Please find below the session notes from the session on Day 2 (Wednesday, November 10, 2021) of the USAID YouthPower2 Symposium about Empowerment of Young Women: Insights from Rwanda, Namibia, and South Sudan ACHIEVE DREAMS Programs.

The session aims to showcase strategies applied in the ACHIEVE DREAMS project to engage, empower and equip young women. These young women assume community leadership roles as DREAMS Ambassadors, mentors, facilitators, and champions of community health programs. Presentations will discuss the importance of empowering young women to take charge of their health independently and socio-economic needs. Participants will learn much about the capacity development of young women in community health programs as they share their experiences:

• Young women DREAMS Ambassadors in Rwanda provide mentorship and peer support to other young women to access HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) that helps prevent the further spread of HIV amongst young women.
• Comprehensive economic development targeted at vulnerable young women in South Sudan improves their financial literacy and vocational skills.
• Empowered young women in Namibia take on the community care worker responsibilities of protecting vulnerable adolescent girls and young women from violence early/unwanted pregnancies and improving access to youth-friendly health services.