Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Country Highlights Volume 9


We’re still receiving and sharing 10 Days of Activism Campaign updates!

Read about the activities implemented by young people in various countries and also watch the videos and the photos!

SERBIA



TURKMENISTAN

As 10 Days of Activism Campaign continued, Y-PEER volunteers conducted trainings in 2 summer camps in Ashgabat city. The main topics were: HIV/AIDS; Gender; Family violence. Also, the participants performed innovative theater plays on the above mentioned topics. 
 
Music moment in the Summer Camp in Turkmenistan
SUDAN
In Nile state, in Kosty city, Y-PEER Sudan prepared some effective activities about ASRH (focusing on HIV/AIDS, STIs & drugs). They participated in a meeting at the National Nile Radio. Discussions were around the role of media in ASRH. 

They also conducted group discussions to establish new partnerships. During the meeting with a youth friendly center  coordinator, they made plans for future projects, including some proposals to be included in the next action plan. During the meeting with an NGO of PLWHIV, they made short presentations about the activities implemented, shared experience and brainstormed on effective ways of working together. Also, in Al Emam Al Mahady University they had a session about ASRH focusing on HIV/AIDS, STIs & drugs and established a new youth peer association in the University. 

Sharing experience and establishing new partnerships

As part of the „Let’s sing & act for our ASRH Health Campaign”, the Y-PEER volunteers conducted various sessions about ASRH. Part of the campaign were live music, drama plays and exhibitions. Te audience was involved as an active part and was invited to speak out and share their thoughts. The aim of the event  was to raise the awareness regarding ASRH through music,drama and art and about 400 people were reached. 

This activity was supported by the deanship of students affair at Omdurman Ahlia University and  at the end of the day many of the university students came and register their names to become a volunteer with the Y-PEER Sudan network. 

Let’s sing & act for our ASRH Health Campaign in Sudan

TURKEY



BULGARIA
One week in the Summer School in Kovachevci has passed!
On the 7th day, the young participants had to conduct sessions on their own. This was their first time to work as peer educators for most of them. They had to put all the knowledge learned from the training into practice. All trainees got a feedback from the trainers about their sessions.

Furthermore, the theater group presented their short-plays related to youth problems as interpretations of familiar fairy tales. The music group made an amazing performance with songs which brought tears to everyone’s eyes. An Eco-showroom, with models dressed in a fascinating way with used materials was presented.


Representative of “The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria” and the chair person of the “Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS” programme attended the whole day.
The aim was to assimilate their knowledge and to become more confident in their work as Peer Educators.

The event will only be reflected by the Y-PEER Bulgaria website. The national television “BTV” made reportage and broadcasted it in the newscast.

Videos and interviews from the training were made which were related to ”Youth in action.”  The following day will be also related to the topic. After the training a short movie will be presented.

Open Air Energizer

Monday, July 11, 2011

Country Highlights Volume 8


Time to enjoy the 8th volume of 10 Days of Activism Campaign with the outline of the main events, which happened in different countries in the past couple of days. Enjoy your reading!


ARMENIA
The cooperation meeting of Y-PEER Armenia with Government representative on youth issue was held in the frameworks of 10DoA. During the meeting Y-PEER members presented their initiatives and action plan. The options for Y-PEER network development and enlargement as well as cooperation with Youth services in regions of republic were considered.
The next event of the Campaign on that day was an introduction session at the Universities on Y-PEER network. The same session was conducted on the 9th and 10th of July during the Campaign. During each session with up to 20 university students Y-PEER members talked about SRHR issues and its importance for Armenia, statistical image of Armenia as well as  Y-PEER initiatives in Armenia, and the ways young people can be involved in the network.

During one of the sessions


AZERBAIJAN
During 10 DoA, 20 students and NGO representatives attended a 3-day non-formal HIV/AIDS and reproductive health training at US Education Center in Baku. The training focused on 3 topics – HIV/AIDS, gender equality, family planning and contraception.

During on of the sessions


EGYPT
14 students (3 males & 11 females - age: 19-21 years old) in Alexandria university attended 2 days PEER education workshop about peer education and peer pressure. The training had been conducted by 2 Y-PEER trainers and discussed the importance of peer education to deal with different situations.

