Advocates’ International Division works in partnership with colleague organizations in low to middle income countries to help take on this responsibility by implementing programs and advocating for policies that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health.  Below are past programs of the International Division. 

Barcelona, Bangkok, Toronto and Mexico YouthForce at the International AIDS Conferences

2002, 2004, 2006, 2008

Advocates for Youth is a founding member of the YouthForce, an initiative created in 2002 at the Barcelona International AIDS Conference (IAC) to foster youth participation at the conference and create opportunities for young people’s voices to be heard.   Advocates for Youth and Family Health International joined forces with over 40 other organizations to foster increased youth attendance at the conference and run a visibility campaign, focused on “Where are the youth?”

In preparation for the IAC of 2004 in Bangkok, the YouthForce worked with local Thai youth and conference organizers to ensure that youth programming was integrated into the main conference. As a result, organizers provided space and opportunities for the YouthForce and more focused conference policies and programming to increase the participation of young people. In addition, the YouthForce sponsored the first youth pre-conference to support young people’s active participation in the main conference. The pre-conference provided capacity building, skills-based training, and a space for peer networking and learning.

At the 2006 IAC in Toronto, the YouthForce continued its work to further institutionalize youth issues and activities within the IAC and increase youth attendance.  Additional core partners included the Global Coalition on HIV/AIDS and TakingITGlobal.  In Toronto, the efforts of the YouthForce resulted in a doubling of the number of youth delegates at the conference.  Organizers also worked with the International AIDS Society and Local Host directly---allowing for greater support and linkages between the IAC and the YouthForce.  In fact, for the first time, a youth program coordinator position was established within the conference structure to support youth-focused activities. The YouthForce also developed an advocacy campaign that moved beyond a sole focus on youth participation and included specific asks of conference delegates and stakeholders.  The YouthForce continued to implement activities such as the pre-conference and supported a youth reception and the youth pavilion, within the global village venue at the conference.

In 2008 in Mexico City, the YouthForce expanded collaborative partnerships to also include Ave de México, the Youth Coalition, the World AIDS Campaign and Youth R.I.S.E.  The YouthForce secured youth speakers both at the opening and closing plenaries, fostered increased participation of HIV positive youth, and implemented and supported YouthForce hallmark events, including the pre-conference, which became an official conference-affiliated event for the first time ever; the advocacy campaign; the youth reception; and the youth pavilion, in collaboration with the International AIDS Society’s youth program coordinator and support staff.

YouthLife Initiative: Youth Leaders Fighting the Epidemic

South Africa, Botswana, and Nigeria, 2001-2005

Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Global AIDS Program, the goal of Advocates for Youth’s YouthLIFE Initiative was to build youth’s leadership capacity in the area of youth-specific HIV/AIDS prevention interventions. To this end, Advocates directly partnered with four nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in three countries. Through these partnerships, Advocates linked to other NGOs and governmental agencies in the three countries. Advocates also sponsored activities that brought youth leaders from the three countries together to develop their leadership skills and create visibility for more young people to participate in the HIV/AIDS prevention field.

In Botswana, Advocates worked with the Youth Health Organization (YOHO) to implement youth-specific HIV/AIDS interventions, primarily using “edutainment” as a prevention strategy. For example, at the annual Dzolobana Bosele Performing Arts Festival (co-sponsored by YOHO), YOHO links performing artists (theater, music, traditional dance, and poetry) with life skills educators in order to deliver messages related to sexual health promotion as well as opportunities to build skills. In addition to “edutainment,” YOHO conducts peer education programs with in- and out-of-school youth; uses media outlets to deliver sexual health messages; develops IEC materials; and monitors and evaluates activities. By building community mobilization and leadership skills among YOHO’s youth members, Advocates also assisted YOHO in gaining greater participation by youth in policy bodies.

In Nigeria, Advocates worked with Youth Action Rangers of Nigeria (YARN) to develop its organizational capacity as a sustainable NGO promoting sexual and reproductive health for young people. Advocates, in partnership with the Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), also provided YARN with technical assistance in school-based peer education, youth-friendly VCT (voluntary counseling and testing), and an interactive Website to promote sexual health. Advocates also assisted YARN to secure youth’s participation in sexual health policy decisions at all levels—national, state, and local. As a result, YARN has secured a position for a young person on the Nigerian national coordinating mechanism for the Global Fund on HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria, on the local AIDS coordinating agency (LACA), and on the Lagos State AIDS coordinating agency (SACA).

