In November 2025, Pravah, a Network grantee partner based in India, convened AmplifyChange grantee partners in Kenya to explore cross-regional learnings around youth-focused sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) work. Read their reflections below on why support for peer learning and movement building across borders is crucial to strengthen SRHR advocacy globally.
In gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) work, the limits of working in isolation are becoming increasingly clear. Complex social realities, especially those shaped by gender norms, systemic inequality, and shrinking civic spaces, cannot be shifted through standalone programmes or fragmented efforts. At Pravah, our experience over decades has shown us that lasting change depends on strong ecosystems: ecosystems where organisations are connected, capacities are nurtured, and learning flows across people, institutions, and contexts.
Our work in ecosystem and capacity building has consistently reinforced one truth: collaboration is not an added value; it is essential. When organisations are supported to reflect together, strengthen their capacities, and act in concert, their collective impact extends far beyond what any one organisation can achieve alone.
It was with this conviction that, during our visit to Kenya in late November for a youth exchange programme, we intentionally created space for dialogue with organisations working with young people on gender and SRHR. Alongside the exchange, we wanted to step into a shared learning space, not to transfer knowledge, but to deepen relationships and explore what cross-border collaboration could look like in practice. This space was made possible through AmplifyChange’s support.
Building Relationships for Collective Action
The goal of this convening was simple yet significant: to bring together organisations working with young people on gender and SRHR in Kenya, and to nurture a space for reflection, learning, and relationship-building. We wanted to move beyond transactional partnerships and instead explore how ecosystems of practice can be strengthened through trust, dialogue, and shared purpose.
Engaging with Partners on the Ground
The dialogue brought together Youth Health Organization, Moyote, and Youth for Purpose, each deeply rooted in Kenyan communities and responding to distinct but interconnected SRHR realities. Conversations surfaced lived challenges, from navigating deeply entrenched gender norms, addressing adolescent sexual health and bodily autonomy, to sustaining youth leadership in contexts marked by limited resources and policy constraints.
While the organisations worked in different regions and with diverse communities, common questions emerged: How do young people claim agency in restrictive environments? How do organisations sustain safe spaces for dialogue on sexuality and gender? And how do youth workers continue this work without burning out?
Drawing from Pravah’s experience in ecosystem and capacity building, we shared our approach to inside-out leadership, a principle that emphasises self-awareness, reflection, and alignment between personal values and social action. This principle applies not only to our work with communities but also within organisations themselves. It allows teams to bring reflection into their practice, strengthening organisational culture alongside programme impact.
This opened up conversations on shared learning needs such as youth leadership development, facilitation skills, reflective practice, and nurturing organisational cultures that are resilient and values-driven. These were not framed as gaps or weaknesses, but as collective growth areas; ones that could be strengthened together across borders.
Trust, Alignment, and Shared Learning
One powerful insight that emerged was that diversity within the ecosystem is not a barrier to collaboration, but its greatest strength. Each organisation brought a distinct approach shaped by its community context in Kenya. Rather than seeking uniformity, participants recognised the value of relationships that can hold difference while enabling joint learning and action.
Equally important were moments that were not about programmes or outcomes at all. Practitioners spoke openly about exhaustion, hope, and the emotional labour of sustaining gender justice work. There was a shared recognition of the need to create spaces where youth workers can simply be and where they can pause, connect, and “hang out” without agendas or deliverables. These moments reinforced that ecosystems are not abstract structures; they are built and sustained by people.
The convening did not conclude with a formal action plan and that was intentional. Instead, it created something more foundational: trust, alignment, and a shared willingness to stay connected. Organisations expressed interest in continuing conversations, exploring future partnerships, and becoming part of a broader learning network focused on collective action on gender and SRHR.
What We Hope to Take Forward
For Pravah, this experience reaffirmed a core strength of our work: investing in people, organisational capacity, and relationships as the foundation of systems change. Moving forward, we see value in nurturing ongoing cross-border learning spaces, supporting reflective leadership practices, and creating informal, human-centred spaces for youth workers within ecosystems.
For this work to be possible at scale, funders must act not only as supporters of projects, but as partners in movement building. AmplifyChange’s role in convening this dialogue demonstrates what it means to support ecosystems, not just organisations, by enabling collaboration, facilitating cross-border learning, and trusting grantees to shape the future together.
This convening reminded us that collaboration is not an outcome; it is a practice that must be intentionally designed and sustained. Pravah’s role in strengthening organisational capacities and ecosystems finds its fullest expression in spaces like these where learning is shared, relationships deepen, and collective action begins to take shape. By facilitating cross-border collaboration and peer learning, AmplifyChange is enabling more than partnerships; it is helping build a movement rooted in trust, shared purpose, and long-term systems change for gender and SRHR.
