Facts and figures about Thailand
Thailand youth development programmes
Lessons learned worldwide in population education for Rural Youth and strategies for the future
Population education for Rural Youth adolescent reproductive health: Needs and strategies for East and Southeast Asia
Mr. Apichai Chingprapa
Chief of Farm Youth Sub-division
Agricultural Administrative Development Division
Agricultural Extension Department
Thai People
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Population: |
60 Million |
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Male: 30.1 million |
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Female: 29.9 million |
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Age: |
0-14 Years: 29.4% |
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15-59 Years: 63.6% |
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Over 60 years: 7.0% |
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Growth Rate: |
Less Than 1.4% |
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Population engaged in agriculture: 58% | |
Economy 1993-95
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Average Per Capita Income |
US$ 2,474 |
Income of people living in Bangkok is thirteen times of rural people
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GDP |
US$ 126.4 Billion |
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Agriculture GDP |
US$ 12.6 Billion |
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Non-Agriculture GDP |
US$ 113.8 Billion |
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Total Exports |
US$ 52.0 Billion |
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Agriculture Exports |
US$ 11.1 Billion |
Land
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Total Land |
51.3 Million Hectares |
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Forest |
13.5 Million Hectares |
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Farm land |
21.1 Million Hectares |
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Paddy Land |
52.1% |
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Field Crops |
24.8% |
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Orchards |
15.8% |
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Vegetables & Flowers |
0.67% |
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Pasture |
0.57% |
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Idle Land |
2.51% |
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Housing Area |
2.62% |
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Irrigated Areas |
21.7% |
Changes (1960-1996)
· Percentage of population in agriculture (80 percent in 1960 to 58 percent in 1996)
· Value of GDP in agriculture from majority to 10 percent
· Deforestation (175 million rai of forest area in 1960 to 84 million rai in 1996)
· Farmers sold irrigated land to non-farmers
· Millions of farmers have access to land without titledeeds
· 980,000 households are landless
· Income per head in agriculture is 25 percent of other sectors
· Failure of income distribution scheme in rural area
· Shortage of agricultural laborers
· More migration to urban areas
· Greater impact of uncertain climatic conditions
· Farmers relied on fewer crops
· Agricultural activities are not suitable to physical conditions
· Expensive farm inputs
· Marketing problem
· Small farmers can not access credit from financial institutions
Ms. Srisak Thaiarry
Executive Director
National Council for Child and Youth Development
Desirable qualities of Thai children and Youth
Thai children and youth should possess:
· Close and healthy relationship with family members· Good physical and mental health; proper development consistent with age; good personality; self respect and self confidence
· Cultural awareness and behavioral understanding of religious principles, essence of life and value of local wisdom
· Multi-lingual communication skills; knowledge and understanding of information technology and its usage in Thai cultural contexts
· Faith in democracy and constitutional monarchy; discipline; sense of integrity and willingness to sacrifice personal benefits for communal gains
· Understanding of rights and duties according to Thai constitution and other laws related to everyday life and work; as well as respect for rights of others
· Simple life; sense of social responsibility; entrepreneurial agility; and good management skills
· Sense of responsibility for environmental and natural resources protection and sustainable development
· Ability for constant conceptual enhancement and self development
Child and youth development programme
Strategies and Directions for Helping Thai Children Achieve Desirable Qualities
1. Physical and mental health development
2. Religious, moral, ethical, cultural, and national identity enhancement
3. Intellectual and skills development
4. Preparation for modem economy
5. Creation of awareness and participation in sustainable development
