Youth Wave, through its partnership with the UNESCO Malawi Office for the Our Rights Our Lives Our Future Programme, shortly known as the O3 Programme, developed the first ever Youth-Led Advocacy Toolkit for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in 2025.

Among other things following the development of the toolkit, Youth Wave embarked on capacity bulding and mentorship interventions for youth leaders and youth-led organizations from all regions of Malawi from May 2026. 24 were selected across 15 districts of Malawi including Chitipa, Rumphi, Mzuzu, Kasungu, Salima, Nkhotakota, Chiradzulu and many others and they first underwent through a 4-day training workshop to be oriented on the developed toolkit. This was followed by periodic sessions on their advocacy progress and various other learning opportunities. With topics ranging from Understanding Advocacy to Self Care to Meaningful Youth Participation and Leadership, this equipped the youth leaders with the necessary skills to lead advocacy efforts beyond SRHR and CSE in their respective communities.

The toolkit gives youth leaders and youth-led organizations (including youth serving organizations) entry points for advocacy including problem identification and work plans, practicing and/or leading with self care in mind including steps and processes of self care, leadership and meaningful youth participation, community engagement, mobilization and partnerships.

After the workshop, participants developed workplans aimed at addressing various issues in their respective communities with some advocating for youth friendly health corners, some addressing harmful social norms, some engaging local leadership to advocate for prioritization of issues affecting youth and others advocating for youth representation in decision-making structures. Through this intervention, Youth Wave continues to mentor and provide support to the youth-led organizations towards ensuring meaningful and inclusive youth participation and enhancing youth development in Malawi. The toolkit will be formally launched soon and be on the lookout.