Peer Education Session

KYRGYZSTAN
The sixth day of the campaign was held under the Gender issues: women and men rights theme. Y-PEER volunteers have performed two theatre performances, dedicated to the men-women relations issues. The first performance, called “Alakachuu” (the word “alakachuu” originally meaning a “bride kidnapping”, here meant a Broom Kidnapping”). The second performance was called “A usual family” and was performed in Russian. These two performances were held on the main boulevard of Bishkek- Erkindik boulevard. Short discussion on the scenes with the audience of around 20 people followed the performance. The main aim of the event was to show the audience that there are relationships which are free of gender based violence and prejudice. Also it had a special message – the need of building a constructive dialogue in family relationship and in particular the need of respecting women's rights. The events highlights were posted on www.kloop.kg, www.youth.kg, and www.y-peer.kg

The fourth day of our campaign was held under the theme "Health: a healthy body, a healthy mind!" Young love couples were gining each other an oath that they will never take drugs, to lead a healthy lifestyle, practice safe sex, respect and love. The rally was held in one of the most popular youth parks in the city of Bishkek-park of "Kemal Ataturk." After the vows, the pair received commemorative certificates, pictures with the pad and got an interesting eco-friendly drinks "Maksym" from the main sponsor of the 10 days of activism, "Shoro". Participants also left their email addresses so that we send them their pictures. The purpose of this event is to remind young people of informed choice and responsible attitude to each other in order to avoid the negative consequences of promiscuity and risky behavior relations. About 40 young people got involved in the action. The whole event was covered by  NTS (local TV chanel).
An outreach work was implemented with young people aged 14-18 years, working in Dordoi and Osh markets. The third day of the campaign was held under the theme "Education." Volunteers have decided to inform young people with disadvantaged backgrounds, working in the Osh market and handed out brochures on basic hygiene, sexual maturation, reproductive health, family planning, HIV and STI prevention. And for teenagers, working in the market Dordoi outdoor training on prevention of smoking and drinking alcoholic substances was held. The purpose of the event was to inform non-organized youth, working in the markets Dordoi and Osh about basic hygiene, sexual maturation, reproductive health, HIV and STI prevention in the Kyrgyz language. About 300 young people were reached. This event was outlined at www.y-peer.kg and www.youth.kg.

Outdoor activity within the 10DoA

SYRIA
In the end of the 8th day of the 10DoA, about 25 activities/sessions were applied to reach more than 115 participants/volunteers in a different theme for each activity.
On the Health theme: 25 volunteers visited the Juvenile centers in Damascus and met 120 youth there, in cooperation with the "Syrian Family Planning Association"..
 They discussed many topics related to juveniles, i.e. Drugs, HIV/AIDS & the Sexual harassment.
The great & interesting conversation between volunteers & juveniles last for 3 hours, they successfully created a youth-friendly atmosphere with each other, & freely shared their opinions in the deferent aspects of each topic.
Alaa AlKhachi (Focal-Point) said: "I've tested a new kind of interaction between peers, It changed a lot of perspectives I had before, and created an amazing link between us as youth and our juvenile peers, It worth it.”
On the Business Theme: Y-PEER Syria Partner "SHABAB Project", conducted 4 types of workshops that aimed to raise Business awareness. The First lady has visited one of the Business workshops
- A 6-days training on "How to create a small business project" launched in the 3rd day of the 10DoA. 12 participants attended the training that helped them reach the point of getting the ability to create their own small business projects.
-  The "Aptitude test", where about 15 young beneficiaries answered an appetite test and got the chance to be consulted on their career path according to the report.
- “Life skills” is the third theme. "Junior Chamber International" (JCI) -as a partner with Y-PEER Syria- prepared and conducted more than 10 workshops for about 80 volunteers, such as Leadership skills, Negotiation skills, Rhetorical skills & more..
Maram Habashia, one of the participants in the Negotiation skills said: "I was waiting for the 10DoA campaign impatiently, and when I attended this workshop, I felt more enthusiastic to attend the other activities, because my capacity has been hugely enhanced since attending these workshops"

The first lady have surprised the participants of one of the 10DoA sessions with a visit!

