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PRIORITYMEASURE11
“Ensure the effective implementation from early childhood of comprehensive sexuality educationprogrammes, recognizing the emotional dimension
of human relationships, with respect for the evolving capacity of boys and girls and the informeddecisions of adolescents and young people
regarding their sexuality, from aparticipatory, intercultural, gender-sensitive, andhuman rights perspective.”
Possible lines of action
1. Review and share national experience in the provision of comprehensive sexuality education; 2. Regulate and finance the provision of
comprehensive sexuality education in the schools; 3. Review curricula to ensure the inclusion of comprehensive sexual education in the schools;
4. Train teachers and facilitators for comprehensive sexuality education activities; 5. Prepare evidence-based and human-rights-based teaching
materials for comprehensive sex education, including the definitions of sexual and reproductive rights agreed in the Montevideo Consensus on
Population and Development and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development; 6. Implement
information and awareness raising programmes on sexual and a productive health, including inter-institutional programmes of comprehensive
sexuality education involving ministries of health and education and campaigns targeted at adults, in particular fathers and mothers, on the
emerging symbolic and behavioural patterns relating to sexuality among the new generations; 7. Establish mechanisms for technical support to
schools and other institutions, including health-care establishments, as appropriate, for providing comprehensive sexuality education, as well as
guidance on sexual and reproductive matters; 8. Establish opportunities for adolescents and young people to participate in all phases relating to
the delivery of comprehensive sexuality education; 9. Structure systems for regular evaluation of comprehensive sexuality education programmes
and adapt them to the needs of the target population and to sociocultural changes; 10. Promote comprehensive sexuality education programmes
for children and adolescents not in the education system, though health-care establishments or in other forums.
Targets
1. All public and private education institutions have programmes of comprehensive sexuality education alignedwith theMontevideo Consensus
on Population andDevelopment and international standards; 2. Increased number and proportion of children, adolescents and young people with
information and knowledge about sexual and reproductive issues, appropriate to their ages; 3. Increased number and proportion of children,
adolescents andyoung peoplewho take informed decisions in sexualmatterswith the autonomy consistent with their age.
Tentative indicators
1. The official curriculum for comprehensive sexuality education is keeping with the criteria of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and
Development and with international standards; 2. Percentage of children, adolescents and young people who have completed an annual
comprehensive sexuality education course for each school level; 3. Percentage of children, adolescents and young peoplewho have information and
knowledge about sexual and reproductive topics adequate for their respective ages.
Related instruments,
forums andmechanisms
Ministerial (Health andEducation)Declarationon the topic signed inMexico2008 (“Preventing throughEducation”); Ibero-AmericanConventionon the
RightsofYouth, article23, “Right toSexualEducation”;Conventionon theRightsof theChild, article34ofwhich relates to this topic.
Comments
This priority measure contains a number of qualifiers that cannot be taken for granted (“recognizing the emotional dimension of human
relationships, with respect for the evolving capacity of boys and girls and the informed decisions of adolescents and young people regarding their
sexuality, from a participatory, intercultural, gender-sensitive, and human rights perspective”) and are difficult to evaluate (from one
establishment to another), which is why indicator 1 takes a general approach that would require further discussion in order to put it into practice.
Indicators 2 and 3wouldhave to be disaggregated by age, considering children’s evolving capacities andprogressive autonomy, bygender and by
variables capturing social inequality.
International standards in this area refer to the
International Technical Guidance on SexualityEducation
, prepared byUNESCO, UNICEF,WHO,
UNFPA andUNAIDS (see [online] http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001832/183281e.pdf)
The “Preventing throughEducation”Declaration contains specific goalswith respect to comprehensive sexuality education, which could be incorporated
into thisguide.Theseare the following: (i) by2015, reduceby75% thegap in thenumber of schoolsunder the jurisdictionof theeducationministries that
are not providing comprehensive sexuality education; (ii) by 2015, reduce by 50% the gap in the number of adolescents and young people without
coveragebyhealth services that appropriatelyaddress their sexual and reproductivehealthneeds. There isnopermanent institutional arrangement, nor any
official follow-up mandate, nor even any baseline for monitoring the Declaration. Nevertheless, the IPPF/WHR and the Democracy and Sexuality
Network (Demysex), theMesoamericanCoalition for Comprehensive SexualityEducation and theMember Associations of IPPF/WHR publish regular
reports onprogress in fulfilling the commitments assumed in theDeclaration (see [online] https://www.ippfwhr.org/es/publicaciones/evaluaci%C3%B3n-
de-la-implementaci%C3%B3n-de-la-declaraci%C3%B3n-ministerial-prevenir-con-educaci%C3%B3n
)
