Kenya Girl Guides Association Peer Education

During two workshops, Girl Guides representing urban and rural schools in Coast and Rift Valley provinces in Kenya mapped out the curriculum and wrote the first draft of the peer education handbook. The girls chose 12 topics, which included: self-esteem and being a good friend; values and school performance; taking care of common illnesses; understanding feelings of attraction; communication skills for protection; and talking to helpful adults. Other topics were: making decisions for oneself; responding to negative peer pressure; understanding HIV transmission and prevention; reducing stigma and discrimination; preventing rape; and refusing drugs and alcohol.

Two girls, one from each province, wrote up each session and tested it with their peers at school. They presented their work to the whole group at the second workshop, and adult facilitators, including teachers, helped to merge contributions into one effective training session. The edited handbook includes a page of helpful definitions, advice on preparing sessions, and information on action planning, leading joint sessions, making referrals to adults and health services, and reporting on sessions. The take-home messages integrate the values of the Girl Guide movement rather than treating HIV/AIDS education as a stand-alone item.

The handbook is being used by Girl Guide patrol leaders to conduct peer education in their schools and to reach out to the community and supportive adults. About four patrol leaders per school are chosen by their peers from within a unit of 50 Girl Guides who have taken a 24-hour course in life skills over three school terms. The selected patrol leaders then attend a five-day peer education training course delivered by adult Girl Guide leaders. Over the school year, Patrol leaders lead 12 peer education sessions with other Girl Guides as co-facilitators. Sessions lasting between 25 and 40 minutes are presented bi-monthly in the order given in the handbook for the same group of students. They engage participants in age-appropriate entertaining and participatory ways. Activities include energisers, general questions and discussions, skits, stories, and repetition of the main messages and positive outcomes for each session.

One of the sections of the handbook focuses on some challenging situations that a peer leader may face. A table lists potential problems in one column and blank spaces in the opposite column are to be filled in with a positive response by the patrol leader in consultation with an adult leader. The handbook also includes a simple diary form in which patrol leaders and adult Guide leaders report on what they have done and with how many students. The organisers say that with this form and with the standardisation that the handbook offers, it is possible to know exactly what several thousand adolescents in Kenya are hearing and saying about HIV/AIDS, early sex, and responsible, healthy behaviour.

Gender, HIV/AIDS, Education

Leaders of the peer education sessions say that the sessions have resulted in "changed lives and improved lives". Responses from parents have also been positive, with parents saying that they have seen both changes in self-confidence and more responsible behaviour from their peer educator daughters. One mother said that she herself had benefited from what her two daughters had shared about decision-making, self-esteem, HIV/AIDS, and other topics.

According to the developers, as of April 2010, the handbook is being used in classes 4–7 by 3,100 trained peer educators in about 900 schools in the Coast and Rift Valley provinces of Kenya. Other regions also supported by APHIA II are planning to utilise the handbooks as well.