DREAMS Ambassadors: Experiences from a peer-based psychosocial support approach for secondary school girls in South Africa

• In Event: Personal safety and well-being as a continuum of care: promising approaches from across the well-being continuum

Proposal

With a focus on adolescent girls and young women, EDC’s USAID/PEPFAR-funded South Africa School-Based Sexuality Education & HIV Prevention (SA-SBSEHP) Activity supports girls in grades 4-12 to be Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-Free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS). Since 2015 SA-SBSEHP has provided extensive support to teachers, school administrators and management structures, and Department of Basic Education officials in seven provinces to institutionalize South Africa’s national life skills / life orientation curriculum; identify learners vulnerable to early pregnancy, HIV/STIs, and violence; and link learners to essential health and social protection services—reaching more than 1.5 million learners to date.

To empower girls, increase their leadership skills, and build agency and ownership for solutions to the challenges they face, in 2023 EDC launched the DREAMS Ambassadors program for secondary school girls. High-performing female learners are identified as DREAMS Ambassadors, to act as role models, peer supporters, and mobilizers for fellow girls. DREAMS Ambassadors receive training through DREAMS Camps and ongoing support from school-based Learner Support Agents to organize girls’ clubs, engage peers in reflection and discussion sessions on the challenges they experience, prioritize issues and needs, plan and implement school-based initiatives to increase support for girls and bring about positive change, identify peers at risk or in need of support and refer them for services, and represent girls’ issues and concerns with school management structures. This presentation will share experiences and lessons learned from the first year of implementation of the DREAMS Ambassadors program, related to secondary school learners’ ability to facilitate basic, appropriate psychosocial support and referrals for peers in a context of high levels of gender inequality, vulnerability, gender-based violence, HIV acquisition, and teen pregnancy.

Author

• Alisha Keirstead, Education Development Center (Edc)