Red Aware

YEAH creates opportunities for young people to become leaders in promoting positive, inclusive, and youth friendly information on sexual health and HIV to their friends and peers. Youth can register to become an Agent of YEAH - a sex ed peer educator in their local communities. Training empowers them to run interactive workshops and represent YEAH at local schools, youth organisations, music festivals, and events. YEAH also specifically engages its peer educators to leverage promoting youth sexual health around several major calendar events, including: Schoolies, World AIDS Day, O'Week, International Condom Day, and IDAHOT Day [International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia]. As of October 2015, YEAH had established peer education teams in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Darwin, and Perth. Each team varies in size between 15-30 trained volunteer peer educators (Agents), coordinated through the direction of volunteer Local Leaders who liaise with the programme manager based at YEAH's headquarters in Melbourne.

More specifically, the Agents of YEAH training provides comprehensive information through 6 specific sessions delivered over a 2-day intensive training programme: (i) becoming an Agent of YEAH; (ii) STIs: signs, symptoms, testing, treatment, and prevention; (iii) HIV/AIDS: a global and local perspective; (iv) stigma, discrimination, and sexual health; (v) healthy relationships and consent; and (vi) peer education skills. After completing the Agents of YEAH training, participants have the knowledge and skills to deliver peer education through 2 formats: (i)interactive workshops delivered through schools and through youth services, which aim to: complement and add value to the role of the teacher and existing approaches to sexual health education within the school or youth service; deliver a positive and vibrant approach to learning about sexual health through interactive activities; and provide young people with a safe environment to discuss sexual health education with their peers; (ii) information stalls delivered through schools, universities, and other youth-focused events and festivals (e.g., large-scale music festivals), which aim to: provide accurate, relevant, and simple sexual health information in a fun, vibrant, and interactive way; respond to sexual health questions and address sexual health misconceptions or myths in real time; provide practical information on how to safely use condoms and other barrier methods; provide local referral information to improve young people's ability to access youth sexual health testing and support services; and meet the needs of young people who want a safe and trusted peer-based environment to discuss sexual health.

In 2014, YEAH launched the Peer Education Hub, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)- funded project to support and promote a culture of resource sharing amongst sexual health peer educators from around the world. The Hub is an online sharing platform that allows people to either upload or download resources that are designed for youth sexual health peer educators. Resources can be in a variety of formats, including interactive activity outlines and games, videos, classroom lesson plans, info-graphs, and monitoring and evaluation guidelines and resources.

HIV/AIDS, Sexual Health, Youth

Founded in 2005, YEAH supports young people to take control of their sexual health through participation and leadership. Guiding principles of YEAH:

• fostering youth participation;
• promoting leadership;
• providing education through dialogue;
• contributing to HIV and STI prevention;
• promoting well-being;
• carrying out evidence-based practices;
• facilitating empowerment; and
• building diverse partnerships.

YEAH says that, in Australia, more than 75% of all STIs occur amongst young people aged 15-29, and a quarter of sexually active high school students report they have experienced unwanted or coerced sex.

Agents of YEAH first piloted in Melbourne in 2009. In 2015, the campaign reached more than 900,000 people through its online channels (e.g., its website and Facebook page). That same year, YEAH's peer education programme engaged directly with more than 10,000 young people through community workshops and events.