Peer Education

FHI's community-based health programs have made extensive use of peer educators, since they deliver culturally appropriate messages on such sensitive topics as sexuality, family violence, and drug use. Such messages, delivered to friends, colleagues, neighbors, and people who are the same age or share similar life experiences are more likely to influence behavior than are messages delivered by authority figures outside the peer group. This is particularly true of young people, who are often not receptive to behavior-change messages delivered by adults. Peer educators thus provide an important service at a small cost, and they provide it very effectively.

The ideal peer educator is respected, charismatic, and literate, with good communication skills. In FHI programs, they often lead informal discussions that last 30 minutes or less on personal, health-related topics for a small group, perhaps in a school, workplace, or bar. Peer educators may also introduce drama and video presentations and take questions after.

Youth Peer Education Toolkit (2005)

Other Resources

Youth Peer Education Toolkit on UNFPA (2005)

YouthNet on Communication Initiative Network (2005)

Reaching out to bring young Haitians in: FHI helps two organizations work with youth in high-risk settings (2004)

AIDSTech Peer Education on USAID DEC (1992)