European guidelines for youth AIDS peer education - University of ...

Models of systematic evaluationa Reflective practitioner modelPractitioners in AIDS peer education work with young people on a person-to-person basis and attempt tounderstand young people’s opinions, life-styles and problems. In many regards they are the mediatorsbetween the world of young people and the complicated and often political world of adults andorganisations. Moreover, practitioners in HIV-prevention hold valuable knowledge of the consequences ofHIV and of surrounding issues such as sex education, drug education, and discrimination.Working at the interface of youth and adults, individuals and organisations, innovation and tradition is abalancing act that calls for sensitivity and professionalism. It is a world of multiple roles and reflection inaction. Skills develop through training, experience, the literature and the self-reflection that comes fromworking in the uncertainties of the practice situations. In the end, a practice wisdom develops from thiswork in the world. In AIDS peer education this involves working with change as well as seeking to create it.Everyone has a theory about what they do, why they think it will work and what the outcome will be.Without the feedback of an evaluation it is easy to be enchanted by one’s own assumptions and beliefs.However, practitioners are often educated in a tradition where practice is separated from research and itsmethodologies. This means outside consultants may have to be used.Without the necessity of an evaluation consultant the practitioner can use the reflective practitionerapproach to systematically evaluate the project 2 . This model involves continuously monitoring and guidingthe project towards its goals and objectives. This includes reflection on the progress of the project inrelation to its past and anticipating its future course. In addition, the practitioner ‘re-frames’ his or herperspective on the project through continuous dialogue with the young people targeted, the peer educators,intermediaries, the coalition, and the community. This is both a systematic situation assessment of theproject and a learning process.Moreover, valuable knowledge and perspectives can be gained by networking with colleagues in other peereducation projects, reading the peer education literature and examining results from similar projects. Afamiliarity with social and behaviour change theories can help to explain phenomena, guide the changeprocess, and provide an objectivity that is weighed against intuition, personal ideologies and commitments.In practice, the practitioner can document project activities, processes and achievements. Keeping logs isuseful. In this way the practitioner can monitor and evaluate the work that has been completed and theoutcomes. This type of documentation is largely descriptive but is useful for guiding the project forward andremaining aware of changing contexts.b Objectives-based modelBackgroundLet us begin from the setting up stage of the project. One needs to be specific in defining the young peoplethat will be used to measure the effect of the project – the so-called target group. This is easiest insituations where the group is already well-defined or ‘captive’ such as in schools, but difficult withpopulations such as street youth. Even with well-defined groups one needs to think of reaching those youngpeople most vulnerable to HIV due to high risk behaviours. Even if project messages reach beyond it, thetarget group remains the focus of the evaluation.The next step is to decide what to measure. These are the objectives defined after an assessment has beenmade of the young people who will receive the project (Chapter 3). Project objectives are clearly formulatedand do not focus on the project itself but on what one expects to happen to the target group as aconsequence of the project activities. They can be formulated in terms of measuring achievements such asdegree of the target group reached, positive changes in mediating variables (see below) or reductions inspecific risk behaviours.42 European guidelines for youth AIDS peer education