Young people can play a powerful role in connecting communities with the information and services they need. Recognizing this potential, SERAC-Bangladesh, in collaboration with Marie Stopes Bangladesh (MSB), brought together 24 youth volunteers on 26 August 2026 as part of the pilot project “Private Sector Strengthening to Provide SRH Services in Urban Areas.” The meeting marked an important step in preparing young people to contribute to community-level awareness and engagement around sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in urban communities.
Through this pilot initiative, MSB and SERAC-Bangladesh are working together to strengthen community engagement, demand generation, and awareness of accessible and quality SRH services in urban areas. As part of the collaboration, SERAC-Bangladesh will engage and coordinate Community-Based Mobilisers (CBMs) in Dhaka City. The CBMs will work at the community level to increase awareness of available SRH information and services, support demand generation, and strengthen connections between communities and appropriate service providers.
The engagement of youth volunteers is central to this approach. Young people are often closely connected to their communities and can help facilitate conversations around SRH in ways that are accessible, respectful, and responsive to community needs. Through their involvement, youth volunteers will contribute to raising awareness of SRH
information and services, engaging communities in conversations around SRH, supporting demand generation for quality services, connecting community members with appropriate service providers, and promoting informed and responsible health-seeking behaviour.
The initiative recognizes that strengthening access to SRH services requires more than simply making services available. People also need awareness, trusted information, community-level engagement, and meaningful connections to appropriate services. Rapid urbanization and diverse community needs create unique challenges for delivering accessible health services, particularly in urban settings. The pilot therefore seeks to strengthen the connection between communities and the private-sector SRH service system by combining service delivery expertise with community-based engagement.
The collaboration between MSB and SERAC-Bangladesh brings together complementary strengths: quality SRH service provision and community engagement through trained youth mobilisers. The 24 youth volunteers participating in the meeting are an important part of this effort. With appropriate coordination and support, they can help bring SRH information closer to communities, facilitate meaningful engagement, and encourage people to seek timely and appropriate services.
The “Private Sector Strengthening to Provide SRH Services in Urban Areas” pilot represents a collaborative effort between SERAC-Bangladesh and Marie Stopes Bangladesh (MSB) to strengthen community engagement and demand generation while improving awareness of and connections to accessible and quality SRH services in urban communities. By placing young people at the centre of community engagement, the initiative aims to build stronger connections between communities, information, and
services and contribute to a more informed and responsive urban SRH environment.