TURKMENISTAN

The 7th day of "We all together" training was very interesting as participants had chance to watch movie "Secret".
The movie is about successful people and positive way of thinking. Movie had stopped when needed and participants had group discussion, shared problems and experiences. Everyone liked it! :)
The day brought us a lot of positive emotions. Girls and boys left seminar with a lot of new ideas and plans.

On the 1st day of DoA new comers of Y-PEER met together to receive their certificates of successful training they have passed and share the ideas about coming days of activities. Group discussed future plans and set priorities.
A new discussion entitled "What is love?” took place in the 6th day. Group discussed positive and negative sides of love, agreed or disagreed on what make famous people think about love, shared their opinion on love's problems and barriers person can face.
The topic was very useful for young people as it helped them to know more about relationships and be able to share their thoughts and emotions of what they feel.

Certificates and Photo time!


UZBEKISTAN

As part of 10 DoA campaign in Namangan region, Y-PEER Uzbekistan had distributed IEC materials on HIV/AIDS to the pharmacies so to raise clients awareness on HIV issues & inform them about the 10 DoA Campaign.   Total of 200 IEC had been distributed to 10 pharmacies.
As a part of 10 DoA activities in Fergana region, 6 young people attended Peer-education session that focused on social projects development. This session built skills of participants on writing youth-related social projects, implementation and management. It was a good event to strengthen the spirit of volunteerism among participants and enhance their potential as future Y-PEER leaders.

4 Y-PEER Volunteers distributed , in “DUSTLIK” market,  IEC materials to 106 young  people simultaneously as to raise their awareness about HIV/AIDS issues and provide them with information about 10 DoA Campaign.

In celebration of World Population Day 2011, UNFPA together with Women’s Committee of Uzbekistan and Y-PEER Uzbekistan organized a raising awareness event dedicated to World Population Day.
The event was held on July 8 in Tashkent Public Park and included a marathon, drawing exhibition of the local art school, and drawing contest among children from local elementary school.
The theme of celebration was “The world of 7 billion” and it aimed to Celebrate WPD and in this framework raise awareness of women’s and girl’s needs through local community leaders, organizations and media.
100 girls and women as participants and 6 Y-PEER volunteers who contributed to overall organization of this mass event, acted as coordinators and jury of the children’s drawing contest.

Y-PEER members Lola Aminova and Odina Salihbaeva participated in UNAIDS organized workshop on «Strengthening the partnership and participation of civil society including PLWH in expanding universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support» from 5-7 July, 2011.
The workshop was lead by an international facilitator from Ukraine, who brought regional expertise to the meeting & aimed to create an understanding between NGOs and initiatives groups of PLWH in comprehensive respond to HIV epidemic.
It is worth highlighting that Y-PEER is the only youth organization that has been invited to take part in the workshop.  Network brings voices and opinions of young people to the discussions.

During one of the outreach activities


YEMEN
Everyday of the 10 DoA campaign, there was a voice message conducted by FPC khalil  of Y-PEER Yemen  about early marriage , early pregnancy STDS including HIV/AIDS, and family planning and FGM.
 Each day has a new message. Beside the new message, the 10th day was unusual day as Y-PEER Yemen had been hosted by Mukalla radio station, In Hadhramout Mukalla city, in a live program called life calling so to talk about International Y-PEER network, it’s goals, mission, vision and activities focusing on Y-PEER Yemen.. Y-PEER Yemen talked also about reproductive health topics, & answered the young people who called the radio asking about issues related to reproductive health.
It was amazing inspiring and surprising that even the bus, taxies drivers call to ask about reproductive health and Y-PEER Yemen were invited by youth in villages to conduct trainings there.

Also, it was very amazing to have 60 students between 15-24 youths in Boston institute in Aden city, where they attended brain storming session. The session covered topics on HIV/AIDS, Family planning, and decision making.
Books about family planning, Qat chewing, HIV/AIDS, and STIs were distributed.

Y-PEER Yemen screen message “The early marriage before 18 leads to early pregnancy and prevents the mother from having her right of good education and the other social rights.. Early, late, and repeated pregnancy is not good for women’s health”, and it was shown to youth in Al Khour .


