Unpacking Resistance: Contentions, Criticisms, and Consensus-Building in Kenya’s CSE Landscape
Abstract
Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) remains a contested aspect of sexual and reproductive health policy in Kenya. Despite policy development, full-scale implementation has faced persistent barriers, largely due to resistance from faith-based leaders, government officials, and parliamentary caucuses who cite moral, cultural, and parental concerns. This systematic review and stakeholder analysis, with particular reference to the CSA (2024) report From Great Divides to Building Common Ground for CSE, explores the contentious issues shaping CSE discourse. Findings highlight cultural resistance, political hesitation, misinformation, and opposition from conservative movements as major barriers to implementation. Additional challenges include stigma, disputes over age-appropriateness, teacher discomfort, and fragmented responses to adolescent reproductive health needs. Respondents emphasised the urgent need for comprehensive, age-appropriate, inclusive, and culturally sensitive CSE to address adolescent pregnancies and poor SRHR outcomes. The study concludes that repositioning CSE as a rights-based public health intervention requires sustained values-driven advocacy, continuous stakeholder engagement, and evidence-based communication strategies to counter misinformation. Strengthened coordination among civil society organisations and alignment of CSE with community norms are essential for advancing inclusive, context-sensitive SRHR programming and contributing to Kenya’s broader commitments to adolescent health and gender equity
Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights,
Advocacy, Opposition,
Anti-rights
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References
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