Commitment, Concessions and Compromise. Experiences of building support for and addressing resistance to sexuality education from Nigeria

Abstract

Despite the international, regional and national commitments to sexuality education and the evidence of its effectiveness, progress on national implementation of sexuality education has been slow for a variety of reasons. The obstacles to comprehensive sexuality education are well documented and commonly experienced, yet the knowledge base of successful strategies to deal with resistance remain limited. This study evaluated Nigeria’s experience in creating an enabling environment for and addressing backlash to the Family Life and HIV Education (FLHE) programme; the findings reveal that FLHE supporters used both proactive and reactive strategies, whilst also making concessions and compromises to ensure the acceptance of the programme in various states of the country. These practical examples from Nigeria may inspire other countries in the planning, implementation and scale-up phases of their own CSE programmes, especially in settings where socio-cultural barriers pose challenges.

Keywords

• sexuality education
• family life and hiv education
• nigeria
• young people
• adolescents
• sexual health
• reproductive health