60 students between 15-24 Y.O attended brain storming session in British institute in Aden city. The session was on youth & covered topics about HIV\AIDS, family planning and decision making.
Books about Family planning, Qat chewing and HIV\AIDS and STDS were distributed in the end of the session.

Y-PEER Yemen screen message “The early marriage before 18 leads to early pregnancy and prevents the mother from having her right of good education and the other social rights.. Early, late, and repeated pregnancy is not good for women’s health” was shown to youth in Al Khour .
In order to raise young people awareness about reproductive health shortly and by attractive way.

Brainstorming!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Country Highlights Volume 7

And the busy time with the 10 Days of Activism keeps rolling!


We are sharing with you various activities from different countries, so let’s start!

Quizzes for young people in Izmir, Turkey


ARMENIA
Y-PEER Armenia had a very productive meeting with some local NGOs working in the field of HIV/AIDS and PLWHIV rights, the aim of the meeting was to find more ways to cooperate on HIV/AIDS related projects in the country.
As for future plans, the volunteers are planning to review the Y-PEER Armenia Newsletter and include a special column for true stories of PLWHIV. 

TURKEY
Y-PEER Volunteers in Turkey had a busy day, with two activities, the first one was an interactive stand in the city centre of Izmir, where they had thrown quizzes and contest for young people, also the stand was a good opportunity to distribute the brochures of the national campaign “a youth story”. 
The second activity was a video taped messages created by  young people, talking about their unmet SRHR rights and needs, to support their efforts in raising awareness about the SRHR in the society.

Interactive stand in the city centre of Izmir, Turkey

SUDAN
An interesting activity took place in Sudan where young people visited a juvenile’s centre in Khartoum, where a presentation was made about SRHR followed by a football match attended by both juveniles and policemen in a way to draw attention to SRHR and the needs of the young people in the centre as they [the juveniles] are part of the most at risk population in terms of SRHR and rights in general.
Y-PEER Sudan Volunteers have prepared a special song for the occasion and it worth mentioning that around 150 young people benefited from this activity.

Juveniles and policemen in Sudan

UZBEKISTAN
In Uzbekistan, there was another peer education session for 23 young people from Kuvasay city where they raised awareness about SRHR and HIV/AIDS.
This activity was conducted as part of Y-PEER Uzbekistan’s plan for the 10DoA.

Peer Education session In Uzbeksitan

MONGOLIA
Y-PEER Mongolia members had their time of fame when a TV show covering their 10DoA activities was aired on local TV channel [C1], the TV program combined excerpts from the events of the week of 10 DoA including meetings, interviews, discussions and the voices from marginalized/vulnerable youth and youth from different areas of UB. The program focused on youth SRH and HIV/AIDS.

Argentina Matavel, representative of UNFPA, Mongolia, gave interview about Y-PEER Mongolia, 10Days of Activism and International Year of Youth and got recording from
Y-PEER educators and young people who are high school and university students on the streets as well as at the hospitals for the TV program.
The aim of the show was to highlight the voices and needs of young people related to SRH issues and HIV/AIDS and to draw attention to the 10 DoA campaign and its events.

Y-PEER Mongolia planned 6 episodes for this TV program with UN-Youth Advisory Panel. On the last TV program, these episodes will be aired to cover more of the 10DoA activities including meetings with Decision maker as well as play based on peer education of the Y-PEER network.

Another activity from Y-PEER Mongolia as Youth, peer educators, NGOs, an adolescent SRH doctors and other organizations participated in a seminar to discuss youth and HIV/AIDS. There was a presentation conducted on HIV/AIDS from a UNFPA HIV expert where the expert helped the participants with answering some of their questions on RH and HIV/AIDS in particular. 

Also small group discussions were conducted to brainstorm what youth can do to reach out to other youth and disseminate information on HIV, and how YPEER peer educators can enhance their awareness sessions about HIV for their peers.
Finally a meeting took place between the YPEER coordinator and a decision maker - the head of adolescent and youth health. Information about YPEER, 10 DoA and youths SRH needs were discussed. The decision maker agreed to be interviewed on Sunday (the last day of 10 DoA) and to discuss adolescent SRH and the needs of youth and show support for the 10 DoA campaign.

