YOUTH BLOG: The importance of youth-friendly services

My name is Ts’epang Maboee and I’m from Mafeteng in Lesotho.

I have found so far in life that most services are not youth friendly. In fact, as a 19 year old, I personally rarely experience friendly services.  This contributes to young people opting to not seek services they need, like important health services.

Having heard about the work that Sentebale is doing in supporting children and youth in the country, and how different programs within Sentebale are run and supported by youth, I was always interested in being involved with them, so I was really excited to hear that they were launching a new youth-led program and knew that I wanted to be part of it.

I attended the Youth Summit at the ’Mamohato Children’s Centre, in April, and received training on becoming a young advocate. We discussed how important youth friendly services are – just simple things like making sure the clinics are open outside of school hours, or that healthcare workers use language we understand, and don’t judge us.

Ts’epang speaking at the Sentebale Youth Summit in Lesotho (Photo by Michelly Rall/Getty Images for Sentebale)

Advocating for youth friendly services aims to ensure that young people are active participants in making decision that affect them and are benefiting from programs that are designed for them. That is why I have become a youth advocate.

My hopes for the future are to be more knowledgeable and in a better position to influence change.