Background
Current Programs
In August 2002, YouthNet was invited to Zambia to provide technical support to the Ministry of Education's Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI). Following that initial assistance effort, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Zambia provided funds to YouthNet for continued support to education sector initiatives that promote youth reproductive health (RH) and HIV prevention. Since 2002, YouthNet has provided a variety of assistance in Zambia, including continued support to the IRI program, subgrants to strengthen the Ambassador Girls Scholarship Program and for school-based RH and HIV education, and special technical assistance in policy implementation. With separate funding, YouthNet is also conducting peer education research, as well as providing technical assistance in peer education to International Youth Foundation affiliates in Zambia.
Interactive Radio Instruction
For nearly three years, YouthNet has provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Education's (MOE) Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) program and its key staff members. Led by the Education Broadcasting Services (EBS) of the MOE, the IRI program provides basic education via radio programming to out-of-school and vulnerable youth, ages seven to 17, living in squatter compounds and rural areas throughout Zambia. Community mentors facilitate classes of around 45 to 50 students, based on daily radio broadcast lessons. The program, begun in 2000, reaches more than 450 communities and serves some 18,000 children.
Training for the writers, producers, and mentors associated with the IRI was and continues to be a priority for the MOE/EBS. In 2002, YouthNet worked with IRI scriptwriters to enhance their personal skills and confidence so that they could produce age-appropriate life skills materials, use participatory methodologies, and comfortably discuss issues related to reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and sexuality. Later in 2003, a YouthNet technical team worked with IRI staff to integrate life skills and HIV prevention messages into the Grade 4 curriculum, including development of objectives and storylines for 200 life skills segments.
Later in 2004, YouthNet led a training of trainers for 21 staff persons from the EBS and other branches of the MOE. These newly trained MOE staff members – in collaboration with master trainers and under the supervision of YouthNet facilitators – then trained 400 IRI community mentors working in nine provinces. At that time, it was determined that a more systematic mentor training program was fundamental to the success of the IRI. This led to YouthNet's most recent assistance in 2005 that involved development of a mentor training manual and accompanying training audiotapes. The manual was pre-tested in 18 districts in Zambia, and a total of 352 IRI mentors were trained in the IRI program, participatory learning methods, and youth reproductive health, HIV prevention, and life skills.
For more information on the IRI program, read:
Ambassador Girls Scholarship Program
The Ambassadors Girls Scholarship Program (AGSP) in Zambia was begun in 2002 to provide scholarships and peer mentoring primarily to girls who require financial support to attend secondary school. The AGSP is implemented by the Foundation for African Women Educationalists in Zambia (FAWEZA).
In January 2004, YouthNet was invited by USAID/Zambia and FAWEZA to conduct an assessment of the AGSP and recommend strategies for strengthening the program and adding an HIV/AIDS prevention component. A key finding of the assessment showed that schools are located far from many pupils' homes and that female students often commute over 50 kilometers to and from school in all types of weather. The study also revealed that during their commute, girls were often subjected to sexual harassment, coercion and violence. Similarly, those scholars who rented accommodations near schools were often forced to live in unsafe shanty compounds and to get jobs to afford food and shelter. In addition to helping girls attend school, the scholarships had inadvertently placed many young recipients at great risk of physical and psychological harm.
To address these unintended consequences, YouthNet supports FAWEZA to work with communities to design and implement programs that address the safety and security of AGSP scholars. In addition, FAWEZA is working to enhance the technical capacity of its Students' Alliance for Female Education (SAFE) Clubs. SAFE Clubs provide students with peer mentoring programs where they learn critical life skills and receive information on youth RH and HIV prevention. Additionally, at the request of the First Lady of Zambia and USAID/Zambia, YouthNet funds are supporting FAWEZA to provide scholarships and safe housing to 26 new female students.
School-Based RH and HIV Prevention
Students Partnership Worldwide/Zambia (SPW/Z), YouthNet's newest partner in Zambia, conducts a program that targets 70,000 primary and secondary level students in 100 schools in Central Province with adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) education. The program involves the selection and training of 90 young Zambian volunteers (post-secondary school and university age) who are placed in rural schools for eight months. Volunteers conduct daily ASRH lessons, support teachers, and host inter-school and community events to raise awareness on youth RH and HIV prevention.
During its first three months of implementation, SPW/Z reported that 90 volunteers were placed in 45 schools and subsequently worked in a total of 100 schools. Over 3,800 ASRH lessons were conducted in the classrooms, reaching nearly 30,000 young people in basic schools alone with repeated health and life skills information and skills-building opportunities. In addition, weekly anti-AIDS club meetings were held in all of the basic schools, youth resource centers were established in 55 schools, and four community events were held in rural areas.
YouthNet recently conducted a rapid appraisal of the SPW project, summarized in a YouthNet Brief (PDF, 103 KB).
Peer Education
YouthNet supports the International Youth Foundation (IYF) to provide grants to its alliance of youth organizations in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia. In addition, YouthNet has provided special technical assistance in peer education to IYF's Zambia affiliates. In March 2005, a YouthNet consultant conducted a needs assessment, provided individual TA to the IYF groups, and hosted a one-day skills-building workshop. The report issuing from the assistance effort noted that one key area to strengthen in existing peer education programs and among staff is youth participation. Thus, at the request of IYF, YouthNet conducted a four-day TOT using YouthNet's Youth Participation Guide, which seeks to institutionalize youth-adult partnerships throughout the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs designed to benefit youth. IYF and YouthNet continue to explore how to improve youth RH and HIV programs in Zambia and best meet the needs of young people.
Advocacy and Policy Implementation
YouthNet, in collaboration with the POLICY Project and other partners, organized and conducted a youth RH policy and program planning regional workshop in Tanzania in May 2004. Health professionals, youth advocates, and youth leaders—representing government agencies, NGOs, faith-based organizations, advocacy groups, and youth organizations from Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia—participated in the workshop. During the workshop, country teams reviewed policies and programs related to youth RH and HIV/AIDS, and developed plans of action to address priority policy and program issues.
The Zambia country team, in collaboration with YouthNet and the POLICY Project, has proposed to work with faith leaders to identify gaps in policies and guidelines for faith-based organizations and make recommendations for changes to address youth RH and HIV prevention. YouthNet will share its experiences working with Namibian faith-based organizations on the development of Christian family life education materials to assist Zambia in implementing the project.