Seminar to discuss youth and HIV/AIDS in Mongolia
 
Check out more photos on the right side and…


Stay tuned, young people are using their energy to coordinate and implement more activities during the weekend!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Country Highlights Volume 6


Wondering what are the newest activities implemented by youth?  

Check out the updates from the 10 Days of Activism :) 


YEMEN
In Aden city, Y-PEER Yemen held a session in British institute. It was very amazing to have 60 students between 15-24 youths and we talked about HIV/AIDS, family planning and how to take decision skill it was amazing ! They also distributed books about Family planning, HIV/AIDS and STDs.
Another activity they conducted was a street action. Screen messages were shown by youths in Al Khour all over the days.  The messages were related to early marriage, early pregnancy as well as about education, health and social rights.
Then, they organized a theater play with the help of amazing 10 Y-PEERs form EBB province. It was also about early marriage and early pregnancy. 

Yemen 10DoA - Talking about early marriage
SUDAN
In Kasla State in the east of Sudan, it was social day among disabled young people. A group was trained according to Y-PEER methodology and then they hold a session about ASRH for their peers. They shared information and discussed about the positive roll in society and about prevention methods against STIs & HIV/AIDS.

Peer Education Sessions in Sudan 


BULGARIA
In the Summer school in Kovachevci, the topic of the day of the training was “Sexual identity and Sex roles.” The trainees worked again in 11 Peer Education, one Adults and one TBE training groups. The sessions again were very energetic and interesting. The TBE group also covered some of the topics but with interesting theatre techniques. Young people enacted both female and male roles. Most of the time they worked in small groups in which they shared their views, opinions and knowledge about different topics. Videos and interviews from the training were made which were related to “Sexual Identity and Sex roles”

Later on, all trainees presented their NGO and shared their experience in a very interesting way. Songs, short plays and drawings were just part of their performances. Each group made their own signs which are going to be combined and drawn again on a flag.


Summer School continues!

UZBEKISTAN
In local radio station “Oltin Zamin” of Namangan city , a volunteer from the NGO “Uzbek Association on Reproductive Health” hold a  radio speech about the 10 DoA Campaign, volunteers work and activities, advantages of volunteerism, Y-PEER network and youth organizations.
This radio station is available in 3 regions of Uzbekistan (Namangan, Fergana and Andijan) so the information reached a large number of young people.




Don't forget to check out the photos and videos on the right side and to share with others :) 

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Country Highlights Volume 5

Looking for exciting news with some creative and distinctive events? 

Get ready and learn more about the amazing work done in different countries, which are participating in 10 Days of Activism Campaign.

10 Days of Activism in Kyrgyzstan
MEXICO
To start tracking 10DoA, Y-PEER Mexico asked young people who work in HIV / AIDS and sexual and reproductive health and rights their opinion on these issues - youth of Mexico who comment about the problems they face in their work with communities and activists, who demand the fulfillment of their rights and make proposals for the sexual and reproductive health and rights a reality.

On the other hand, it seemed important to use the resources Y-PEER Mexico has and since it committed in COJESS to follow through their work in this IYY. Given the current time to the fight against HIV / AIDS worldwide due to the recent high-level meeting on AIDS in New York City, Y-PEER took on the task to disseminate the key messages developed by the youth of the world for the HLM on AIDS-UNGASS 2011, in which Oriana Lopez, Ricardo Baruch, Pablo Torres and Miguel Corral (Mexican youth activists), had the opportunity to participate. 
Among others, these messages address the need for comprehensive sexual education to youth of the world, universal access to prevention and healthcare, recognizing the importance of achieving gender equality, the involvement of youth in decision-making spaces and more funding in areas of sexual and reproductive health. These messages were delivered to the National Center of AIDS, UNAIDS, UNFPA and, the Mexican Institute of Youth. The aim is to open a door to work together and on the other hand, reaffirm our commitment and openness to collaboration with those already working.
Looking to take advantage offered by social networking, these same videos and messages were sent via Twitter and Facebook to other relevant authorities for this fight, among others, Congress and the President's Office.