In South Africa, Advocates collaborated with the South African Centre for Organizational Development (SACORD) in the development of the Mayihlome Graduate Alive Project, a tertiary, institution-based HIV/AIDS student leadership project. Through regional leadership training and one-on-one meetings, Advocates and SACORD provided technical assistance to student leaders as they organize projects to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and reduce HIV-related stigma across campuses and communities

Advocates also collaborated with the Township AIDS Project (TAP) in South Africa and YOHO in Botswana to develop and manage cyber café initiatives that provide youth with access to the Internet, computer literacy skills, guidance on accessing sexual and reproductive health information, opportunities to create content for reproductive and sexual health Web sites, and training as online peer advisors. 

Cyber Café Initiative and Manual

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, South Africa, Botswana and Nigeria, 1999-2005

Advocates for Youth partnered with NGOs in Central America and sub-Saharan Africa on a cyber café initiative for youth as a strategy for HIV/AIDS prevention. In Central America, the cyber cafés targeted Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) youth, while in sub-Saharan Africa, the focus was on heterosexual youth. These NGOs—Entre Amigos in El Salvador, Comunidad Gay San Pedrana in Honduras, OASIS in Guatemala, Township AIDS Project in South Africa, and the Youth Health Organization (YOHO) in Botswana—have invested in the Internet as a means of improving access to sexual health information for youth by establishing cyber-cafes in their organizations. Key activities and services carried out by the NGOs through the cyber cafés include: development and provision of virtual and real information on sexual health and HIV prevention, workshops on how to use Word Processors and Spreadsheet software as well as on how to navigate the Internet, and the creation of an organizational Web site.

Key aspects of the cyber-cafés include youth involvement in the management, operation, monitoring, and evaluation of the program. For example, a young person serves as the coordinator of each of the cyber cafés, with support from an adult supervisor. The cyber café also functions as a safe space for youth to gather and exchange information.

Lastly, based on the experience of the Cyber Café Initiative, Advocates has developed a manual detailing the process for establishing cyber cafés as a strategy for HIV/AIDS prevention for youth. Pre-tested in Botswana, Nigeria, and South Africa, the manual is currently available in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

The NIJA Project: Nigeria Linkage to Jamaica: Sharing Lessons Learned from School Based Sexual Health Education

2001-2003

With support from UNFPA, Advocates for Youth has worked in collaboration with the Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) of Ibadan, Nigeria, and the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (Women’s Centre) of Kingston, Jamaica, to foster south-to-south transfer of technology regarding life skills-based sexuality education programs in secondary schools. To this end, Advocates facilitated study tours between ARFH in Nigeria and the Women’s Center in Jamaica; contracted and established linkages between an evaluation expert in each of the two countries; and assisted with the collaborative planning, implementation, and evaluation of six two-day training seminars for guidance counselors in Jamaica. These training seminars drew from the Nigerian experience of conducting Life Planning Education trainings for teachers.

As a result of the project, 400 secondary school guidance counselors were trained. Together, these counselors serve over 10,000 secondary students throughout Jamaica. The primary objective of the trainings was for participants to gain new knowledge and skills related to counseling adolescents on life skills, including sexual and reproductive health. To evaluate the trainings, pre- and post-surveys were administered to a total of 316 participants.

Results of the survey showed significant improvements in knowledge of adolescent growth and development, sexual health indicators of Jamaican youth, contraceptives, and STIs (including HIV/AIDS), and solution focused counseling techniques. Improvements in knowledge around adolescent issues in general and peer issues were not as strong. Survey results also showed some improvements in attitudes among guidance counselors, although these changes were not as strong as changes in knowledge. Specifically, positive attitudinal shifts of participants were seen around the importance of contraceptive availability for adolescents, access to confidential services, and the empowering role of the counselor.

YouthAccess: Improving Access to Reproductive Health Services for Youth

Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, 2000-2003

Through YouthAccess, Advocates has been working to promote youth-friendly services in the Andean Region of South America, working in partnership with the Instituto de Educación y Salud (IES), based in Peru. To this end, a five-day curriculum was developed based on an existing curriculum developed by IES for health personnel. The objective of the curriculum is to guide trainings that provide health center personnel with practical information and tools on how to make reproductive health services more youth-friendly.

Between May and July of 2002, the five-day training on youth-friendly services was tested in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, for a total of 120 health center personnel (40 participants per country). As a result of the training, 54 health centers organized into 28 clusters have implemented plans of action to increase youth-friendly services. These plans have been monitored by IES and their in-country collaborators. Key areas of the plans include training of other health center personnel (technical, professional, and administrative) on how to be more youth-friendly; promoting peer education as a complementary strategy for reaching youth with reproductive heath information; promoting reproductive health services among youth; improving referral systems; and developing strategies for youth involvement. 