6. Creation and awareness and participation in democratic development
7. Enhancement of positive environment for child and youth development
8. Creation of unifying mechanisms for child and youth development
Programme Implementation Mechanisms
· Legislative bodies: Senate Committee on Youth; Parliamentary Committee on Youth· Administrative bodies: ten major ministries including Education; Interior; Agriculture; Public Health; Justice; Prime Minister's Office; Science, Technology and Environment; Labor and Social Welfare; Industry; and Defense
· Judicial body; Juvenile and Family Court
· Non-governmental organizations: approximately 300
· People/grassroots organizations: family/temple/school, village groups, local committees
· Business sector
· Academic institutions
· Mass media
1. Physical and Mental Health Development
Health promotion and services; mental health development; life skills development; health monitoring and referral; accident prevention; sports and recreation; promotion of arts and music; promotion of productive use of free time
Programmes for Rural Youth: Lunch programme for rural schools' youth centers/camps; free health services for rural poor; mental health promotion campaign and services for rural youth; rural youth traditional music and arts promotion; rural community-based aids prevention and care by youth catalysts; population education for rural youth
2. Religious, Moral, Ethical, Cultural and National Identity Enhancement
Religious, moral and ethics enhancement; promotion of discipline and national identity; promotion of Thai cultural and traditional; conservation
Programmes for Rural Youth: Dharmma heirs (Buddhists novices); Girl/Boy Scouts; Annual Students' Thai Classical Music Festival; Young Buddhists Development Project; Young Muslim Leadership Development; Center for Moral and Ethical Training for Rural Youth; and Center for Thai Heritage
3. Intellectual and Skills Development
Intellectual and skills enhancement; promotion of educational information development; development of science and technology education
Programmes for Rural Youth: Free education for youth in difficult circumstances up to 12 years; educational assistance for rural girls; encyclopedia for youth; long-distance learning programme for rural youth; promotion of teaching of science and technology; street education programme; integrated education for rural disabled youth; farm youth training programmes.
4. Preparation for Modern Economy
Promotion and development of work ethics; career development; development of appropriate consumerism; and development of career information systems.
Programmes for Rural Youth: Rural Youth Career Development Project; Career Alternatives for Young Workers in the Agricultural Sector; Provincial-Level Career Information Service for Youth; Apprenticeship for Rural Students; Creative Media for Youth; Sunshine Fields: Youth and Rural Environment Programme; and Preparation; Training for Rural Youth Entering Labor Market; and Young Entrepreneur Development.
5. Creation of Awareness and Participation in Sustainable Development
Development of Youth Potentiality for Sustainable Development; Conservation and Enhancement and Development of Natural Resources and Environment.
Programmes for Rural Youth: Youth and Environment Network-(national and regional levels); Young Protectors of East Asian Seas; Young Protectors of the Environment; Save Forests and Seas by Youth Clubs; Annual Youth Seminar on Environment; Oriental Princess Young Ambassadors of Environmental Protection; and Young Volunteers for Sustainable Development.
6. Creation of Awareness and Participation in Democratic Development
Development of Democratic Concepts, Understanding and Behavior; Promotion of Community Participation
Programmes for Rural Youth: Legal Literacy for Rural Youth; Youth Volunteers for Social Development; Provincial and Local Levels Child Rights Platform; Peer-to-Peer Drug Abuse Prevention in Rural Areas; Student Campaign for Democratic Development; Child Rights Training Camps for Rural Youth Leadership Enhancement Program; and Youth Training for Social Development.
7. Enhancement of Positive Environment for Youth Development
Empowerment of Family and Community; Creation of Child Rights Protection Mechanism; Development and Improvement of Youth Related Laws; Legal Literacy and Dissemination; Promotion of the Roles of Social Sector Leaders for Youth Development including Religious Groups, Mass Media, Politicians, Teachers, Justice and Child Rights Personnel, Business Sector, Recreation and Sports Professionals.
8. Creation of Unifying Mechanisms for Youth Development
Development of Youth Development Personnel; Enhancement of Youth Development Network; Enhancement of Youth Development Management; Promotion of Support for Researches on Youth Issues; and Development of Effective Indicators for Youth Development.
