What does Peer Education mean?

Peer education is the process whereby well-trained and motivated young people undertake informal or organized educational activities with their peers (those similar to themselves in age, background, or interests). These activities, occurring over an extended period of time, are aimed at developing young people's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and skills and at enabling them to be responsible for and to protect their own health.

Peer education is being used in the framework of youth programmes that focus on reproductive health and HIV prevention all over the world. Approaches such as peer education offer many advantages to the programmes, to the target group and to communities, in general. The practice showed that well conceived and implemented programmes can contribute to a great extent towards improving the knowledge, attitudes and habitudes of young people regarding the reproductive health and the prevention of HIV.

What organizations promote the peer education in the Republic of Moldova?

In the Republic of Moldova there are many organizations that promote the peer education, they come from different fields such as:

• Education regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights - Family Planning Association of Moldova;
• Education regarding the prevention of human trafficking and of domestic violence - "La Strada";
• Education in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention among young people - National Resource Centre for Young People;
• Education in the field of children rights - Child Rights Information Centre etc.

How many peer education networks exist in Moldova?

It is difficult to mention a concrete number, but for sure there are many such networks. They can be differentiated by size, type of activities, beneficiaries they address, regions and communities where they act.

A peer educator can become any young person that has approximately the age of the beneficiaries, that has approximately the same occupation as the beneficiaries, the same socio-economic status and/or health situation and that has the desire, interest and motivation to learn a certain information to be spread among peers later through informative sessions in the framework of informative, education and communication campaigns, delivered by the network/organization in schools, summer camps etc.

What is the Y-PEER network supported by UNFPA in Moldova?

Y-PEER is a network of young peer educators, that brings together more than 200 organizations and institutions from 39 countries all over the world, including the Republic of Moldova. Those over 3 000 active members of the international network have a permanent exchange of information, knowledge, resources and programmes in the field of sexual and reproductive health of young people. In the Republic of Moldova, the Y-PEER network has a few generations of peer educators formed according to the Y-PEER Program, approved, as an innovative teaching method, by the Ministry of Education and Youth. The Y-PEER Moldova network consists now of tens of active members from several regions in the country. The Y-PEER network was created in September 2004, by UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund. According to international evaluations, the Y-PEER Moldova network is being considered as one of the most active networks in the country.

What are the recruitment criteria for the new members of Y-PEER?

In the vision of Y-PEER a peer educator is:

• Aged between 15 and 20 years;
• Interested in health related topics;
• Preoccupied - willing to make other young people beneficiate from this knowledge as well;
• Informed - knows the interests, attitudes and feelings of young people;
• Tolerant - accepts people of other sex, age, and occupation;
• Respectful towards others - respects everyone's right of having personal ideas and offers the possibility to choose;
• Decided, but without being arrogant;
• Open - is ready to ask for help or to learn from mistakes;
• Trustful - is a person that keeps the promises;
• A team player - can work together with the others in order to reach some commonly set goals;
• Dynamic and motivated for offering young people the right information about HIV/AIDS prevention, sexually transmitted diseases, avoiding an unwanted pregnancy and other consequences of an irresponsible behavior.

What does Focal Point mean and how can a network member become a Focal Point?

Focal Point of the Y-PEER network are the persons that showed a lot of commitment, professionalism and initiative during the active involvement in all network's activities at the national level. Persons that are members of the network for at least one year and which, being selected on a contest base, participate in one of the international / regional Y-PEER trainings of trainers in peer education gaining new knowledge and forming skills as leaders of the network.

Focal Point are the persons that have different responsibilities in the network so that all activities that take place are planned, organized, implemented and monitored by them under the supervision of the network's coordinator.

What methods do peer educators utilize during their informative sessions?

The methods used by peer educators in their sessions are mostly interactive: role plays, social theatre, work in groups, discussions in group, debates, and activities: of knowing each other, ice-breakers, thematic, etc.

Among the activities of the network provided by peer educators the following can be mentioned:

• Teaching in collaboration with a specialist or having a speech in the framework of a conference in the university, college, school;
• Teaching in collaboration with a specialist informative sessions in penitentiaries, special schools, military institutions, etc.;
• Presentation of a theatre play, of a role play, or of a informative movie with organizing discussions after watching, during the launching of informative movie festivals or other similar events;
• Holding group discussions in the waiting hall of a clinic that provides youth friendly services;
• Providing 2-3 days-long informative workshops and non-formal discussions in summer camps all over the country;
• Providing informative, educative, communication campaigns in schools in all the regions of the country etc.

Peer education can take place in small groups or through individual contact in several places: in schools and universities, in clubs, in the workplace, in the street, in shelters or anywhere else where young people gather and like to spend their time.