The Training of Trainers Manual - UNFPA

Day 6
The concept of youth participation arises from the conviction that young people
have a right to participate in developing programmes and policies that affect
them. Also, good practice in youth health education shows that young people’s
full involvement contributes to a programme’s sustainability and effectiveness. It
ensures that the programme responds to the specific needs, values, and concerns
of youth and that the approaches used are interesting and engaging.
Therefore, when developing and implementing a youth peer education project,
it is important for the overall success of the programme to build an effective
partnership between youth and adults. The process begins on unequal ground
because the adults have the dominant
position, so the development of true
Word sense
partnership will require a conscious
and concerted effort to achieve a
A partnership is a relationship between individuals or
balance that is satisfactory to both.
groups that is characterized by mutual cooperation
and responsibility in achieving a common goal. It is
One way to view youth-adult
grounded on the quality and quantity of interactions,
partnership in peer education is to see perceptions held by the partners about each other,
it as a ‘learning partnership’ in which and the degree of commitment by the partners to the
each group learns continuously from relationship. Partnerships are relationships among
the other. Adults hold the knowledge, equals, where one partner does not override the
skills, and resources, while young
choice of the other. Partnership is multi-vocal rather
people know the thoughts, feelings,
than univocal, and those in the partnership get the
and lifestyles of the youth they
opportunity to express their opinions.
represent. The partnership begins by
focusing on young people’s ideas about
how to receive certain problems, even
though their thoughts may appear unprofessional or unconventional. Asking young
people about their opinions, and being sincerely interested in what they have
to say, gives them a sense of ownership in the work being accomplished. They
gain power through their partnership with adults when the partnership includes
openness and communication, mutual respect, trust, and shared decision-making.
In this context, peer education programmes are unique in that youth and adults
must cooperate in the common goal of improving the health and well-being of
young people.
Youth-adult partnerships arise from the conviction that young people have a right
to participate in developing the programmes that will serve them and a right to
have a voice in shaping the policies that will affect them. People who support
youth-adult partnerships believe that youth are caring and capable. They believe
young people have the capacity to make positive and wide-ranging contributions
when they receive support and the opportunity to develop their skills. In addition,
Section 2. Guidelines for Training of Trainers
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