills.  In Nairobi Youth centre 120 young people were trained on ICT skills through Nairobits company, while in Nakuru 86 young people were trained through Digital Opportunity Trust. Mombasa youth centre received a donation of embroidery machines and

refurbishment of the vehicle LOYAC a group of volunteer from Kuwait. Recreation activities provide an opportunity to provide Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Service and Information to young people. Further, in providing a wide range of recreation activities in the youth centres, the Second Annual Youth Camp was a big opportunity for educating the youth on sexuality matters. A total of 171 young people attended the Camp with a theme of “Adolescents Sexual Rights and Responsibilities” who were drawn from various Youth Serving organizations and sponsored by IPPF, RFSU, UNFPA and IPAS. This is an SRH advocacy event held annually to coincide with International Youth Week in the second week of August.