The School and My Health- (Re)Centering Young Women’s Voices in Peer-Led Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Education.

• In Event: "Jitegemee" - educating vulnerable youth in Kenya for sustainability

Proposal

The symbiotic relationship between education and health is one that necessitates comprehensive approaches to health education for youth in and out of schools (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2016). Yet, global development and education efforts such as the Education for All (EFA) goals and the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) often place more focus on enrolment numbers in formal schooling and less attention on non-formal education as well as connections between health and education among other pertinent issues (Skinner, Blum and Bourn, 2013; Klees, 2017).

The ability of young people particularly young women, to make informed health decisions has a huge impact on access to and completion of formal and non-formal education, earning power, wellbeing and their ability to make their way out of poverty. Thus, peer education has been hailed as a good education intervention model for providing information, building life skills and improving decision-making on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues for young people. As part of its social support program, Jitegemee has been implementing a peer education program for street and vulnerable youth that have (been) dropped out of the formal schooling system. An increase in teenage pregnancies, early marriages and alcohol abuse cases recorded at the school in the past 5 years prompted the staff and community to think about ways to address SRH challenges. Therefore, the introduction of peer education in August 2017 as part of the organization’s extensive curriculum, was an adaptive response to a need arising from the youth it serves. This presentation will discuss preliminary findings of a phenomenological study on young women’s perceptions of Jitegemee peer education program. The study also examined the connections between the program and other SRH resources in the community.

The research protocols were collaboratively designed with Jitegemee staff. Data collection mainly involved centering the voices, personal narratives and experiences of young women through thoughtful dialogue and conversations with them. Guided by feminist methods, the research included participatory activities that allowed young people to add their own questions to the process. For example, participants led a participatory mapping activity that highlighted places in the community where young people get their SRH education and services. Local tools and resources were used; young people used chalk to make drawings on concrete about their community’s SRH services. They then sorted the services by importance and accessibility using rocks to tally responses. In addition, some of the participants and lead researcher took ‘transect’ walks together around Machakos town and neighborhoods while having conversations about the social amenities for youth in the community. To complement these activities, interviews and focus groups were conducted with staff, young men, program partners and parents.

Findings of the study cover issues of program design, opportunities and challenges. The study’s focus on a non-formal education space critically challenges approaches that do not consider the complexities of health education as situated beyond formal schooling settings.

Author

• Nyaradzai Changamire, University of Massachusetts Amherst