September 19, 2006: YouthNet End of Program Meeting
YouthNet held its End of Program meeting in Washington to share key results, accomplishments and lessons learned in youth reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention programming from the past five years. The meeting was attended by nearly 200 people from USAID, cooperating agencies, United Nations agencies, donors, and others. The presentations and other related documents are available.
June 6 – 9, 2006: Africa Regional Forum on Youth RH and HIV
The World Health Organization Department of Reproductive Health and Research (RHR), the Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) Program of the Population Council, and the YouthNet Project of Family Health International cosponsored a regional forum in Tanzania focusing on critical issues in youth RH and HIV programming in the Africa sub-region. These organizations all work at the forefront of youth RH and HIV research, and, when combined, represent one of the largest and most current bodies of research and program evidence on youth. The Africa Regional Forum brought together approximately 90 national, regional, and international researchers, youth, donors, program managers, and policy makers from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Senegal, and Zambia. The presentations are now available.
January 11 - 12, 2006: Taking Stock of Youth Reproductive Health/HIV Peer Education: Progress, Process, and Programming for the Future
At this meeting, presenters will discuss updates on the current evidence on youth peer education, combined with practical field experiences. Program experts and peer educators from Egypt, Kenya, Serbia, Zambia, and other countries will discuss quality control, motivating and retaining educators, working with high-risk audiences, and other issues that control the success and failure of peer education programs, as well as offer strategies to overcome common challenges. A concluding panel discussion will explore three approaches that have been effectively used to scale up peer education programs: through NGO capacity building, via the Ministries of Education, and by building a peer network. Presentations are now available from Day 1 and Day 2 of this meeting.
January 9, 2006: New Evidence on Reproductive Health/HIV Curriculum-Based Education for Youth: Global Research and Local Action
The program includes a new analysis of the effectiveness of RH/HIV curricula-based programs in Africa and Latin America. Practitioners will explore critical contextual factors including government policy, teacher training, and community support. The final discussion will center on ways to integrate new evidence and practice into RH/HIV curriculum-based education programs. Presentations are now available.
November 8 - 9, 2005: Technical Consultation on Community Involvement in Youth Reproductive Health and HIV Prevention
YouthNet and its partner organization CARE, in collaboration with other organizations, hosted a technical consultation on community involvement in youth reproductive health (RH) and HIV prevention in Washington, DC. The meeting examined the available evidence on community involvement in youth RH and HIV prevention and present promising programs and strategies for involving the community in youth RH and HIV prevention. More information will be available soon from YouthNet.
August 8 - 15, 2005: Master Training of Trainers Workshop for Peer Educators
UNFPA and YouthNet co-sponsored an eight-day Master Training of Trainers workshop for the Y-PEER program in Istanbul, Turkey. YouthNet staff collaborated with UNFPA on the organization and implementation of the meeting, serving as facilitators, resource personnel, and evaluators. Participants from 22 countries are participating in the training, including two YouthNet staff (an intern and a program officer) from the Tanzania office.
For special reports, videos, and photos from the training, please visit http://www.unfpa.org/ypeer/index.htm.
August 4, 2005: YouthNet Awards Grants for HIV Prevention in Tanzania
The United States (U.S.) Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with Family Health International (FHI), has awarded more than U.S. $800,000 in grants to support efforts to prevent HIV among youth in Dar es Salaam and Iringa Regions. The awards were given to four non-governmental organizations that successfully competed in YouthNet/Tanzania's Competitive Grants Program. Checks for the grants were presented by the USAID/Tanzania Mission director at an awards ceremony held at Iringa Municipal Gardens on August 4, 2005.
FHI issued an official press release.
April 11 - 12, 2005: YouthNet's Technical Advisory Group (TAG)
For two days, YouthNet's Technical Advisory Group held its annual meeting, during which participants reviewed YouthNet's technical contributions from the past year and discussed new contributions for the future. Presentations from this meeting are now available.
March 15 - April 15, 2005: Youth Forum on Pregnancy Prevention in a Time of AIDS
In this online forum, people from throughout the world shared experiences and lessons learned, along with guest panelists from the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and FHI. The forum archive contains all of the postings in an easy-to-use format. YouthNet co-sponsored the forum with the INFO Project, in conjunction with the Implementing Best Practices in Reproductive Health (IBP) Initiative, which is coordinated by the World Health Organization.
More than 650 people from 86 countries joined the forum to receive postings. Of those, 87 people from 32 countries (28 of them developing countries) made a total of 129 postings through the month-long forum. The forum provided state-of-the-art information and an opportunity for synergy between sharing global best practices and country-based experiences. It also synthesized key themes and lessons learned.
The IBP Initiative's Electronic Communication System provides a place for online communities of practice. This youth forum helped launch the IBP's Youth and Adolescents Community of Practice, which includes reference materials on youth and will also include the entire forum discussion. For more information, contact info@ibpinitiative.org.
February 14, 2005
YouthNet in collaboration with other organizations hosted a workshop entitled Repositioning Family Planning for Youth: Advocacy to Action, in Accra, Ghana. It complemented the Repositioning Family Planning in West Africa Conference, held February 15-18, 2005. The conference aimed to increase commitment to repositioning family planning as a strategic objective of a country's health and development goals.