Mr. R. William Seiders
Agricultural Training and Extension Officer, Rural Youth Research, Extension and Training Division
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Rome, Italy
Introduction
It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be here with you during this important workshop for several reason. This is the first time I have had the opportunity to return to Thailand to work alongside the Farm Youth Sub-Division of the Department of Agricultural Extension since I left more than 16 years ago. At that time, I was here on a three-year assignment to help strengthen and expand the Thai rural youth programme, Yuwa Kasetkorn. My wife and I have very fond memories of the many friends and colleagues at the Department of Agricultural Extension.
Another reason is that it provides the opportunities to see many of our friends who participated in the FAO rural youth population education workshop that was held in the Philippines in 1994. The follow-up activities in Indonesia and Thailand were a direct result of that workshop.
As mentioned by Mr. Soetatwo, the FAO Assistant Director General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific in his opening address, this workshop represents the culmination of over ten years of a strong partnership between the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and FAO in the area of population education for out-of-school rural youth. Activities have been carried out in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The purpose of this presentation is to give you a brief background of FAO's population education work, a global perspective of some of the major lessons learned and ideas of strategies for future.
Background
Some of the earliest indications of the importance population issues have on rural youth came out of discussions during FAO's Expert Consultation on Rural Youth and Young Farmers in Developing Countries that took place in 1985, as a part of the United Nations International Youth Year. In Africa, issues related to youth and rapid population growth were also discussed in a national workshop in Zimbabwe, sponsored jointly by FAO and UNICEF. Subsequently, contacts with UNFPA led in 1986 to the first FAO rural youth population education project. INT/86/P08, which became operational in 1987 and was revised in September 1988 and given the new number INT/88/P98. This project was entitled Integration of Population Education into Programmes for Rural Youth in Low-Income Countries.
First Rural Youth Population Education Project - INT/88/P98
During the first project, existing population education materials from many different sources were collected, reviewed and analyzed. Using selected publications, a preliminary curriculum was created to produce activity-based core materials thought to be appropriate for out-of-school rural youth audiences in non-formal education settings. Workshops were held in Swaziland, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe to train youth professionals and leaders in the use of these newly created Leader Guides. It was also an opportunity to discuss the appropriateness of the selected topics, how they might be effectively introduced into on-going programme for out-of-school rural youth and what teaching aids might be used.
Based on the results coming out of these early workshops and collaborative effort with the UNESCO Regional Office in Latin America and the Caribbean in Venezuela, prototype Leader Guides were prepared and printed in English, Spanish and French. These early guides were intended for the use of local volunteer leaders working with village-level youth groups.
The Leader Guides consisted of an introduction and ten self-contained booklets or modules, similar to those all of you used with project INT/92/P94. The objective was to incorporate important population education messages into topics of interest and concern to out-of-school rural youth such as: agriculture, employment/income; environment, nutrition, health, family and family size, responsible parenthood; human growth and development; how population changes; and community involvement.
During this initial project, the Leader Guides were field tested in English and French in Africa and in Spanish in Latin America. The first full-scale field implementation with rural youth was carried out in Kenya with the YMCA. Under the first project, regional workshops were held in Santiago, Bangkok and Nairobi to share the results of this preliminary work and development strategies to further work with population education for rural youth around the world. By the end of this first project, the booklets had been field tested in Africa and Latin America and were available as prototypes in English, Spanish, French and Vietnamese.