As a result of the implementation of the plans, improvements in knowledge and attitudes of health center staff were achieved, not only among the original 120 participants who were trained, but also through additional trainings carried out by participants that reached an additional 439 health center personnel as well as 117 youth across the three countries. Utilization rates also increased in some cases, such as in Peru, where two of the sites saw these rates triple between the start and end of the program. Other activities that resulted from the action plans included the inclusion of youth in the work of 70% of the participating health centers, creation of dedicated space for youth clients, internal and external advocacy to raise awareness around the importance and need for youth-friendly services, and community marches, round tables, information briefings, and educational campaigns around adolescent reproductive and sexual health. Lastly, a manual entitled “Acortando distancias entre proveedores de salud y adolescentes jovenes” (Shortening Distances between Health Providers and Youth) has been published. The manual details the project’s methodology and outcomes.

Burkina Faso: Communities Take Action to Improve Youth Reproductive and Sexual Health

1998-2003

Between 1999 and 2003, Advocates for Youth implemented a four-year community mobilization pilot project in Burkina Faso in partnership with Mwangaza Action, a Burkinabe NGO, and three youth associations.  The program was carried out with 20 villages where young people, in partnership with adults in their communities identified their reproductive health priorities, identified strategies, and implemented programs. A key element of the strategy beyond participation of community members was the ongoing and systematic inclusion of key community, government, health, and other officials. A second key element was the partnerships developed between Advocates, a local NGO, and three rural youth associations for the project’s implementation. Priorities issues identified by the communities included HIV/AIDS, family planning, parent-child communication, youth-friendly services, and female genital cutting.  A wide range of strategies—such as peer education, BCC, advocacy, youth-friendly services, and parent-child communication—were identified and implemented.

Each step in the community mobilization methodology is documented in a how-to-format that is ready for replication and scale-up in other West African countries. The pilot was highly successful, with evaluation results showing increases in parent-child communication, a decrease in number of partners in two of the three sites, increased condom use among sexually active youth, increased knowledge, and seeking of reproductive health services, and a decrease in intention to subject young girls to female genital cutting in the future. Beyond these successes, a key benefit of the program was its continuation well after the formal pilot ended. This continuation was in large part due to the capacity-building nature of the approach, which allowed local youth organizations to gain greater skills and an increased ability to lead the project independently.

Powerful Partnerships

1999-2002

Funded by CDC, Advocates implemented a linkages program between NGOs serving Latino GLBT youth in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and an NGO serving GLBT youth in El Salvador, to facilitate south-to-north and north-to-south exchange of best practices. Key activities included information exchange via information packets, listserv, and study tours.

Trainings and Special Assignments

European NGO Trainings on Youth-Adult Partnerships and Youth-Led Advocacy

2006-2008

Advocates, in collaboration with Population Reference Bureau (PRB), conducted an advocacy and youth-adult partnership training for European NGOs working to influence overseas development assistance as it pertains to youth reproductive and sexual health.  Part of this work also included developing an advocacy kit based on the publication Growing Up Global: the Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries by the Institutes of Medicine and the U.S. National Academies’ National Research Council.  Advocates and PRB also facilitated a follow-up meeting for these same European NGOs to share lessons learned and refresh advocacy skills.

Honduras Training on Youth-Adult Partnerships and Youth-Led Advocacy

2007

Advocates conducted an advocacy and youth-adult partnership training in 2007 for approximately 35 young people and adults from northern Honduras, in collaboration with the Enlace the Mujeres Negras de Honduras. 

World Bank Projects

Life Skills Education, Dominican Republic, 2007
Advocates was contracted by the World Bank to inform the design of a national youth employment program for at risk youth in the Dominican Republic.  As a result, Advocates traveled to the Dominican Republic and presented recommendations for key components of life skills education for integration into the curriculum. 

Peer Education and Peer Counseling, Central African Republic, 2003-2004
Advocates for Youth developed a five-day training curriculum on peer education and peer counseling for HIV prevention for community-based organizations in Central African Republic (CAR). Advocates is currently providing technical assistance to CAR’s national committee for HIV prevention, to help them implement the training. The training will take place this summer.

UNFPA Trainings

Youth-Adult Partnerships and Youth-Led Advocacy, 2004
Working in partnership with UNFPA’s Global Youth Partners Initiative and Central Asia and Eastern Europe Division, Advocates has conducted advocacy and youth leadership trainings for youth activists and adults working on adolescent reproductive and sexual health issues.  To date, trainings have been conducted for Bosnia, Egypt and a regional training for Latin America and the Caribbean was conducted that took place in Panama.

State Department

Ad hoc assignments to foster dialogue on youth reproductive and sexual health: Honduras, Senegal, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and China.

Advocates for Youth conducted a series of presentations and meetings with marginalized youth populations in Honduras in 2004. Previously, Advocates has lead discussions on youth reproductive and sexual health with youth and youth-serving professionals via video-conference in Senegal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and China.