Standardizing Success:
Evidence-Based
Guidelines for Youth
Peer Education
Robyn Dayton, MPH
FHI
Photographer unknown, USAID Photo Gallery
Presentation Acknowledgments
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Karah Fazekas Pedersen, FHI
Joy Cunningham, FHI
Suzanne Fischer, FHI
The many peer education
advisors who contributed to
these guidelines
Reverie Zurba, USAID Photo Gallery
What is peer education?
• The process by which well-trained and motivated
youth volunteers undertake informal or organized
educational activities with their peers
- Activities occur over an
extended period of time
- Aimed at developing
knowledge, attitudes,
behaviors, and skills to
support youth health and
wellbeing
Bijay Panday, USAID Photo Gallery
Evidence on the benefits of peer education
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Reaches large numbers of youth
Positively influences attitudes and knowledge about
sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV
Decreases number of sexual partners
Increases use of condoms and other contraception
Increases use of SRH services by vulnerable young
people
Improves community norms
Adamchak. Youth peer education in reproductive health and HIV, 2006.
Evidence on the challenges in peer education
• Training and supervising can be expensive and timeconsuming
• High turnover of educators
• Establishing meaningful youth involvement is difficult
• Peer education alone is not enough
• Effectiveness varies considerably
– Lack of rigorous impact/outcome evaluations
– Effectiveness most evident in the peer educators
Adamchak. Youth peer education in reproductive health and HIV, 2006.
Why use the Guidelines?
• Recommendations that
are tested and useful
• A framework for quality
assurance
• Opportunity to increase
a program’s capacity
• A basis for recognition
How was the tool created?
Designed based on:
• Research findings on youth and peer education
• Lessons learned from peer education programs
• Experiences of experts all over the world
Portions adapted from:
• National Standards in Peer Education for Young
People – Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of
Tanzania (2009)
• Standards for Peer Education Programmes –
FHI/YouthNet, UNFPA, Y-Peer (2005)
Emphasis on:
• Youth participation
• Monitoring and evaluation
Mike Wang, PATH courtesy of Photoshare 2006
Who can use this tool?
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Richard Nyberg, USAID Photo Gallery
Policymakers
Program managers
Supervisors
Trainers
Peer educators
Other stakeholders
What will you find in the tool?
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Peer education overview
Guidelines
Checklist and action planning tool
Annexes
– Tools
Logic model
Group exercise
Sample code of conduct
– Resources
Curricula and others
Photographer unknown, USAID Photo Gallery
The Guidelines
1. Program Planning
2. Recruitment and Retention of Peer Educators
3. Training Youth to Be Peer Educators
4. Leading Peer Education Sessions
5. Supervision and Program Management
6. Monitoring and Evaluation
Each main section contains specific guidelines
Monitoring and Evaluation
6-1. Establish functional, relevant indicators to measure
progress
6-2. Set indicator targets
6-3. Develop and apply your M&E plan
6-4. Use appropriate monitoring tools
6-5. Gather baseline and follow-up data
6-6. Document the program
Under each guideline
Monitoring and Evaluation
6-1. Establish functional, relevant indicators to measure
progress
6-2. Set indicator targets
6-3. Develop and apply your M&E plan
6-4. Use appropriate monitoring tools
6-5. Gather baseline and follow-up data
6-6. Document the program
6-4. Use appropriate monitoring tools
• Develop monitoring tools that are easy to
understand and fill out, or adapt existing tools that
have been proven useful
• Pilot test the tools with those who will eventually be
asked to use them
• After monitoring tools have been pilot tested and
refined, train staff and peer educators how to use
the tools
6-4. Use appropriate monitoring tools - Example
“Problems can arise if peer educators do not understand
why they are collecting information. In one program,
peer educators filled out the pre-training
questionnaires themselves rather than giving the
questionnaires to participants. Once a supervisor
addressed the problem, the quality of the data
collected improved and peer educators felt an
increased ownership in the M&E process.”
Monitoring and Evaluation
6-1. Establish functional, relevant indicators to measure
progress
6-2. Set indicator targets
6-3. Develop and apply your M&E plan
6-4. Use appropriate monitoring tools
6-5 Gather baseline and follow-up data
6-6. Document the program
6-5. Gather baseline and follow-up data - Research
“Few published studies have rigorously evaluated the
effect of peer education programs on youth and on
community health indicators and outcomes.
Evaluation studies that measure a program’s
impact can include randomized experiments,
quasi-experiments, and other evaluation designs.”
Checklist and Action Planning Tool
Activity – Getting Familiar with the Guidelines
1. Go to the section that most interests you
2. Read the relevant section of the Guidelines (5 min)
3. With your group, decide what about your section is
most note-worthy and why (10 min)
4. Choose a presenter to share the group’s feedback
5. Each group presents for 2 minutes with 1 minute for
questions
Additional peer education resources
Thank you
Remember
– Order form for Evidence-based Peer Education
Guidelines
– Resources
– Session evaluation
– Check out the IYWG Web site
www.youthwg.org
Andrea Aragón. USAID Photo Gallery