CHEVS

About Us

We are young, African, and capable

Mission

A west African society where everyone has equal access to health and human rights irrespective of sexuality, gender, and social status.

Vision

Accelerating Social Inclusion for sexual and gender minorities

Thematic Areas

We are committed to building and sustaining grassroots activism and rights literacy to hold the government and power holders accountable to their constitutional obligation in advancing LGBTQI rights as Human Rights, deepening women’s rights, guaranteeing physical integrity, and the right to health and equality before the law. As a vibrant LGBTQI youth-led organization, we are partnering with rights holders, and CSOs to challenge punitive laws that defeat the aim of Human Rights so everyone can live free and equal.

As a fundamental human right that is related to sexuality and reproduction, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) are the building blocks of our advocacy in CHEVS. A knowledge of these rights is what enables people to make informed and meaningful decisions about their sexual wellbeings, such as their sexual orientation, relationships, sexual activity, family planning, or their bodies.

This belief engenders the initiatives CHEVS focuses on surrounding sexuality education, access to contraception, HIV and STI prevention, gender-based violence and harmful practices, and the decriminalization of homosexuality, sex work, and HIV.

When young  LGBTQI, and sex workers are denied full participation in economic activities due to their identities, their human rights are violated. This takes away or places limitations on their prerogative to establish autonomy during daily social interactions. We are bolstering that prerogative by empowering marginalized groups economically. A person with means is a person that can say No to compromising situations that could endanger them in more ways than one, and we are committed to giving them that voice and power.

Through the Gender transformative approach, we are changing the way in which society conceptualizes gender and gender relations, which in turn changes what we think it means to be a man or woman.

As a youth-led organization, we believe men and boys and women and girls can work together to resist patriarchy, advocate for gender justice, and achieve gender transformation by addressing structural barriers like traditional, religious, and legal systems that oppose gender mainstreaming.

In 2015, young people accounted for 40% of all new adult HIV infections. Globally, an estimated 4 million young people were living with HIV, and each day about 2300 young people acquired HIV.

We envisage a world where young people are recognized as integral to ending the AIDS epidemic and are engaged as experts in decision-making processes and leaders in programmatic implementation.