Mombasa, Kenya — As funding shrinks, civic space narrows and opposition to sexual and reproductive rights grows across Africa, advocates are gathering in Mombasa with a simple message: progress cannot be taken for granted.
More than 250 advocates, policymakers, youth leaders, healthcare providers, researchers, civil society organisations and community leaders from across the continent have converged for the MenEngage Africa SRHR Learning and Exchange Symposium, PROGRESS 2026, a three-day gathering focused on defending bodily autonomy, advancing sexual and reproductive justice and finding new ways to push forward in the face of growing resistance.
The symposium, organised by Sonke Gender Justice and MenEngage Africa held under the theme Reclaiming Autonomy, Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Justice in the Face of Resistance, and comes at a critical moment for the region’s SRHR movement. Activists across the continent are confronting shrinking civic space, rising opposition to SRHR, patchy delivery of Comprehensive Sexuality Education, and persistent barriers facing adolescents, women, persons with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ persons, and other marginalised groups. These challenges are compounded further by conservative policy shifts, climate-related crises, and the growing threat of technology-facilitated gender-based violence.
But speakers at the gathering argued that the response cannot be retreat.
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They called for stronger solidarity, greater youth leadership and a renewed commitment to organising with men and boys positioned as critical partners in challenging harmful gender norms and advancing equality.
Runyararo Mutariswa, Regional Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Coordinator at Sonke Gender Justice, described the gathering as far more than a conference or symposium – a continental movement in the making.
“Progress 2026 is more than just a conference. It is more than a symposium,” she said. “We are opening a continental movement.”
She said the meeting should be a space not only to share knowledge, but also to listen, learn and imagine together what the future of SRHR and sexual and reproductive justice could look like.
Mutariswa urged participants not to limit themselves to asking what they were learning over the coming days, but to forge connections and collaborations, and to consider what becomes possible when individuals stop working in isolation and start seeing themselves as part of a wider movement.
For Mutariswa, the theme is also an invitation to think boldly about the kind of movements needed to respond to those challenges.
She called for movements that are intergenerational and create meaningful space for young people to participate as leaders and co-creators, that treat feminist leadership, men’s engagement, social norms work, research, advocacy, and community organizing as interconnected parts of one larger ecosystem rather than separate silos. She encouraged participants to remain open to unexpected possibilities, including new relationships, ideas, collaborations, and new ways of approaching their work. She called on them to also bring their curiosity, their questions, their lived experiences, and the lessons carried from the different corners of their movements and, crucially, to leave space for the unexpected.
Movements are built out of passion
Sonke Gender Justice’s regional SRHR specialist, Jude Thaddeus Njikem, echoed that commitment. He said that Sonke and MenEngage Africa remain focused on strengthening African-led, intersectional, and inclusive responses to SRHR challenges. He described PROGRESS 2026 as an essential space to deepen collaboration, amplify youth voices, and drive transformative action so that “no one is left behind.”
Njikem recalled that when the movement gathered in Nairobi for PROGRESS 2024, organizers made a deliberate choice to skip 2025 and return in 2026 stronger, bolder, and more united. It was an ambitious plan, he said, one made without knowing how much would go wrong in the year in between. The intervening years brought growing uncertainty for organisations working on sexual and reproductive health and rights.
He described 2025 as a year that tested the movement in ways few had anticipated.
Funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights, for bodily autonomy, gender justice, HIV programming, and comprehensive sexuality education was hit hard. This forced many programs that had contributed enormously to community organizing and rights protection to shrink or fundamentally rethink how they operated. That uncertainty, he said, shadowed the entire planning process for this year’s symposium and left the organizing team – spanning Sonke Gender Justice and MenEngage Africa – grappling with funding restrictions, shifting priorities, and difficult decisions at every turn.
But rather than retreat, the challenges reinforced the need to bring the movement together.
He framed this year’s gathering as proof that movements are not built only when resources are plentiful, but out of passion and as a reminder to choose courage over fear and solidarity over isolation. The organisers asked themselves whether they could speak about reclaiming autonomy while retreating from the fight for it, and whether they could call for stronger movements while allowing opposition to SRHR to weaken their own.
Njikem expressed his gratitude to the partners who also stayed the course despite experiencing similar restrictions, some losing donors, others closing offices. He thanked UNESCO, UNAIDS, and other partners for keeping the movement alive. He reaffirmed the movement’s core commitments to dignity, bodily autonomy, sexual and reproductive health and rights and justice, comprehensive sexuality education, and youth leadership. He said women, girls, persons with disabilities, LGBTQI+ communities and people living with HIV must continue to have their rights, care, protection and freedom recognised.
The movement is operating in a difficult environment, he said, with misinformation growing and communities being pushed back into silence, shame and fear. But the gathering itself, he said, demonstrates that the movement remains active despite the challenges.
“This room tells us that even when resources are reduced, our resolve must not be reduced,” said Njikem. “We are still here, still organising, still learning, still existing, and still building.”