From COJESS, Y-PEER Mexico has been pushing the implementation of the National Forum on Youth as a side event in the National HIV / AIDS Congress, next to be held later in July. The intention was to create a national policy agenda on issues of HIV / AIDS and sexual and reproductive rights. Although negotiations had been very tight, a meeting was arranged with the UNFPA representative in Mexico and the responsible for Prevention and Social Participation of the National AIDS Center. Under the International Year of Youth and considering that these 10 days of activism must be seized to the fullest, it was ensured that the Youth Forum will take place! This is a great achievement because it will set the tone for priority guidelines on HIV / AIDS and sexual health and rights and reproductive health, from the perspective of young Mexicans that work on these issues!

Y-PEER Mexico had an approach with the HIV / AIDS Program of the National Commission for Human Rights responsible, who was open to support the organization of this forum, within its capabilities. Also, the rapprochement with the coordinator of the UNAIDS Theme Group-Mexico was successful, with whom it was negotiated before July 10!
Y-PEER Mexico continues the fight, making sure that the Mexican youth are heard and taken into account. “Because Mexico deserve sexual and reproductive rights and health for young men and women”.

YEMEN
Peer educators in Yemen were distributing reproductive health manuals to people in Aden province. This campaign was meant to raise awareness of people regarding their reproductive health.
The other campaign implemented throughout the campaign was Screen messages. It was initiated by youth and demonstrated to young people in Al Khour. The main message was as follows: “the early marriage (before 18) leads to early pregnancy before 20 years and prevent the mother from enjoying her right for education and her social rights... early, late, and repeated pregnancy is not good for woman's health”.

Another activity was peer education sessions with girls and women in AlGhaeel village, especially in the mosques. The information about family panning and HIV\AIDS was delivered during the sessions. “It was so amazing when you feel that you tell them some thing they didn’t know at all and really educate people they didn’t even know how to read or write , they needed this  information very much”, says one of the peer educators, who organized and conducted the event.

MOROCCO
Within the 10 DoA campaign, Y-PEER Morocco conducted a workshop in a summer camp for young people, orginized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The goal of the workshop was to introduce Young people to the concepts of human rights and pride of belonging to a homeland. More tan 150 young people atended the workshop. The topics discussed included citizenship, duties and rights, leadership and self-assertion.

Workshop in Morocco about citizenship, duties and rights, leadership and self-assertion

SUDAN
Within the 10 DoA campaign, Y-PEER Sudan held a forum (held on a quarterly basis), and which focused on adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health. The forum was conducted at UNFPA and there were 30 participants including two UNFPA representatives and one representative of the Ministry of Health (Reproductive Health Programme).  The forum was devided into three parts. During the first part, NGO representatives and young people shared their experiences in this field of work. During the second part, a UNFPA representative gave a presentation on the programs, components and implementation barriers of ASRH, which was followed by a discussion and recommendations. 

The third part of the forum included a conversation between a representative of the Ministry of Health and the participants about the ministry’s plans for ASRH and presented information on the newly founded unit responsible  for the issues mentioned above. The MoH representative insisted that Y-PEER will be part and partner with the Unit and will be involved in the Unit’s activities.
One of the main achievements of this forum was that Y-PEER will join the meetings between the Ministry, UNFPA, WHO and UNICEF to properly improve the work in the filed of adolescent and youth sexual reproductive health.


UZBEKISTAN
In local radio station “Oltin Zamin” of Namangan city 1 volunteer did radio speech about the 10 DoA Campaign and HIV/AIDS issue. Listeners could learn about the 10 DoA aims, country-participants in this Campaign and about activities from the first Campaign all over the World and Uzbekistan, as well as basic information about HIV/AIDS. This radio station is available in 3 regions of Uzbekistan (Namangan, Fergana and Andijan).

In Fergana region, a session focused on young people’s reproductive health and rights, HIV prevention, popularization of healthy life-style and drug abuse issues was conducted in the youth summer camp. It aimed to raise awareness of local youth on RH, HIV/AIDS, Healthy Life-Style and Drug Abuse issues, inform about the 10 DoA Campaign and encourage young people to spread the word further. 

In Uzbekistan, discussing about young people’s reproductive health and rights

KYRGYZSTAN
The Vice Minister and the Minister of youth affairs of Kyrgyz Republic, 7 photographers, and around 50 – 60 people attended a photo-exhibition “Youth of Kyrgyzstan through the Eyes of Modern Photographer” that was held in the building of the Youth Resource Center. The Photographers were trying to attract people’s attention to youth issues, interests and potential by showing the modern youth of Kyrgyzstan.

