 Health Communication by, for, and with Youth – The Drum Beat 762
August 1, 2018 |
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| Breakthrough ACTION has two cross-cutting issues: Gender (which we covered in this issue of The Drum Beat) and Youth. USAID’s Youth in Development Policy seeks to improve the capacities and enable the aspirations of people between the ages of 10-29 years so that they can contribute to and benefit from more stable, democratic, and prosperous communities and nations. For this reason, young people are a critical priority audience for many social and behaviour change (SBC) interventions, including those that focus on the health and wellbeing of youth. This issue of The Drum Beat offers examples of such efforts. |
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- 1. YouthPower Learning Event: Positive Youth Development for HIV/AIDS and Sexual and Reproductive Health Programming: What Do We Know?
This YouthPower Learning webinar drew on the Systematic Review of Positive Youth Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries to delve deeper into PYD, which a guiding principle of the USAID’s Youth in Development Policy. As the video explains, PYD programmes work to: build skills; engage youth in making a contribution; build healthy relationships/promote bonding; foster belonging and membership; provide clear and consistent positive norms; create safe spaces; and provide access to youth friendly services/service integration. [Sep 2017]
- 2. Young at Heart: How to Be Youth-Centred in the 21st Century – An Introduction
by Vicky Johnson and Doortje Braeken
Meant for decision makers, service providers, and youth leaders, this document describes the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)’s journey of youth services and participation. IPPF’s Strategic Framework (2016-2022) shows how the Federation is embracing young people as partners and ensuring that young people are truly at the centre of everything they do. According to IPPF, young people experience high levels of stigma, applied by others or to themselves, and this prevents them from seeking health services, feeling good about themselves, and asserting their rights. A youth-centred approach can, for instance, be a strategic vehicle to promote sexual rights as human rights, and empowerment is a crucial part of that. [Feb 2016]
- 3. Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Adolescents
In advance of the 2018 United Nations Third High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs), this paper outlines evidence, opportunities, and actions for prioritising and accelerating NCD prevention among adolescents. One strategy explored: an inclusive youth development and empowerment approach that enhances the literacy of adolescents, including health literacy, and creates meaningful and formal opportunities for adolescent participation in the planning and implementation of adolescent programming, including through mentorship and training activities. [Dec 2017]
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- 4. From Innovation to Scale: Advancing the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Young People
The recommendations in this report stem from Population Services International (PSI)’s efforts to ensure that all sexually active young people, regardless of marital status or parity, have access to the widest available range of contraceptive options and that their access to services is embraced and advocated for by young people, their health providers, governments, families, and communities. It reviews 10 components of the approach that PSI recommends to reach young people regarding their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and offers examples. The approaches described, which actively involve young people at many stages, focus on creating demand for and supply of high-quality products and services, as well as promoting enabling environments. [2016]
- 5. Advocating for Change for Adolescents! A Practical Toolkit for Young People to Advocate for Improved Adolescent Health and Well-being
The purpose of this toolkit, created through a collaboration between the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and Women Deliver, is to guide the design, implementation, and monitoring of an effective national advocacy action roadmap to bring about positive policy-specific changes to improve the health and well-being of adolescents. As explained in the toolkit, “Adolescents are a diverse group of people, all experiencing numerous life changes – physical, mental and social – that will affect their health and well-being for the rest of their lives. For this reason, strategic investments in adolescents’ health and well-being are critical interventions that can have a major impact.” [May 2017]
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- 6. Interactive Radio Program Report: An Integrated Approach to Addressing the Issue of Youth Depression in Malawi and Tanzania
This report summarises the design, implementation, and evaluation of an interactive radio campaign that sought to improve mental health literacy among young people and create a demand for mental health services. Implemented by Farm Radio International (FRI) and partners Teen Mental Health and Farm Radio Trust in Malawi, the project worked with local radio broadcasters in Malawi and Tanzania to design and deliver weekly interactive youth radio shows about mental health that were grounded in theories of social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) and edutainment and used participatory methodologies. In brief, the findings “demonstrate that an interactive radio campaign can have a marked effect on improving knowledge, decreasing stigma, and increasing demand for mental health services among youth in sub-Saharan Africa.” [Nov 2016]
- 7. The FP INFOcus Guide – A “For Youth, By Youth” Approach to Sharing Family Planning Information Using Mobile Phone Videos