Progress must be sustained
Bafana Khumalo, Co-Executive Director and co-founder of Sonke Gender Justice, said the gathering in Mombasa was itself evidence that progress can continue despite the political and financial challenges facing the SRHR movement.
Khumalo said that the difficult global context described current geopolitics as a backlash against gains achieved through years of work by activists and organisations represented at the symposium.
“As people of resilience, we say we still have to register progress because, despite everything, we are still here. We are still organising. We are still working very hard,” he said.
Khumalo described PROGRESS 2026 as a space where dignity “must never be negotiated nor compromised,” and pushed back against rising misinformation and resistance to equality, autonomy, and abortion rights: “We cannot afford to give up now or later because the future, especially for our youth, is bright.”
He called movement-building itself an act of resilience – one that amplifies the courage of women and girls, reminds the sector that “inclusion without access is not inclusion” for persons with disabilities, and strengthens communities having difficult conversations about power, culture, and sexuality. Progress, he said, “must be protected through relationship building that is based on trust, accountability, and solidarity.”
He also stressed that sexual and reproductive justice cannot be left to individual organisations, sectors or countries, thanking partners including MenEngage Africa, the Kenya MenEngage Alliance, UN agencies, diplomatic partners, civil society and other movement partners for supporting the convening. He said progress requires more than discussion. It must be sustained through organising and protected through relationships built on trust, accountability and solidarity.
“When we leave Mombasa, I ask that we leave with renewed courage, stronger partnerships, and practical commitment to reclaim the space for our communities, for organisations, and for movements,” he said.
He ended with a message of optimism despite the challenges confronting the movement: “Another world is indeed possible.”
‘Anything for the girls without the girls is not for the girls’
MenEngage Africa co-chair and founding director of Shamwari Yemwanasikana (Friend of the Girl Child), Ekenia Chifamba, said the symposium was intended to help turn regional discussions into a more coordinated and practical response to threats facing SRHR and marginalised communities.
She said that young people must be at the centre of decisions affecting their lives. She warned that policies and programmes cannot claim to serve young people if they are developed without their meaningful participation.
She said the symposium comes at a critical time as resistance to gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights grows across Africa and other parts of the world.
“We are witnessing a growing resistance to gender equality and sexual and reproductive health rights. Civic space is shrinking… funding streams are also becoming increasingly constrained.” She said that the symposium is a space for solutions, not just diagnosis. “We will not simply discuss these problems, but we will definitely also come up with solutions and the way forward.”
“Every person has the right to bodily autonomy, dignity, information, and also the freedom to make decisions about their own lives” – a principle she said applies equally to women and girls, young people, persons with disabilities, and people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Engaging men and boys, she added, remains essential to that vision: “Healthy masculinities, accountable allyship, and leadership are not optional.”
She draws on her own experience empowering young girls and women in Zimbabwe through Shamwari Yemwanasikana, a community-based, non-governmental organization.
“Anything for the girls without the girls is not for the girls” – a principle she extended to young people generally, insisting they sit “at the center” of PROGRESS 2026 rather than at its margins.
She also challenged participants to consider whether the continent has the courage, coordination and commitment needed to accelerate progress towards the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals ahead of 2030. She urged participants to carry those voices beyond institutional boundaries. She said that the success of the gathering would depend not only on the quality of its conversations but also on the relationships and alliances built during the symposium.
Men must be partners in advancing gender equality
Wilson Muthemba Nzau, the Chairperson of Kenya MenEngage Alliance (KEMEA), said lasting progress on sexual and reproductive rights and gender equality cannot be achieved without meaningfully engaging men and boys.
“Men are not only part of the problem, but we must be a part of the solution,” said Nzau.
Nzau also called for greater support for women’s leadership. “Women’s leadership is not a threat to men… men must be willing to use their influence, open doors for women, challenge discrimination, support women’s participation, encourage women’s leadership.”
He said KEMEA’s work focuses on challenging harmful social norms, promoting positive masculinities, preventing violence and creating safer families and communities. He grounded that philosophy in KEMEA’s on-the-ground work from its Dad and Daughters program, which helps fathers build stronger relationships with their daughters, to partnerships with traditional and religious leaders, including training pastors and vicars to challenge violence against women and girls from the pulpit. He also pointed to KEMEA’s work with men’s mental health, and with institutions such as the Kenya Police Service, where he said the alliance found sexual harassment “rampant… especially where the power dynamics are tilted towards our male brothers.”
“Change does not happen through one organization or one centre. Change happens through partnership, through deep community connections, and we must have responsible systems,” he said.
Drawing on KEMEA’s work with community, faith and traditional leaders, he said lasting change requires partnerships and stronger local networks.
He urged participants to use PROGRESS 2026 not only to exchange ideas but to build relationships that continue beyond the symposium.
“The question we must ask ourselves is, when we return home, what will we do differently?” said Nzau.
He called for men and boys to be treated as important partners rather than an afterthought. He ensured that women and girls remain at the centre of efforts to advance equality and that young people have space to lead.
