Date: Friday, 3 June 2022 
Time: 10am – 11.30am BKK / 11am – 12.30pm KL / 3pm – 4.30pm Suva  
Organizers: International Planned Parenthood Federation ESEAOR (IPPF ESEAOR), UNFPA Asia Pacific and UNESCO 

Speakers: 

• Results of the Regional CSE Review: Brayant Gonzales, IPPF ESEAOR and Brian Kironde, UNFPA Pacific 
• Building CSE into national education curriculums: Dr Somolireasmey Saphon, Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia (RHAC) 
• Age- and developmentally appropriate sexuality education for people with disability: Sera Ratu, Reproductive and Family Health Association of Fiji (RFHAF) 
• Delivering sexuality education in humanitarian settings: Louria Joy Paragon, Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) 
• Digital solutions to Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE): Jack Martin IPPF ESEAOR Sub-Regional Office for the Pacific (SROP) 

Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) is a pillar in delivering high-quality gender-transformative education and crucial to achieving SDG 4 on education. Likewise, it contributes to the fulfilment of SDG 3 on health and SDG 5 on gender equality. CSE protects young people and helps build a safer, inclusive society. CSE also has the potential to prevent and reduce gender-based and intimate partner violence. Our panel speakers will highlight the importance of CSE and its critical role to give young people the knowledge and skills they need to manage their health and form equal, fulfilling, and safe relationships free from discrimination, coercion, and violence. 

This session was an inclusive dialogue among multiple stakeholder groups in South-East Asia and the Pacific on the implementation of Goal 4 – specifically CSE - to exchange good practices and innovation, and to reflect on recommendations to accelerate progress. Through this discussion, we aimed to achieve gender transformative education systems and build sustainable and resilient learning frameworks. 

Event Summary 

UNFPA and IPPF ESEAOR together presented the results of the regional review on the status of in-school CSE and reflected toward full integration of inclusive, resilient CSE in education systems. The discussion was moderated and led by Ana P. Santos, an independent journalist and pleasure advocate.  

CSE enables young people to manage their health and form equal, fulfilling, and safe relationships, free from discrimination, coercion and violence 

In her opening remarks, Tomoko Fukuda, IPPF ESEAOR Regional Director stressed on ensuring working together collaboratively across various stakeholders. It is important to involve young people in discussions to introduce different learning modalities and enable an environment to support them. CSE can enable a shift towards gender-positive attitudes and increase knowledge of rights, young people, especially girls in all their diversity make autonomous decisions about their bodies, sexuality, and reproduction, to build gender-equal, inclusive societies.  

Building CSE into national education curriculum 

Dr Saphon talked about Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia (RHAC)’s role in raising awareness about safe sex, consent, and life skills education. RHAC are committed to providing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services to young people and have played a crucial role in delivering CSE in formal settings by developing evidence informed grade-based curriculum and training over 1,500 teachers. RHAC has delivered CSE sessions in over 400 schools in Cambodia. Their grassroots advocacy both at the national and international levels has successfully manifested into shifting government attitudes and policies related to CSE. Dr. Saphon added that delivering CSE requires financial resources and intense training hence a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral approach to the delivery of quality CSE is critical.  

Delivering sexuality education in humanitarian settings 

Louria Joy Paragon, Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) Youth Representative, shared their challenges of delivering CSE in humanitarian settings. The pandemic along with typhoons/ natural disasters disrupted access to SRH services in the Philippines, especially for young people. FPOP recognises that CSE should be delivered in protracted emergencies, alongside high quality SRH services, to address the young people’s needs and aspirations. FPOP train youth volunteers and staff on how to deliver these services in Reproductive Health Medical Missions during humanitarian responses. Louria emphasized investing in and involving young people to deliver CSE in formal and informal settings. All young people should have equal access to CSE at all levels- community and school levels.  

Age- and developmentally appropriate sexuality education for people with disability 

Sera Ratu, Reproductive and Family Health Association of Fiji, led the conversation on inclusive sexuality education for young people with disabilities. She shared their successful methodology of involving parents, teachers, and students in developing content and building capacity for young people with disabilities. Sera added, it is important to ensure multi-stakeholder involvement in the process to ensure disability inclusive sexuality education is meeting the needs of young people with disabilities. This will also guide the development and implementation of teachers’ training to achieve results.  

Digital solutions to deliver Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)  

Jack Martin, IPPF ESEAOR SROP, shared the expanding role of digital learning platforms to deliver CSE and engage young people who often face difficulty in attending conventional classrooms. He demonstrated the newly developed IPPF modules using the Moodle platform to deliver CSE being piloted in selected Asia-Pacific countries. The modules adapt “It’s All One Curriculum” for online learning and aim to equip young people (12 to 24 years) with the right knowledge, skills, and attitude to achieve health and well-being. The Moodle platform provides a flexible learning mode to the user who can learn at their own pace on their computers and smartphones.  

Watch the recording below: