Youth Participation

This issue of Soul Beat Africa looks at youth as active participants in development focussing on their roles as peer educators, activists, advocates and leaders. The newsletter includes a range of projects, resources, training and events related to youth participation in reproductive health, job creation and peace building.

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YOUTH AS PEER EDUCATORS

1. Youth Health Organisation (YOHO) - Botswana

YOHO is a Botswana youth initiative that promotes sexual health among young people aged 14-29. It aims to contribute to the reduction of HIV/AIDS, sexual transmitted infections (STI's) and teenage pregnancy by working with the youth through different types of programmes that include theatre (edutainment), peer education, research evaluation, media and advocacy.

Contact Vuyisele Otukile vuyikent@yahoo.co.uk

2. Promoting Sexual Responsibility Among Youth - Zimbabwe

This comprehensive, multimedia sexual health campaign involves youth, both in its design and as peer educators. The objectives of the campaign are to increase youth’s reproductive and sexual health knowledge; heighten approval of safer sexual behaviour and for family planning services; and to encourage youth to adopt safer sexual behaviours and to attend health service facilities. The campaign which targets urban and rural youth aged 10 to 24 in Zimbabwe, uses radio programmes which combine information and advice from peer educators and experts as well as interactive theatre and the distribution of leaflets and posters.

Contact znfpc@ecoweb.co.zw

3. Youth Activists Organisation (YAO) - Zambia

YAO, an NGO managed by youth, was formed and registered by high school graduates in Zambia in 1995. Based out of Lusaka, YAO specialises in peer education, leadership training, and sports outreach programmes dealing with sexual reproductive health in rural Zambia. The overall goal of YAO is to make reproductive health information accessible to young people and to empower them with life skills through youth-friendly interventions such as the Community Youth Football and Sexual Reproductive Health Camps, and Training of Trainers (TOT) in Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) Peer Education programmes.

Contact Clement Bwalya yao@zamnet.zm

4. Kenya Adolescent Reproductive Health Programme (KARHP) - Kenya

This project was implemented by the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) and the USA-based Population Council/FRONTIERS over 3 years (October 1999- March 2003) in 2 rural districts in Western Kenya. Focussing on in- and out-of-school youth aged 10-19 years, the project aims to delay the onset of sexual activity, decrease and/or prevent high-risk sexual behaviours, and increase young people's knowledge of reproductive health (RH) and uptake of services. In order to achieve this, partners developed a strategy that included peer education, guidance and counselling in schools, and the introduction of youth-friendly services in participating health facilities. Sensitisation and guidance efforts conducted by trained peer educators in community-, clinic-, and school-based interventions were the focus of this programme.

Contact Humphries Evelia hevelia@pcnairobi.org AND info@pcnairobi.org

5. Young People We Care! Making a Difference in our Community

by Judith Sherman

This book is designed to encourage and help groups of young people to support either young children or their peers who are living in communities and households that are affected by AIDS. It can also be used by home- based care organisations that want to involve young people in their home-based care activities. The book aims to provide encouragement and ideas to help young people be active members of their community and to promote values and practices that will reduce stigma and discrimination against people infected and affected by HIV.

6. A Handbook For AIDS Awareness Activities For Clubs

This manual was designed to support the GRN-UNICEF Youth Health and Development Programme in Namibia with the aim of sustaining graduates from the My Future is My Choice programme and other young people's peer education activities. It provides step by step guidance to young people wishing to set up and/or participate in AIDS Awareness Clubs. These include guidance on club activities, including group discussions; writing letters in advice columns; using pictures and photos to generate discussion about sexual behaviour; holding talks, lectures and panel discussions, and debates and quizzes. Booklets provide suggestions on different media and forums to encourage responsible behaviour such as games, condom demonstrations, dramas and role plays, music and dance, poems and stories, fairs, festivals and sporting events, posters and banners, rallies and walks, community service projects, field trips and educational visits, contests and videos.

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CALL FOR EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS AND MULTIMEDIA CONTENT

Mindset Network, an NGO based in South Africa, wishes to solicit educational video or computer based multi media content for broacast on its primary school channel called Cabanga. The purpose of this channel is to empower disadvantaged school communities by delivering quality educational material through satellite transmissions or other appropriate mediums. Being a not-for-profit organisation Mindset Cabanga is, however, unable to pay for licensing fees but will duly acknowledge all content that is used. To find out more please contact Fatima Rahiman fatimar@mindset.co.za

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YOUTH AS ACTIVISTS, ADVOCATES AND LEADERS

7. African Youth Parliament (AYP) - Africa

The African Youth Parliament (AYP) is a continental network of young leaders, peace builders and social activists from 50 African countries working to promote and advocate for youthful solutions to Africa's developmental challenges. The parliament aims to give youth activists a forum and opportunity to present ideas and formulate individual and collective action strategies that will address the continental challenges of HIV/AIDS, the cycle of poverty, conflict, democracy and governance, and sustained economic development. It does this by supporting skills development and capacity building programmes, advocating for the rights of African youth and their communities, and by supporting young people's grassroots initiatives to achieve social justice, sustainable development and a culture of peace.

