YouthNet works to improve and strengthen youth programs, services, and policy; conducts research on critical information gaps; and disseminates and promotes information, tools, and evidence-based approaches that address reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention for youth at national, regional, and international levels. The program is funded by USAID through a five-year cooperative agreement awarded in October 2001 to Family Health International (FHI), in partnership with CARE USA and RTI International.
Through its efforts and strategic partnerships, YouthNet aims to achieve the following three results:
Result 1: Enhanced community and political support – Strengthened community support for youth reproductive health and HIV prevention programs. This includes interventions at the policy level, with mass media, and with community-based volunteer organizations, including faith-based groups.
Result 2: Improved knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviors – Enhanced capacity of the education and other sectors to reach in-school and out-of-school youth with knowledge and skills needed to foster and sustain health-affirming behaviors.
Result 3: Greater access to quality products and services – Increased availability and quality of youth-friendly services and products to meet the reproductive health and HIV prevention needs of young people, including those who are most vulnerable.
To achieve these results and meet the comprehensive and wide-ranging needs of young people, YouthNet:
- Provides technical assistance and implements programs in countries where governments, USAID Missions, and other organizations express interest and need;
- Conducts research to identify and evaluate evidence-based approaches and generate cutting-edge knowledge in youth reproductive health and HIV;
- Disseminates and promotes state-of-the-art findings, materials, tools and curricula; and
- Implements innovative programs and policies that enhance youth participation and leadership.
YouthNet focuses on a variety of technical areas, with specific expertise in sex education, peer education, reproductive health services for youth, and media and behavior change communication. The project also has four important cross-cutting themes, including gender, community involvement, youth participation, and policy.
Monitoring and evaluation is integrated throughout the project's global, regional, and country-level programming to ensure that achievements towards program goals and objectives can be measured.
YouthNet seeks to complement programs already being successfully implemented by identifying gaps, promoting sharing of information and skills, forging innovative partnerships, and helping to address unmet needs. As with other FHI programs, YouthNet's emphasis is on collaboration with local implementing partners and building the capacity and ownership of programs for sustainable interventions.
