This toolkit is written for anyone who wants to facilitate participatory learning activities with adolescents and young people to equip them with the knowledge, positive attitudes and skills to grow up and enjoy sexual and reproductive health and well-being. This includes peer educators and leaders, outreach workers, teachers, community workers and others.
The toolkit was initially developed with Frontline AIDS; Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia; Young, Happy, Healthy and Safe; Ministries of Health and Education, and peer educators and young people in rural Eastern Province, Zambia. The toolkit was tested by peer educators and revised based on their experience and the lessons learnt in monitoring.
Users and aims of the toolkit
This toolkit is written for anyone who wants to facilitate participatory learning activities with adolescents and young people to equip them with the knowledge, positive attitudes and skills to grow up and enjoy sexual and reproductive health and well-being. This includes peer educators and leaders, outreach workers, teachers, community workers and others.
It aims to assist facilitators to:
- Provide accurate and complete factual information to adolescents and young people in a non- judgemental atmosphere
- Plan appropriate educational activities for groups of adolescents and young people that enable them to:
- Analyse their own situations, resources and needs
- Apply new knowledge to their own lives
- Increase awareness of their own values and attitudes
- Develop their self-esteem and confidence
- Develop life-skills, for example, communication and assertiveness skills, problem-solving and decision-making
- Build trust and take collective action
- Follow up and evaluate their work
Why do adolescents and young people need to learn about sexuality and life-skills?
Some adults may worry that if we teach young people about sexuality, it will encourage them to start having sex early. The evidence strongly shows that sex education does not hasten sexual activity, but has a positive impact on safer sexual behaviours.
In fact, adolescents and young people who have received sex education may delay sex for longer, and when they start having sex they are more likely to protect themselves from pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV.
Guide to using the toolkit
Planning your sessions: The toolkit contains topic sessions with aims, key ideas and a number of different activities. You need to plan each session carefully before you start. If you are an experienced facilitator we also strongly encourage you to consider working with, and mentoring, a young person to help build their skills in working effectively with peers.
Preparing for the session: Read the key ideas before you start a session to get them clear in your mind. Keep your toolkit with you in case you need to refer to it. Provide information as people need it throughout the session. Use the facts to answer questions, to help people understand an activity and to add to their knowledge after the activity. If an activity is new to you, try it out with a friend. If necessary, adapt the story or role-play to suit your group.
What resources will you need?
You and the young people that you work with are the best resources for learning. You can talk, discuss, debate, perform role-plays and practice new ways of saying things. All these methods help people to learn actively rather than just memorising facts.
Evaluating your Sessions
- How well we facilitated the session and how we can improve
- What people have learned from the session
- Whether the topic and activity was appropriate for the group
- What more they would like to learn
- How they have used what they learned in their lives
Following up Issues
Issues may arise in the sessions that require follow-up. For example, a participant may need counselling or referral. They may want you to involve their family or friends. The group may bring up an issue that requires the involvement of other community members or service providers. Try to collaborate with resource people and service providers in the community so you can work with them to solve any problems identified by the group.
You can download this toolkit for free here.