Second UNFPA Rural Youth Population Education Project - INT/92/P94
The second inter-regional project, INT/92/P94, of which this workshop is a part, was approved in 1992. The purpose was to take the materials and the experiences gained during the first project and work towards the institutionalization of population education among government ministries and non-government organizations targeting rural youth on a global basis. The strategy was to emphasize the introduction, adaptation and use of the guides, starting with institutions in selected countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The project began with the idea that the ten existing FAO/UNFPA rural youth Leader Guides were basically good and that all that was needed to have them ready for widespread use in a country was to translated them into a local language, if necessary, and adapt them to local conditions and cultural settings. The purpose of INT/92/P94 was to take these population education booklets, which appeared to be popular and useful for out-of-school youth, and promote their widespread use throughout the world. This would be done by introducing them to institutions in at least 20 countries. The booklets would be field tested with local volunteer leaders and groups of rural youth and adaptations made as appropriate. At the end of the exercise, the ten booklets would have been field tested and ready for use within a country. In addition to the French, Spanish, English and Vietnamese versions, the booklets were to be translated and adapted in at least four other languages. Prototype guides in the various languages were to be printed and stored in Rome for distribution around the world. To facilitate their widespread global use, an early idea was to produce the Leader Guides on CD ROM's. At the beginning of the project, five hundred sets of the Leader Guides were to be printed in English, French and Spanish in the various regions for use in field testing.
Project Implementation
The project called for the introduction and field testing of the FAO/UNFPA Leader Guides in selected countries throughout the world. After the project was initiated, a decision was made to work with three clusters of countries in Asia, South America and Africa.
Assumption Concerning Collaborating Organizations
During the design of the project, there were certain assumptions made about expected characteristics of collaborating partner organization in the various countries. They included that collaborating organizations would have: (1) a well-established rural youth programme, where groups of young people meet on a regular basis in a non-formal education setting to gain knowledge and skills and carry out projects and activities. (2) significant experience and capacity to train their own field staff and volunteer leaders, and (3) a vast network of local community-based adult volunteer leaders. In practice, only about one half of the organizations selected met the above criteria. Although not necessarily recommended, this led to a major finding that the materials and methodology are flexible enough to adapt to a wide variety of organizational settings, including those with no established rural youth programme.
Review of Activities in Africa and Latin America under INT/92/P94
The first two countries to begin activities under INT/92/P94 were Ethiopia and Zimbabwe in Africa. In both cases, FAO members of the UNFPA Country Support Teams were responsible for initiating and supporting the work. They were Mr. Charles Davies in Addis Ababa and Mrs. Elinor Kennedy-Lafontant in Harare. The next two countries were in Asia; China and Vietnam. Three countries in the Andes Mountains of South American followed, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. The last two countries to be in the project were Thailand and Indonesia.
Africa
Ethiopia. With the very first project, the organization selected in Ethiopia did not meet any of the criteria under which the activity should have been carried out. As a result of many years of civil strife, all organizations and groups were banned, including youth programmes. By 1992, when INT/92/P94 started, the ban on youth organizations had been lifted, but there were still no existing programmes working with rural youth.
The Agricultural Extension Service of the Ministry of Agriculture expressed an interest in becoming involved with the project. They committed themselves to use their extension field staff in the Province of East Shoa to recruit and train volunteer leaders from selected local communities who in turn would form rural youth groups. Some funds were made available to support 42 small-scale income-generating activities. The FAO/UNFPA Leader Guides were translated from English directly into Amharic, with no adaptations.
Over the course of the project, around 500 youth from rural villages were trained in population education. Approximately 80 percent were boys and young men. Thirty-one agricultural extension field staff (27 men and 4 women) and seven supervisors received extensive training in population and how to use the FAO/UNFPA Leader Guides. The project was carried out with the help of a consultant who had had previous experience with the Kenyan YMCA project activity on rural youth population education, using the FAO/UNFPA Leader Guides under the previous project.
The project demonstrated that the FAO methodology and materials can be used to reach out-of-school rural youth through a temporary organization set up just to deliver population education messages. It also showed the importance of using income-generating projects with rural youth groups, together with population education. Many of the population education messages became more meaningful as young people were able to associate concepts with their production experiences. During the evaluation meeting, suggestions were made for some changes in the text and illustrations. Work in Ethiopia was completed in December 1993.
As a result of the population education work under INT/92/P94, the Ministry of Agriculture is actively pursuing the establishment of rural youth programme component within the Agricultural Extension Service. To help lay the groundwork, FAO, using its Regular Program funds, assisted with a national workshop to study the situation and needs of rural youth in Ethiopia.
Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is the only country where the project activities were carried out with more than one organization. The project was coordinated by the National Association of Non-Government Organizations (NANGO), an umbrella organization of NGO's in Zimbabwe. Savings were made through joint training, however each of the six organizations carried out the population education field work with their own leaders and members The organizations included the Boy Scout, Boys Brigade, Girls Scouts, Girls Brigade, YMCA and YWCA.
Although it has been recommended, Zimbabwe was the only country to carry out formal pre-testing and post-testing to measure changes in knowledge, attitudes and practices. Results showed positive change due to the FAO population education experiences.
Six national organization staff and 30 field staff were trained in two workshops. It is estimated that 1000 rural youth in the six organizations receive training in population education under the project. The Leader Guides were printed and used in the original English version. During evaluation meeting, suggestions were made for adjustments in some of the Leader Guides. Project activities ended in May 1994.
South America
Perú. The activity was carried out in the Amazon River jungle area of Iquitos, Perú under the leadership of the Public Health Centre of the Peruvian University Cayetano Heredia, in close collaboration with the Regional Population Council and the Regional Government of Loreto. The area is characterized by a very high youth population; almost 65 percent of the people are under 24 years of age. It has one of the highest birth rates in the country (5.3) with poor housing conditions, high infant mortality, high incidence of infectious diseases and poor diets.
The project was carried out in five communities within the District of Iquitos. Over 70 volunteer leaders were trained in population education, reproductive health, gender and the use of the FAO/UNFPA Leader Guides. The Leader Guides were adapted to local condition in two workshops using a team of regional education and population specialists. Eighty sets were printed and distributed to the community leaders to use with young groups. The leaders guides, in the more compact form of a single book, have been published and are being used throughout the country by the Ministry of Health.
Columbia. The project was implemented by the Education and Development Foundation of Bogotá, a non-for-profit, interdisciplinary organization with experience in both urban and rural areas of Columbia. The project was included as a pilot in their regional development programme for the area of Urabá, located in the far northeast extreme of South America, close to both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It is an agricultural region with high incidence of violence, drug trafficking and forced migrations of populations. Young people are faced high incidence of drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution and associated violence.
The project worked with young people of both sexes and adult women already working with the program in the areas of education, health, culture, sports and recreation. The women worked hard to promote the process through meetings and the writing of a bulletin. They gained teaching skills and the use of different methods and techniques in working with young people. For the youth, the most important areas dealt with in the project had to do with sexuality and responsible parenthood. Over 800 sets of the Leader Guides were published,
Bolivia. The Regional Office of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) carried out this project in a isolated area of the eastern plains of Bolivia, Guarayos. The area is characterized by fairly extensive in-migration from the highlands of Bolivia with many multi-cultural, multi-language groups. This project, using the local school as a base, designed and carried out a series of community seminars on population education targeting out-of-school rural youth. The Leader Guides were adapted to local conditions by a group of educators and community members, including some 12 and 13 years olds. Thirty leaders were trained between the ages of 15 and 20 years in the different topics presented in the Leader Guides.
Based on this experience, a proposal has been prepared to reach out-of-school rural youth in Bolivia in population education, jointing the formal education system within the new government guidelines for alternative education.
Evaluation Report
Many of the issues coming from the experiences in the field have been identified and documented in the report Integration of Population Education into Programmes for Out-of-School Rural Youth: A Review of Pilot Activities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, a study of selected field activities carried out by Mr. Günter Hemrich. Mr. Hemrich, over a period of several months in late 1995, traveled to Zimbabwe, Peru, Bolivia and Thailand to make a preliminary assessments of project impact. In the report, he also did a through review of existing documentation for all the countries involved in the project. The report is available to participants of this workshop.
