Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

Map of MozambiqueSource: United Nations. (The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this mapdo not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations)Development Agency), and technical support from PathfinderInternational. The programme began as a pilot in two provinces– Maputo City and Zambezia – but now covers all 11 provincesin the country.What is the programme?‘Geração Biz’ means ‘dynamic and energetic generation’ – a namechosen for the programme by young people themselves to reflect ageneration actively involved in finding solutions to their problems.It has been described by some young people as a philosophy of lifeinspiring them to be active and dynamic.Programme Geração Biz aims to address young Mozambicans’ needfor knowledge and skills related to sexual and reproductive health andHIV prevention and treatment. The programme, which also aims topromote gender awareness, reduce incidence of unintended pregnanciesand unsafe abortion, and reduce vulnerability to STIs, includingHIV, represents an important contribution to the social dimension ofsustainable development. 13 Since its inception, Programme GeraçãoBiz has reached more than four million young people, both in and outof school, with seven thousand peer educators present in the schoolsand communities.The core objectives of the programme are:• To promote an enabling environment for informing, educating,changing behaviour and providing services to young peoplethrough public policy and information at community, provincialand national levels• To provide information, education and counsellingto young people in schools and communities toimprove knowledge, skills, behaviour and practiceswith respect to SRH• To ensure quality youth-friendly health services areaccessible to youth in schools and the community• To strengthen the capacity of ministerial agenciesand their civil society partners to plan, implementand monitor activities• To strengthen multi-sectoral coordination• To ensure gender recognition and promote genderequality as a fundamental component of all activities. 14Themes of the programmeThere are four strategic themes that aim to guide allprogramme activities. 15 These are:• Multi-sectoral strategy: Programme activities implementedby all three sectors, (education, youth andsports, and health) from the central to the communitylevel, based on the understanding that young peopleare a heterogeneous group, needing not only informationbut also services• Institutional capacity-building: Developing skills,instruments, infrastructure and systems to build theinstitutional capacity for information provision andservice delivery by and for young people• Advocacy: Advocating for the rights and needs ofyoung people at all levels, from the national level tograssroots advocacy activities of peer educators• Service provision: Dissemination of knowledge andskills supported by services for young people.The three components of Programme Geração Biz areschool, community and clinical services. 16The school component provides a platform to reachyoung people in formal education. Activities includelectures during classes, at break time, after school and inyouth corners, all run by volunteer peer educators andsupported by teachers. These activities educate youngpeople about sexual and reproductive health, includingHIV prevention, using various behaviour changecommunication (BCC) materials. While lectures,group discussions and theatre are undertaken as groupactivities, youth-friendly corners are used for individualcounselling. At the end of 2007, a policy was approvedensuring space and free enrolment for all ProgrammeGeração Biz peer educators in schools that maintain ahigh standard of performance. This policy improvesretention of educators, reduces costs to families, andincreases the probability of girls staying in school.At the end of 2009, the school component was beingimplemented in approximately 624 schools in all provincesof Mozambique. There were 3,709 peer educatorsat the centre of implementing activities in the schoolsand 1,098,516 young people have been reached throughthis component since the programme’s inception. 17The community component: With a national literacy rateof 47.8 per cent, many young people are not part of theformal education system in Mozambique, making the[ 55 ]