Progress requires people willing to defend it
Dr Remmy Shawa, Senior Programme Specialist for Education for Health and Well-Being at UNESCO’s Regional Office for Southern Africa, said PROGRESS 2026 comes at a critical time as the development, gender equality and human rights space faces growing pressure.
He said shrinking civic space and challenges to international norms and funding make gatherings such as the Mombasa symposium increasingly important because they remind activists and practitioners that progress remains possible. “Despite the setbacks we face as activists, practitioners and human rights defenders, there still is hope,” said Shawa.
He left delegates with three commitments to hold onto, adding that these values must remain the non-negotiable guardrails.
First, that adaptation to context must never mean abandoning core values: “Dignity, equality, inclusion, bodily autonomy, self-determination… these values must remain the non-negotiable guardrails.”Second, that education remains one of the most powerful tools for transformation, given the more than 300 million children and adolescents in school across sub-Saharan Africa, for equipping young people with the skills to challenge harmful norms and seek out services. Third, that collective action must place young people at its center, pointing to the Eastern and Southern African Ministerial Commitment on Education, Health and Well-Being as a model – one that depends on governments, civil society, communities, and “fundamentally… young people themselves.”
“Progress is not and is never inevitable. It requires people willing to stand for it, to work for it, and when necessary, to defend it,” he said.
Sweden’s Ambassador to Kenya, Håkan Åkesson, said the PROGRESS 2026 symposium comes at a critical moment. “We do see pressure on civic space and less money set aside for sexual and reproductive health and rights. We see organized resistance to gender equality.”
He said these pressures have real consequences, affecting young people’s access to accurate information, women’s access to healthcare, survivors’ access to services and justice, and people’s ability to live free from stigma and discrimination. For Sweden, he said, SRHR is “a matter of health and rights, of course, but also equality and dignity.”
He said that Sweden’s partnership with Sonke Gender Justice dates back to 2012 and has helped expand MenEngage Africa’s gender-transformative work across the continent. “Engaging men and boys must always strengthen, never replace feminist leadership and women’s rights,” he said.
Åkesson said defending SRHR and gender equality also requires protecting civic space so that civil society organisations, health workers, journalists and human rights defenders can organise, advocate and hold institutions accountable.
He said PROGRESS 2026 provides an opportunity to move from commitments to implementation, confront misinformation, learn from setbacks and build stronger partnerships.
“Progress is never automatic. It must be protected, financed and built together,” said Åkesson.
He reaffirmed Sweden’s commitment to working with partners defending rights, strengthening health systems and advancing gender equality, adding that “we should never give up.”
Young people are driving social change
Maria Røysamb, First Secretary at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi, reaffirmed Norway’s commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights. She said that progress depends on people willing to challenge discrimination and push for change. She said young people are increasingly at the forefront of that change, using community networks, digital platforms, art, culture and new forms of activism to advance rights.
She said Norway’s embassy had spent the past year listening directly to young people in Kenya, who are organising through community networks, digital platforms, art, and culture in ways that often look nothing like traditional civil society structures.
“Many do not call themselves human rights defenders, yet they are defending rights every day,” said Røysamb.
She said consultations with young people had made clear that they want to participate in shaping their societies rather than simply survive within them. “We want to live, participate, and be heard, but not survive.” She said young people weren’t asking donors to stop, but to think differently about how support is delivered – a challenge Norway has responded to by committing that up to 30% of support under its new human rights programme will go directly to youth-led initiatives, including those advancing SRHR, with simplified funding processes and mentorship built in.
Røysamb said PROGRESS 2026 should be viewed as an investment in learning, solidarity and youth leadership.
“Progress comes when we work together, not in silos, hand in hand,” she said.
She said Norway would continue working with and investing in the next generation of leaders already advancing SRHR, human rights and gender equality across Africa.
‘We have to ask ourselves what we need to do collectively’
Anne Githuku-Shongwe, UNAIDS Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said the region’s progress in the HIV response is being threatened by major disruptions, including funding cuts that have affected treatment programmes and community-led services.
She said the impact is particularly concerning for adolescent girls and young women, who continue to carry a disproportionate burden of new HIV infections in the region. She said adolescent girls and young women account for 28% of all new HIV infections among 15-to-24-year-olds. Young women represent 70% of infections in that age group compared to young men. She said that these young women and girls are being infected “not because of who they are, but because of… violence, because of limited choices.”
Githuku-Shongwe urged participants to look beyond individual programmes and examine the social and gender norms that drive HIV, gender-based violence and other sexual and reproductive health challenges.
“We have to ask ourselves, what is it that we need to do collectively to be able to change the norm?” she said.
She challenged civil society organisations, UN partners and other actors to confront growing resistance to rights and examine whether their own organisations, partnerships and leadership are doing enough to protect and advance the rights of young women and girls.
She called on participants to ask themselves difficult questions about their own roles and the investments they make in standing with women and girls. “Only then are we going to be able to truly address what it will take to prevent AIDS, and to end AIDS,” she said.
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