Youth for Youth: Increasing Awareness, Changing Behaviour in Romania

UNFPA partner, Youth for Youth Foundation, has reached over one million young people with sexuality education and information on preventing sexually transmitted infections and HIV.

* * *

BUCHAREST, Romania — It's a busy day for Gabriela Ghencea, 21, a volunteer with the Romanian NGO, Youth for Youth Foundation. She is in front of the main entrance to Bucharest's Polytechnical University handing out information on reproductive health and safe sex to students. Along with 20 other volunteers, she stops students on their way to and from classes and asks them if they would like to win a free prize by answering a question. The questions, all on reproductive health, sexuality and preventing sexually transmitted infections and HIV, are printed on thin strips of paper. If the student gets the right answer, the prize is a free condom.

"But no one walks away empty handed," says Gaby, as she is known to her friends. "We give everyone a condom, along with information on how to prevent STIs and HIV. We also hand out brochures describing the programmes and services offered by Youth for Youth."

Gaby, a third-year student majoring in sociology at the nearby University of Bucharest. She is adamant about her peer education work. "Everyone should know everything related to sexuality and health," she says in clear English. "This is very rewarding work for me because I know I am making a difference. But it also helps me professionally as I intend to go into social work upon graduation."

" Going one-on-one like this gives us a real chance to educate our peers, dispel myths and influence behaviour."

 

--Gaby Ghencea

Although Gaby has been a volunteer for only three months, the extensive training she received from Youth for Youth allows her to talk confidently with her peers on a wide variety of reproductive health and sexuality issues. "Young people need this information," she insists. "It shapes our lives and affects our future." Gaby pauses as if searching for the right words. "No, let me put that another way," she says. "The peer education work that I do with Youth for Youth will help guarantee that young people in this country will have a future!"

National awareness campaigns launched by Youth for Youth in partnership with other grassroots NGOs and the Ministry of Education have been credited with heading off an AIDS epidemic in the country. In the early 1990s, shortly after the collapse of communism, sexually transmitted infections were on the rise, along with HIV/AIDS cases.

"We could easily have gone the same way as the Russian Federation or the Baltic States, where STIs, including HIV, have reached epidemic proportions," observes Alexandru Negut, Director of Youth for Youth. "Fortunately, we were able to persuade the Government, principally the Ministry of Education, to include Family Life Education in the curriculum of secondary schools. We also launched an ambitious nation-wide information campaign and established youth-friendly health services, including counselling and treatment."

Since the inception of the Family Life Education programme in 1991, together with the Ministry of Education and Research, Youth for Youth has trained some 10,000 teachers, representing virtually every school district in the country. "Most of them are biology or home room teachers and school counsellors," says Mr. Negut. "And we continue to provide teacher training in family life education."

In the beginning most people, including government officials, did not understand the programme. "We could not talk openly about sexuality education, so we changed it to family life education," explains Negut. "We had to work closely with local school directorates, government officials and parents in order to get them to accept the idea of introducing this curricula into their schools."

UNFPA's strategic assistance began in 1997 with a grant that enabled Youth for Youth to develop better training methods for peer educators. Subsequently, the Fund has provided grants to improve youth-friendly reproductive health services and produce effective information and communications materials, including posters, computer games and advocacy packets containing easy-to-understand information on reproductive health and adolescent sexuality.

"Thanks to UNFPA, we were able to train over 7,000 peer educators in the 15-24 age group over the past eight years," says Negut. "Of course, this is an on-going process, as people drop out or start working and no longer have the time. But we have a large active network established throughout the country, including 120 peer educators in Bucharest. Nearly all of them are in high school or attending universities."

UNFPA was also instrumental in helping Youth for Youth develop their behaviour change communication programme, using peer educators, the Internet and the mass media to promote healthy lifestyles and safe sex. "We were able to develop the only educational computer game in the entire region on preventing STIs and HIV," says Mr. Negut. "In 2004 we got over 135,000 visitors to our web site, accessing our computer game, called Venerix." In addition, the UNFPA-sponsored Y-PEER network now links some 2000 peer educators and trainers in 27 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia through interactive web sites and electronic mailing lists.

"We have definitely made a difference in the health and welfare of young people in this country," says Dr. Bradean Mirela, the medical doctor at the Youth Information Zone in Bucharest (part of the Youth for Youth programme). The 'Zone' is a multi-purpose youth centre, containing game rooms, a library, meeting and training facilities and a complete health centre that caters to young people. "We have noticed a marked reduction in STIs and a rise in condom use in Romania over the past decade," says Dr. Mirela. Condom use has risen steadily over the past eight years, from just 23 per cent in 1999 to nearly 45 per cent in 2004.

Surveys show that most young people do know about sexually transmitted infections and HIV and how to prevent infections. Still, there are pockets, particularly in rural areas and among ethnic minorities, such as the Roma, where both information and services remain inadequate. "We are trying to reach high risk groups of youth with information and services," says Dr. Mirela. "That's one of our main challenges."

At the Polytechnical University, Gaby and her colleagues have handed out over 200 condoms in two hours. "Only about half the students we talked to today got the right answers to our questions, but all of them left armed with accurate information and the means to prevent infections," says Gaby. "Going one-on-one like this gives us a real chance to educate our peers, dispel myths and influence behaviour. This work means a lot to me personally because I know it's having a real impact on the health of young people. I'm helping to ensure that they do have a future."

-- Don Hinrichsen