This guide from the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) offers instructions on how to use mobile-first and participatory video approaches to create videos that feature authentic youth voices and perspectives about family planning (FP) methods. The guide is based on the idea that contraceptive knowledge and experiences shared by peers on video though social media and mobile phones can give viewers an opportunity to learn about FP in a low-risk, private setting. Its tips and resources are meant to encourage young people to come together to create and promote short videos that share contraceptive knowledge and model key skills using their mobile phones. [Aug 2017]
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- 8. Mainstreaming Youth-Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in the Public Sector in Mozambique and Tanzania
This technical brief explores how youth-friendly services (YFS) were mainstreamed within public sector facilities and communities supported by a Pathfinder International cross-country project: MAIS Qualidade, Acesso, Saúde in Mozambique, and Chaguo la Maisha in Tanzania. The training, mentorship, and tools used to ensure that service delivery met quality standards are explained. Adaptations made during project implementation included a school-based demand generation component in which community health workers (CHWs) and peer educators worked with existing extracurricular clubs to provide SRH information to students in small-group settings using activity cards adapted from the USAID-funded Gender Roles, Equality, and Transformations (GREAT) project. The brief offers recommendations for future YFS programming. [May 2017]
- 9. Understanding Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health-seeking Behaviors in Ethiopia: Implications for Youth Friendly Service Programming
by Aparna Jain, Hussein Ismail, Elizabeth Tobey, and Annabel Erulkar
This Population Council collaboration with USAID/Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) is a cross-sectional quantitative survey that aimed to generate evidence on current use and perspectives of YFS and to inform the FMOH in its future SRH programming for young people. It found that a more holistic approach could be taken to meet SRH needs of youth beyond YFA sites. An emphasis on demand generation and changing of community norms toward more youth agency, as well as a focus on married youth, may increase the use of these services. [Oct 2017]
- 10. Youth-friendly Health Services Training Manual: Second Edition
This manual, developed by the Ministry of Health in Malawi with support from Health Policy Plus (HP+), aims to improve the way service providers respond to the needs of young people and improve providers’ ability to communicate with other stakeholders to improve young people’s health. [Nov 2016]
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- 11. Equipping Adolescent Girls with Health, Life Skills and Financial Literacy Through Safe Spaces – Learning Brief
This brief highlights best practice and lessons learnt from the implementation of safe spaces for adolescent girls as part of the Adolescent Girls Initiative – Kenya (AGI-K). It outlines some general observations around the impact of the programme, such as the improvement of self-esteem amongst the girls, the stimulation of income generation activities, the creation of a supportive social network for girls outside of the safe spaces, and the improvement of mentors’ health and financial knowledge, alongside the girls. [Oct 2017]
- 12. Deliver + Enable Toolkit: Scaling-up Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) has gained global recognition as a vital effort to: empower adolescents and young people; enable them to improve and protect their health, well-being, and dignity; and support them in developing critical thinking skills, citizenship, and equal, healthy, and positive relationships. Developed by IPPF, this toolkit offers guidance and resources on ways to deliver CSE for children, adolescents, and youth in non-formal and formal settings and encourage other stakeholders to develop and implement CSE policies and programmes. [Jul 2017]
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| This issue of The Drum Beat was written by Kier Olsen DeVries. |
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| This issue of The Drum Beat is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Breakthrough ACTION with support from USAID’s Bureau for Global Health, under Cooperative Agreement #AID-OAA-A-17-00017. The contents are the responsibility of The Communication Initiative and Breakthrough ACTION, based at Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. |
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Full list of the CI Partners:
ANDI, BBC Media Action, Bernard van Leer Foundation, Breakthrough, Citurna TV, Fundación Imaginario, Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI), Heartlines, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP), MISA, Open Society Foundations, Oxfam Novib, PAHO, The Panos Institute, Puntos de Encuentro, SAfAIDS, Sesame Workshop, Soul City, STEPS International, UNAIDS, UNICEF, Universidad de los Andes, World Health Organization (WHO), W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.
Chair of the Partners Group: Garth Japhet, Founder, Soul City garth@heartlines.org.za
Executive Director: Warren Feek wfeek@comminit.com |
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| The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries. |
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| Please send additional project, evaluation, strategic thinking, and materials information on communication for development at any time. Send to drumbeat@comminit.com
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