A joint street action (flash mob) on HIV-prevention was attended by more than 130 people, on one of the streets of Bishkek city.  Members and volunteers of “The Heritage of Republic” association participated in the flash mob. The main idea was to ask people about HIV issues and to cross the road and stop the traffic for 3 minutes in a try to attract people attention to the basic information about HIV. Hence, people received valuable information in a very creative way. Moreover, after the activity, some young people wanted to join Y-PEER Network.

16 youth organizations’ representatives participated in mini-training on “Identifying needs: sociological study”. The training contained information about “What is need? What is social problem? What is social study?”
This topic was chosen according to its actual interest from young people.  It was conducted on the base of Youth Resource Center by Ministry of Youth Affairs of KR, and experienced trainers.

“Profitable investment: how to manage your own money; Investment in Kyrgyzstan” was another training attendee by 17 representatives of youth organizations. The training was conducted by professional trainers from consulting company and it contained information about “Managing your own money; Income and expenses analysis; Investment opportunities in Kyrgyzstan; How to form individual investment strategy?”

This training helped young people to make budgets and their own financial plan according to their aims. Also during the mini-training participants got a lot of useful information about 10 Days of Activism.
Preparing for the street action in Kyrgyzstan

TURKMENISTAN
In Ashgabat, Y-PEER Training based on peer education and theatre methods of education started. There are 25 participants - 13 girls and 12 boys. The main topics are: Y-PEER standards, HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health, Drugs, Gender etc. In one of the training days, the team visited a summer camp and held a seminar on the above topics.

BULGARIA
Summer school in Kovachevci is a great experience for all the participants! During the days a lot of enthusiasm, energy is shared by the young people. Through dances, plays, songs and of course laughter all participants learned a lot about various topics.



You can check out the right side of our web-site to see more photos and videos from the countries. 

Do not forget to share this with others ;) 

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Country Highlights Volume 4


We are half way through the Campaign. 

Young people all over the world are working actively and achieving amazing results through various activities. Read more about what have been done in the countries so far.

10 Days of Activism in Uzbekistan

Mongolia
Y-PEER representatives in Mongolia contacted decision makers to organize and set up a meeting where the decision maker(s) will be interviewed and filmed about adolescent and youth SRH needs later in the campaign.
Moreover, the script for a play was developed by a network representatives and it will be filmed shortly.

Azerbaijan

Project management training for 20 youth activists and community workers took place in the framework of the Campaign. It lasted for 3 hours and gave an opportunity to share best practices and experiences to plan, fundraise and run projects.
 
The participants were provided with practical and theoretical knowledge about project design and management. In the end trainees were assigned with the task of writing a project proposal - thus, they had a chance to practice the knowledge gained and learn how to plan a project to ensure successful delivery; mitigate risks and implement monitoring tools. 

As the result of the training, proposal writing and project management skills of 20 youth activists were enhanced. Participants learned how to organize resources, control project change and generate maximum team performance. Through case studies, they learned how to successfully plan, manage and deliver projects as well as how to use various project management and fundraising tools and develop leadership skills.

Yemen
In the 5th day of 10 DoA, Yemen had open PE sessions where 8 Peer educators went to different -basically poorest- areas, talked to young people in there about the most important topics regarding their health needs, reproductive health, and distributed brochures.

In addition, the screen message was shown in Al Khour everyday during the 10DoA campaign. The message was “ the early marriage -before 18- leads to early pregnancy , and prevents mother from completing her education and derives her social rights… early, late, and repeated pregnancy is not good for woman’s health as well”.

Distributing brochures in Yemen

Egypt
More young people are joining Y-PEER Network in 10DoA. 20 young people (12 males & 8 females- aged 18-23 Y.O) participated in Peer Education Workshop on HIV/AIDS & reproductive health. The training was conducted by four Y-PEER trainers.

Georgia
“Transit” movie session/discussion was conducted in Tbilisi state medical university youth friendly RH informational center with participation of 15 young people aged 19 – 22. At the end of the session the open discussion among students was facilitated by peer educators. 

