Clinical Medicine from Clinical Officer’s Training College

“Otuck is a public health professional, a provider, an advocate, an ally & an artist. His power lies in his ability to “speak the language” of diverse groups of stakeholders, unifying & rallying the global FP community with his music & his vision.r.
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– Elizabeth Futrell, Director, Transmedia Story Lab at Ci3 | University of Chicago

Describe your contributions to and achievements in family planning.

In 2013, I was lucky to be selected as one of the few youths to attend the ICFP. My local leadership through community engagement on SRHR and FP issues contributed to my access to this space. During the conference, I met other incredible incredible young leaders from across the globe and together we founded the International Youth Alliance for Family Planning (IYAFP). Since then, I have been working on this platform to empower young leaders across the globe giving them capacity and opportunity to be better FP advocates in their own communities, as well as being the voice of young people through policy advocacy and my musical talent. I have recently been mobilising artists locally and from across the globe to create a network of advocates of SRHR/FP through their musical talent.

What sparked your passion for family planning?

When I was 18 or 19, my mother relieved to me that she has been on FP for years, so that she could space the birth between my young brother and my young sister. My father is a polygamy who had so many kids from different women, eventually it turned out that I was the most educated child of all my father’s children, thanks to my mother. This story changed the way I looked at women and Family Planning.
Since then, I’ve always wanted to see a world where all women and girls have access to FP.

Give one or two examples of how you display leadership in your family planning work.:

I have been leading a local organisation in a small time that I live to get the local government to commit to increase AYFS, to being a chairperson of Tanzania Adolescents and Youth Reproductive Health (TAYARH) coalition where we contributed to having Tanzanian government launch a Teenage Pregnancy campaign, supporting 80+ youths advocates across the globe through IYAFP, and creating a network of musicians and artists advocates of FP and making songs about girls access to contraceptives.

If you are named a winner of 120 under 40, how will you use this new platform and the $1000 grant to advance your work?

My next mission in Family Planning world is to use my network and talents to solidify the use of music and entertainment in advocating for the use of Family Planning as a development and rights issue across the globe. As a winner, I will be able to convince more artists to be part of my movement but also using the funds to run activities that would solidify the network/coalition and develop strategies to reach out to more decision makers and communities in Africa and across the globe.

Video Introduction

Photos of the nominee in the field/at work