Contact info@ayparliament.org OR ombudo@ayparliament.org

8. Common Concern Network (CCN) - Nigeria

CCN is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that aims to promote peace and sustainable agricultural development in Nigeria through participatory education, mobilisation, sensitisation, and empowerment of youth to be agents for peace and stability. One of CCN's goals is to support the economic well-being of rural Nigerian youth. The organisation's key strategy is bridging the gap of information and knowledge among grassroots agricultural youth organisations by building skills associated with non-violent conflict resolution through trainings, workshops, and seminars.

Contact postmaster@commonconcernnet.gq.nu

9. Developing Youth Advocates for Employment - Egypt

The Youth Employment Summit (YES) 2002 has implemented a pilot programme in Egypt to create a network of young leaders to advocate for and promote youth employment activities. As part of this initial effort to ascertain what is involved in developing youth advocates for employment, ten Youth Leaders were trained. This leadership-building programme aims to engage youth, as well as to develop their skills in leadership, activism for youth employment, and entrepreneurship.

Contact jose@youthemploymentsummit.org

10. Voice of Arab Youth (VOAY) - Middle East and North Africa

Established by the Academy for Educational Development (AED), Voice of Arab Youth (VOAY) aims to give young Arabs the chance to document their experiences working on community development projects in the Middle East and North Africa. Selected participants receive training and funding to support projects to be carried out in their home countries. VOAY is designed to enable 18-25 year-old Arab leaders to implement community growth initiatives with self-designed projects in the fields of education, income generation, and job creation.

Contact Gregory Valadie gvaladie@aed.org

11. Community Participation Project to Improve Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health - Burkina Faso

Advocates for Youth and Mwangaza Action conducted a 4-year programme in an effort to improve youth sexual and reproductive health in Burkina Faso. The project involved training three youth organisations to engage community members, especially young people, in identifying priorities and developing and implementing community-based interventions to address these priorities. An additional goal included building the capacity of these youth organisations around adolescent sexual and reproductive health programming.

Contact Nicole Cheetham nicole@advocatesforyouth.org OR Roger Thiombiano mwangaz@fasonet.bf

12. YouthLIFE - Botswana, Nigeria, and South Africa

In October 2001, Advocates for Youth launched a 3-year initiative called Youth Leadership in Fighting the Epidemic (YouthLIFE) in order to build youth leadership capacity in the area of youth-specific HIV/AIDS prevention interventions and advocacy. The programme involves partnering with four youth-led NGOs in three countries: the Youth Health Organization (YOHO) of Botswana, the Youth Action Rangers of Nigeria (YARN), the Township AIDS Project (TAP) in South Africa and the South African Centre for Organizational Development (SACORD). Efforts include skills-based training, advocacy programme implementation, organisational development, and efforts to secure youth participation in policy making.

Contact Vuyisele Otukile vuyikent@yahoo.co.uk OR Moses Imayi mosesimayi@yahoo.co.uk OR Freddy Pilusa pilusa@sacord.co.za OR tap@icon.co.za

13. Going to Scale in Ethiopia: Mobilising Youth Participation in a National HIV/AIDS Programme

by Kathy Attawell

This case study describes a collaboration between the ministry of youth, sports and culture, and the YouthNet and IMPACT Projects of Family Health International that was supported with funding from the Bureau for Global Health of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The study documents a successful youth-adult partnership that used youth-led Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) as an effective methodology for empowering young people to communicate with each other and with adults about their sexual and reproductive health needs. The study shows that the process for consulting youth on the issues they face, enabling them to prioritise issues to be addressed and to develop a national youth-focused action plan, is important for ensuring youth "ownership" of sexual and reproductive health information.

14. Advocating for Adolescent Reproductive Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Adam Shannon

This publication explores steps for advocating for adolescent reproductive health issues in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides examples of advocacy efforts, looking at the strategies and activities of reproductive health advocates in sub-Saharan Africa. These examples aim to provide guidance to new campaigns, stimulate ideas and generate new contacts among reproductive health advocates from around the region. The publication includes information on how to create an advocacy project, how to involve youth and how to strengthening a campaign by working with young people.

15. Youth Radio for Peacebuilding
A Guide

by Michael Shipler

The Youth Radio for Peacebuilding guide is the result of a workshop organised by the Radio for Peacebuilding, Africa project in Accra, Ghana, in September 2005. Attended by fifteen radio professionals from eleven sub-Saharan African countries, the workshop involved both adults and young people, including three who were under 18 years of age. Some of the participants came from countries in open armed-conflict, post-conflict and non-crisis. Radio has the potential to harness the creativity of young people. The guide is designed to help young people and those who work with them design and produce entertaining radio programmes which help construct a peaceful future.

16. Gulu Youth for Action (GYFA) - Uganda

GYFA is a non-governmental organisation that aims to increase awareness and communication about reproductive health problems, gender based violence and supporting girl child education among internally displaced adolescents in the district of Gulu in Northern Uganda. GYFA collaborates with local health, education and human rights bodies, government officials and NGOs and involves the youth through education meetings and discussion, radio presentations and drama. The organisation is run by adolescents for adolescents/youth and was formed to help youth who had been displaced by the conflict that began in 1986 between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government.

Contact Megan McKenna meganm@womenscommission.org / info@womenscommission.org

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The Soul Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Please send material for The Soul Beat to the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com