Meet and Greet our Y-PEERers

An interview with Mustafa Mohammed Al-Sufi, a youth activist from Yemen, who has been working in Y-PEER for the past 5 years, changing many young people’s attitudes regarding sexual and reproductive health issues.

Can you describe your experience in Y-PEER, what challenges, barriers and successes have you faced during the period of being a Y-PEERer? How has Y-PEER influenced your life/career?   

My first step in Y-PEER was in 2010 when I participated in a training hold by Y-PEER and UNFPA in Yemen. My life has changed completely when I joined the orange family. I became more interested in SRHR and how this issue does affect many young people not locally but regionally and internationally.

Y-PEER is not one mile but thousands and thousands of miles and for sure somebody will face different challenges within the community. One of the challenges that I faced is the sensitivity of the issues that we are talking about, because sexual health is not an easy issue that we can talk in Yemen. LGBT is a taboo topic and a red line and no one would like to break it. Even gender equality is an issue that the community refuses because of the cultural and religious background.

Success comes along with challenges and it has a different test when you can achieve something that you thought it’s inapplicable or achievable. I and other Y-PEERers conducted many trainings and advocacy campaigns for gender equality, FGMs (Female Genital Mutilation), early marriage and sexual health for adults. Gradually, I could change some of the wrong concepts regarding early marriage, FGM, sexual health as well as LGBT rights but in limited spaces. What we have in our communities needs time to be changed, so I am patient enough and take serious steps to change the wrong concept in my community as much as I can.

Y-PEER has influenced me greatly. From a peer educator to a focal point and a national focal point, I built great steps in my personal and career life. I became more responsible to my community and people. I learnt a lot about small things that can make big achievements in the society. I learnt how to be professional in my work and not to work for my own benefit, but for others as well. Indeed, Y-PEER is a life style.

  What benefits does Y-PEER offer to young people?

Y-PEER offers young people unique opportunities to develop themselves, build wide networks with different people from different backgrounds and to open many doors to be an advocate for critical issues, that the community faces; also to be an activist and fighter for human rights.

Y-PEER also gives wonderful local and regional trainings to build your capacities in different aspects of life, such as: Training of Trainers (TOT), Project Development and Management (PDM) and Theatre Based Techniques (TBT). Also, it’s an amazing platform for different young people to network with each other and move their issues forward. Therefore, if you are a Y-PEERer, probably you will have the chance to participate in different conferences and workshops which are supported by UNFPA. So that, you can represent your country in stakeholders meetings and high level panels.

What can young people do better to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

Forty-three percent of the world’s population is currently under 25 and the number of young people is rising fastest in those parts of the world with the lowest economic growth.  Today’s youth are more connected and tuned in to the world than any generation before. They are growing up fast, in a world that is changing even faster. Fortunately for all of us, young people see the challenges before them in fresh ways and are responding with enthusiasm and imagination. With the right investments, young people everywhere can reach their full potential as individuals, leaders and agents of progress. They have the potential to transform the social and economic fortunes of their communities, particularly in least developed countries. The world clearly needs their energy, their participation and their skills.

For better contribution to the achievement of the SDGs, young people should be part of the negotiations, on local level or international level, also to take part in the decision making process. They should work hard and intelligently to reach their voice to policy makers and stakeholders and prove themselves that they are part of the solutions, not problems. Also, to act wise in order to be part of the SDGs and to lead the process of thei achievement.   

What is one thing you would have done differently being a Y-PEER member?

Actually, I would work more with vulnerable people and bring their voices to policy makers in my country.

What would you suggest that young people should do to become successful?

Young people are the leaders of the present and kings of the future. If we want to see successful young people in our communities, they should focus on two things, it’s like wings and if one of them is missed then the other does not have a meaning. The first one is a Vision, everyone should have a vision to know which place would like to be in; and the second thing is a roadmap, if you don’t have a roadmap you will not be able to reach the place that you want.