The YouthNet workshop highlighted family planning and reproductive health issues faced by youth and prepared participants to serve as youth advocates during the conference and follow-up activities. The workshop highlights and presentations are now available. A workshop report will be available soon.
August 2-6, 2004
YouthNet, the Pan American Health Organization, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health and the NicaSalud Federation co-sponsored a regional forum in Nicaragua on state-of-the-art programming for youth sexual and reproductive health, entitled Improving the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Adults. About 100 key policy-makers, trainers, managers, and providers, representing public sector and NGOs/civil society organizations in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Peru participated. A "mini-university," combining plenary sessions and elective courses, delivered by renowned international authorities and local experts, enabled participants to update their skills, clarify their understanding of medical and policy barriers that inhibit youth access to sexual and reproductive health services, and develop country plans for addressing these barriers. USAID, NORAD, and SIDA were the primary donors, while UNFPA, UNICEF, SARED, and PROSILAIS provided additional funding, and NicaSalud, CARE, GTZ, MSH, JICA, PROFAMILIA, Ixchen, and Puntos de Encuentro provided technical, logistical, and material support.
May 3 - 7, 2004
YouthNet and the POLICY Project jointly hosted and facilitated a Youth Reproductive Health Policy and Program Planning regional workshop in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. The theme for the workshop was From Policy to Action. Country teams from Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia worked together to identify a priority policy and/or program issue, and to develop a draft plan of action to address the issue. They also identified resources and expertise available within the team members' organizations to support implementation of the plan of action. Members of the teams included policymakers, health professionals, advocates, and youth leaders representing government agencies, NGOs, youth organizations, faith-based organizations, and advocacy groups. The workshop was supported by USAID, and co-sponsored by the African Youth Alliance, UNICEF, UNFPA, and the German Foundation for World Population (DSW). Other partners who provided technical and logistical support include CARE/Uganda, CEDPA, FHI/IMPACT, JSI, and RTI International.
March 15, 2004
YouthNet/Tanzania announced that it will award grants to prevent HIV and promote reproductive health among young people in the Iringa region of Tanzania. A ceremonial signing and disbursement of funds to initial recipients took place at the former Banker's Academy in Iringa on Monday, March 22, 2004. Read the press release.
December 12, 2003
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission to Tanzania has awarded Family Health International (FHI) $1.5 million for start-up and first year costs of a three-year YouthNet/Tanzania Project, to promote the reproductive health of youth in Tanzania. Read the press release.
November 18, 2003
On November 18, YouthNet hosted a meeting entitled "Reaching Sexually Active Youth with Family Planning Services: Learning from Experience and Moving Forward." This meeting focused on both successes and failures in providing family planning services to sexually active youth through public facilities, NGOs, and commercial sources in different parts of the developing world and how to strengthen such programs. Presentations from this meeting are now available.
September 15 – 18, 2003
On September 15 -18, 2003, The Interagency Gender Working Group of USAID, through its Men and Reproductive Health Task Force, hosted a conference on "Reaching Men to Improve Reproductive Health for All." The conference focused on various topics including boys/young men and the socialization of boys. The conference was a multi-agency collaboration led by EngenderHealth, PATH, and the Population Reference Bureau, and is guided by an advisory group of senior developing-nation experts. The conference was co-sponsored by CATALYST Consortium, Family Health International/YouthNet, IPPF, PAHO, the Turner Foundation, UNFPA, and USAID. A primary objective of the conference was to provide models of programs that have successfully engaged men (including youth) in reproductive health in ways that have improved the health of their partners and children as well as their own health. It provided state-of-the-art tools and approaches for implementing gender-equitable strategies to involve men in reproductive health as mandated by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Read more about this conference.
September 9, 2003
On September 9, 2003, USAID, The Population Council, and FHI hosted a meeting entitled New Findings from Intervention Research: Youth Reproductive Health and HIV Prevention. Through a series of panel sessions, invited researchers and program staff presented new findings from youth intervention studies in eight countries including Tanzania, Mexico, Senegal, Kenya, Thailand, South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, and Bangladesh. These studies involved school-based interventions or multi-component interventions to foster reproductive health and HIV prevention. Presentations from this meeting are now available.
July 24, 2003
On July 24, 2003, the USAID Office of HIV/AIDS, the Institute for Youth Development, and YouthNet/Family Health International sponsored a meeting entitled HIV Prevention for Young People in Developing Countries. Presentations examined patterns of HIV prevalence and risky behaviors among youth, questioned what we know about preventing risky behavior among youth, shared strategies for HIV prevention among young people, and described case studies in reducing HIV prevalence. Presentations are now available. A meeting report (PDF 556K) is also available.
July 10, 2003
More than 40 youth from Latin America and the Caribbean converged on Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for a consultation on issues affecting young people in preparation for the XII Conference of First Ladies, Wives and Representatives of Heads of State and Government of the Americas. Read more about this preparatory meeting.
July 1, 2003
Beyonce Knowles to Host Meeting Mandela: A Staying Alive Special, sponsored by MTV and YouthNet.
May 7, 2003
YouthNet Helps Launch MTV's 2003 Staying Alive Campaign
