The learner Resilience Programme coordinated by the HIV and AIDS Coordination Unit

Sunday, 06 Jan 2019

Why Is Adolescent Health Important

Adolescence is a critical transitional period that includes the biological changes of puberty and the need to negotiate key developmental tasks, such as increasing independence and normative experimentation. The leading causes of illness and death among adolescents and young adults are largely preventable. Health outcomes for adolescents and young people are grounded in their social environments and are frequently mediated by their behaviors. Behaviors of young people are influenced at the individual, peer, family, school, community, and societal levels.

Because they are in developmental transition, adolescents and young people are particularly sensitive to environmental—that is, contextual or surrounding—influences. Environmental factors, including family, peer group, school, neighborhood, policies, and societal cues, can either support or challenge young people’s health or well-being. Addressing the positive development of adolescents and young people facilitates their adoption of healthy behaviors and helps to ensure a healthy and productive future adult population.

The sessions with learners are aimed at helping them to:

• Resume normal, routine activities during or in the aftermath of crisis events.
• Have strong personal and social skills to adapt to and cope with adversities.
• Feel good about themselves and confident in their own abilities.
• Make good and safe life choices.
• Be more social and act as role models to other children and young people.
• Trust others and feel comfortable about sharing feelings and thoughts.
• Seek help from others (i.e. peers and adults) when needed and have stronger awareness about who can help.
• Solve problems without violence.

During sessions, facilitators use techniques, which have been proven effective in building the resilience of young people, creating a Fun, Safe and Inclusive environment conducive for this purpose. The active participation of learners is a fundamental feature of the programme, and it encourages the participants themselves to take the lead in mapping issues within their communities and lives and in identifying specific skills and qualities to be strengthened through the training sessions.

The Resilience Programme includes workshops on skills offered in life skills-based education that deals with emotional and interpersonal capacities. However, as part of integrated programming, other forms of life skills have also been included, such as Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and Vocational training. These different types of skills reinforce each other. For example, life skills such as building up self-esteem, problem-solving, critical thinking and decision-making determine whether a learner’s knowledge and experiences are put to use in a constructive way for the individual and society.

The programme is furthermore embedded in a systems approach and takes into account the protective social network of learners at family and community level. The learner sessions are complemented by sessions for teachers to promote their understanding of the challenges that children are facing and provide them with skills to support young individuals as they transition from childhood to adulthood.

What is being implemented by the Learner Care and Welfare Support Coordination Unit

• Adolescent Health SRHR programme(in the HIV and AIDS Coordination Unit- in Collaboration with Ministry of Health- Adolescent Health programme)
• Care and Support in Teaching and Learning(CSTL)
• Life skills based sexuality Education(Comprehensive Sexuality Education –CSE)
• Study skills Programme(in collaboration with the Prince Mohato Award programme)
• Social Skills Programme(in Collaboration with the manners4 Minors Programme)