Empowering youths for social change

Nargis Shirazi, is one of the Ugandan youth leaders selected to attend Women Deliver next week. She works as a consultant on health promotion and education with a team called Creative Arts Targeting Community Health, CATCH.

In 2012, CEDA International and the Women’s Walk 2012 gave her the Inspirational Woman of Uganda award for her contribution to the fight for health equity and social justice. She share with New Vision her views on youth leadership for social change.

What is CATCH and why did you start it?

We started CATCH because we believe in the youth empowering fellow youth. We also believe in advocacy, health promotion and education through entertainment. The world is moving towards creativity for social change. The entertainment sector has taken over both TV and print media.

We believe that the new wave of change needs us to make use of entertainment and creative arts to influence behaviour, group dynamics, policies and plans of our country.

CATCH is the brain child of my mentor Dr. Nick Wooding, Vice Chancellor of the International Health Sciences University (IHSU) and myself. I have had the opportunity to be mentored by his amazing creative skills and belief in young people!

The university has supported us greatly and we are staging a play based on male involvement in family planning. It is a comedy called the TWIST to be held at the national theater from June 14 to 16.

The foundation was birthed way before it actually took shape. When I was still a student at Gayaza High school, I was not really sure what I wanted to do except to make a difference in other people’s lives. 

As I grew, I realised it was important for me to define it and I ended up studying psychology then public health. It was when I was a Global Health Corps fellow that I met girls that did not have pads nor panties and I knew that I needed to do something about it. 

The CATCH leadership team at International Health Sciences University

I was also very passionate about prisons since I had done my thesis in one and knew the plight of women in prison. I was also very passionate about the role of the youth in contributing to bringing about change in society through advocacy.

I then spoke to two amazing people who are now co-founders of the foundation, Dr. William Lubega and Amos Zikusooka who have been so passionate about the cause.

What was your experience working with the communities on women’s health?

There seem to be two worlds. Girls in rural areas do not have TVs, they hardly read magazines. Their only exposure to our world is in their dreams and their dreams are not necessarily rosy! 

Young girls grow up to see their mothers doing one thing – giving birth or digging in the fields. We need to help them stay in school, expose them to their sexual rights so that they may know that they can say no to sex or use a condom.

Why focus on young people? 

Young people have the potential to change their communities. The young people of today are the leaders of tomorrow. Change begins with one, then the community. 

Through CATCH we empower university students to do more than just study health-based courses but have an impact in their society as they do because we believe that change is possible and it begins with you! 

We focus on menstruation, sexual and reproductive health to keep girls in school; women’s health in prison to educate them more about their sexual rights and family planning and also provision of pads and panties.