The main topics discussed were: HIV/AIDS, risky behavior, decision-making, drug abuse, stigma and discrimination, gender and gender equality. All participants received educational materials and condoms after the session. This event aimed to facilitate discussion among young people, share and collect ideas and decisions about SRHR. 

Discussing about "Transit"movie

Morocco
Morocco started the 10DoA with the “National mutual aid” team, where discussions on sexual health, Human trafficking, and children’s rights were launched.
Also, Y-PEER Morocco visited orphanages and talked to the orphans about SRH.


Sudan
Ministry of youth in collaboration with the ministry of strategic planning conducted a workshop to brainstorm “The Guide Lines for the 5th Year Strategy for Youth” with more than 50 attendance of different youth bodies, experts and people from the media to get the consensus and reach agreement about what is the guidelines for the next 5 years 2012 – 2016 national youth strategy.

The first part was an update about the status of the revision of the national youth strategy, and then there was a discussion. After that, a second session on (the role of the youth in building of their countries) had been started and followed by a discussion.

The last discussion was exercise to analyze the implementation of the strategy (SWOT analysis) and put it as recommendations and guidelines for the upcoming 5 years.

Uzbekistan
11 volunteers with the Y-PEER network held a session for 33 children with disabilities in Muruvvat Orphanage in the Fergana region. The session included a play, staged by the volunteers for the children and with the children’s participation in it. The aim of the sessions and work with the children was to raise the positive attitude to children with disabilities, educate on healthy life-styles and provide a fun and an educational day for the children.

1 Y-PEER trainer held an education session for 14 medical workers in the Republican Research Centre of Emergency Medical Aid, Therapeutic Department in the Namangan Region. As part of promoting the 10 DoA campaign, the session included topics on reproductive health and rights and HIV prevention. During the session, the medical workers worked in small groups, presented their work and were very enthusiastic about their participation and the information presented.

Peer Education Session - Volunteers of Y-PEER Uzbekistan

Members of the Y-PEER Uzbekistan network held a peer-education session in the Djizakh region. The Y-PEER members aimed at raising the awareness of last-year students on reproductive health and HIV issues inform about the 10 DoA Campaign and encourage young people to spread the word further.  49 people, including teachers attended the session, which was hosted by two trainers.

Volunteers with the Y-PEER Uzbekistan network held a session in the Central Multifield Hospital of Namangan City (in the Namangan region). They distributed IEC materials to people and raised awareness of young people on HIV issues, spoke about the importance of the 10 DoA campaign and encouraged young people to communicate between each others on the latter topics. Volunteers interacted with 75 people.

Another education session on the topics of reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and gender equality was held on July 5th in the Fergana region of Uzbekistan. The session was organized by Mehrjon NGO together with the local Y-PEER network. All 30 participants involved with the session were female. The goal of the session was to raise the awareness of local women on those topics.

Lebanon
In Lebanon, Y-PEERs were involved in Capacity development workshops on Gender quality and Social media, aiming to introduce the Y-PEERs to tools to use and afterwards to conduct awareness sessions in summer camps.

The awareness sessions on gender equality were addressed to 100 young Lebanese and Palestinian refugees and explained the concept and basics on gender as well as some practical tools and exercise to be used in awareness sessions and simulation sessions with trainers’ feedback.

The training on social media and development of advocacy messages for the Lets Talk campaign aimed to introduce social media and its rising importance, useful tips when working with facebook, twitterand  Youtube as well as the development of communication messages on VCT, ABC approach and social exclusion of 
PLHIV. 

Turkmenistan
Y-PEER Turkmenistan organized a seminar under the theme “Protect yourself from stress”. Participants worked as a team and had the opportunity to talk about their feelings and thoughts. They were all very active and open for new information about life skills with 
their peers.

Bulgaria
The summer school in Bulgaria continues. The forth day in Kovachevci was probably the first big challenge for the participants as teams. They worked most of the time in groups and discussed many topics including “Sexual identity and sex roles". Young people are impatient for the following day. They are now one step closer to achieve their goal of becoming Peer Educators.
Summer School in Kovachevci


For more photos and videos from the countries, check out the right side of our web-site. 

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