HIV/AIDS Prevention & Reproductive Health Project

community. Sessions now include
discussions on "intimate" issues such as
menstruation, sterility, males' concern about
masturbation, wet dreams, etc. Youth
indicate that they are most of all interested in
issues related to Reproductive Health and
adolescence/life skills. This includes health
issues such as hygiene, infection prevention
and contraception which are relevant to the
daily life of the youth. Hence, to capture the
interest of the youth HIV needs to be
integrated into the broader context of
adolescence and Reproductive Health.
Increased knowledge, new responsibilities
and participation in activities all promote a
set of life skills of PEs, including awareness,
self-esteem and assertiveness. One youth
commented that his main motivation to
work as a PE is to challenge conservative
attitudes. Being selected for the training is
regarded as a privilege and other students
would also like to receive the training. The
project further enjoys popularity among the
youth as it provides an open environment to
exchange matters of their concern. Though
many of the youth knew each other
previously, the joint project activities
intensified interaction and friendship among
PEs. It is now noted to be relatively easy to
gather the youth together for activities. The
readiness to meet was further
demonstrated when organizing focussed
group discussions for this study.
The project has resulted in an increased
number of J/YRCCs and an increased level
of their activity (one district, for example,
had 8 new circles). Through the project
activities J/YRCCs gained additional
responsibilities that kept them more active,
as expressed in an increased number of
quarterly reports submitted by the youth
circles to their NRCS district chapters. The
project has thus played a catalytic role
motivating youth to work as volunteers and
to get involved in a range of community
interventions and extra curricular activities
that go beyond the issue of HIV.
Although the NRCS is considerably successful
with its volunteer based approach, incentives
to keep the momentum of activities need also
to be considered. Though the PEs do not
receive any financial incentives, they have
other incentives such as meeting peers and
most importantly receiving trainings.
Motivation though tends to slow down as the
effect of the training fades away which often
is the case approximately one year after the
training. Also, youth request more in-depth
knowledge on some issues - the module on
life skills currently only covers 2 hours and
many of the PEs find it to be very short. The
yearly one-day refresher meetings are not
considered to provide significant added value
compared to the first trainings. Incentives are
further related to belonging to the broader
social movement of the NRCS. Activities are
often integrated into the planning of J/
YRCCs, but not all schools have a system in
place where PEs can meet with one another,
follow up and update their knowledge
regularly.
Often the formal role as educators for HIV
prevention is limited, given that PEs are
unlikely to have sufficient level of HIV and
teaching expertise after a few days of
training. An important part of information
sharing is on an informal basis with close
peers. These interactions are most intensive
after the training when friends are curious to
ask PEs what they have learnt. For direct
questions PEs prefer to consult close friends
and others of the same gender. Most
interactions are with friends at school.
Nevertheless, examples include talking with
out of school peers, sisters/ brothers and, in
some cases, parents. Interactions with other
youth and the community are easier if they
are supported by questions from the query
box to be answered, and event and role plays
such as the street drama.
6
CAPITALIZATION STUDY
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Reproductive Health Project
NRCS/SDC 2000-2007