Standardizing Success: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Youth Peer Education

Robyn Dayton, MPHFHI

Photographer unknown, USAID Photo Gallery

Presentation Acknowledgments

• Karah Fazekas Pedersen, FHI• Joy Cunningham, FHI• Suzanne Fischer, FHI• The many peer education

advisors who contributed to these guidelines

Reverie Zurba, USAID Photo Gallery

What is peer education?

• The process by which well-trained and motivated youth volunteers undertake informal or organized educational activities with their peers

- Activities occur over an extended period of time

- Aimed at developing knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and skills to support youth health and wellbeing

Bijay Panday, USAID Photo Gallery

Evidence on the benefits of peer education

• Reaches large numbers of youth• Positively influences attitudes and knowledge about

sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV• Decreases number of sexual partners • Increases use of condoms and other contraception • Increases use of SRH services by vulnerable young

people • Improves community norms

Adamchak. Youth peer education in reproductive health and HIV, 2006.

Evidence on the challenges in peer education

• Training and supervising can be expensive and time-consuming

• High turnover of educators• Establishing meaningful youth involvement is difficult• Peer education alone is not enough• Effectiveness varies considerably

– Lack of rigorous impact/outcome evaluations– Effectiveness most evident in the peer educators

Adamchak. Youth peer education in reproductive health and HIV, 2006.

Why use the Guidelines?

• Recommendations that are tested and useful

• A framework for quality assurance

• Opportunity to increase a program’s capacity

• A basis for recognition

How was the tool created?

Designed based on:• Research findings on youth and peer education• Lessons learned from peer education programs• Experiences of experts all over the world

Portions adapted from: • National Standards in Peer Education for Young

People – Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of Tanzania (2009)

• Standards for Peer Education Programmes – FHI/YouthNet, UNFPA, Y-Peer (2005)

Emphasis on:• Youth participation• Monitoring and evaluation

Mike Wang, PATH courtesy of Photoshare 2006

Who can use this tool?

• Policymakers • Program managers• Supervisors• Trainers• Peer educators• Other stakeholders

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What will you find in the tool?

• Peer education overview• Guidelines• Checklist and action planning tool• Annexes

– ToolsLogic modelGroup exercise Sample code of conduct

– ResourcesCurricula and others

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The Guidelines

1. Program Planning2. Recruitment and Retention of Peer Educators3. Training Youth to Be Peer Educators4. Leading Peer Education Sessions5. Supervision and Program Management6. Monitoring and Evaluation

Each main section contains specific guidelines

Monitoring and Evaluation6-1. Establish functional, relevant indicators to measure

progress6-2. Set indicator targets6-3. Develop and apply your M&E plan6-4. Use appropriate monitoring tools6-5. Gather baseline and follow-up data6-6. Document the program

Under each guideline

Monitoring and Evaluation

6-1. Establish functional, relevant indicators to measure progress

6-2. Set indicator targets6-3. Develop and apply your M&E plan6-4. Use appropriate monitoring tools6-5. Gather baseline and follow-up data6-6. Document the program

6-4. Use appropriate monitoring tools

• Develop monitoring tools that are easy to understand and fill out, or adapt existing tools that have been proven useful

• Pilot test the tools with those who will eventually be asked to use them

• After monitoring tools have been pilot tested and refined, train staff and peer educators how to use the tools

6-4. Use appropriate monitoring tools - Example

“Problems can arise if peer educators do not understand why they are collecting information. In one program, peer educators filled out the pre-training questionnaires themselves rather than giving the questionnaires to participants. Once a supervisor addressed the problem, the quality of the data collected improved and peer educators felt an increased ownership in the M&E process.”

Monitoring and Evaluation

6-1. Establish functional, relevant indicators to measure progress

6-2. Set indicator targets6-3. Develop and apply your M&E plan6-4. Use appropriate monitoring tools6-5 Gather baseline and follow-up data6-6. Document the program

6-5. Gather baseline and follow-up data - Research

“Few published studies have rigorously evaluated the effect of peer education programs on youth and on community health indicators and outcomes. Evaluation studies that measure a program’s impact can include randomized experiments, quasi-experiments, and other evaluation designs.”

Checklist and Action Planning Tool

Activity – Getting Familiar with the Guidelines

1. Go to the section that most interests you 2. Read the relevant section of the Guidelines (5 min)3. With your group, decide what about your section is

most note-worthy and why (10 min)4. Choose a presenter to share the group’s feedback5. Each group presents for 2 minutes with 1 minute for

questions

Additional peer education resources

Thank you

Remember– Order form for Evidence-based Peer Education

Guidelines– Resources – Session evaluation– Check out the IYWG Web site

www.youthwg.org

Andrea Aragón. USAID Photo Gallery