I would like to briefly highlight some of the broad findings found in this report:
1. It has been demonstrated that population education curriculum materials for out-of-school rural youth can effectively be introduced through training under the following conditions:· Local institutions are involved in the planing of the activities.· Cooperating organizations have the technical capacity to set up and carry out training activities.
· Sufficient resources are made available for training.
· The curriculum addresses the felt needs of young men and women, based on an assessment of these needs.
· The population education Leader Guides accurately reflect the agro-ecological and socio-cultural situation and conditions.
· There is an institutional capacity for effective evaluation to adapt prototype materials to local conditions and needs/interests of young people living in rural areas.
2. To be most effective, population education should not be presented in isolation, but rather integrated into other subject matter, such as agriculture, employment, income, nutrition and health. Activities should be developed with a life skills perspective to help rural youth become productive and contributing citizens of their respective countries. Income-generating/learning opportunities relevant to the needs and interests of out-of-school rural youth need to be provided. The population education component of the curriculum should not only address issues related to rapid population growth, but also include topics such as migration, adolescent reproductive health and gender roles. Therefore, the definition of population education as found in the original project document needs to be modified to include these expanded topics.
3. Of concern is that in most cases, project activities did not lead to the institutionalization of population education as anticipated. This was largely a result of the fact that non-school based educational institutions often face substantial constraints in terms of weak institutional infrastructure, limited financial resources and the number of permanent staff. In almost all cases, additional resources are needed at the country level to achieve institutionalization of population education.
Recommendations
1. FAO/UNFPA Leader Guides and recommended methodology used in this project can be an effective way of reaching out-of-school youth in developing countries under a wide variety of institutional settings, however, based on the lessons learned over the past several years, the whole process can be significantly improved with greater impact being achieved by using a different approach.
2. The materials and methodology are suited for a wide variety of institutional settings. These include rural youth programmes of both government and NGO's. The project demonstrated that using creative approaches, community-based groupings can be temporarily established for the purpose of reaching out-of-school rural youth who normally never would have been exposed to population education concepts.
3. More attention needs to be paid to the long-term institutionalization of population education for programmes targeting out-of-school rural youth. In the planning of future project activities, high priority should be given to a assessment of existing institutional resources and projected long-term funding to support population education programmes in non-formal educational settings.
4. To contribute to the integration of out-of-school rural youth as a priority audience of national population education programmes, FAO should have worked harder to involve the UNFPA country programme in each INT/92/P94 country activity and national initiatives.
5. Needs assessment and environmental scanning should be a part of every effort to adapt curriculum materials to local needs and interest.
6. The curriculum material need to be designed to reach a broad range of ages from older children (8 to 10 years of age) to young adults (18 to 25 year of age) and those in between. Most activities in the currently available prototype materials are not suited to all ages, therefore they need to be re-written to be age-specific and clearly identified as such.
7. More attention needs to be given to the volunteer leader component. Local leaders are essential to reach significant numbers of out-of-school rural youth in non-formal educational settings. A leader training guide needs to be prepared to help organization field staff recruit, select, train, support and recognize volunteer leaders. More funds should have been given for training of leaders in the project.
8. More support should be given for monitoring and evaluation of the activities of the project. Good evaluation took place, but more could have been accomplished if common criteria across countries would have been established.
9. The curriculum used in the field by leaders with youth groups should be developed locally, with inputs from specialists, youth professionals, volunteer leaders and youth themselves. Prototype materials should be made available along with other support, but the institution should take full ownership of what is developed.
10. Seek other agency collaboration, such as UNDCP for drug demand reduction.
11. In some countries, illiteracy and low-level reading skills were a problem that needs to be addressed in the development of educational materials.
12. Greater emphasis needs to be given to gender issues and reproductive health.
Strategies for the Future
Over the course of the past ten years, FAO has learned a lot about developing, introducing and institutionalizing curriculum for out-of-school rural youth in non-formal educational settings. The first part of this section of the paper deals with a recommended improved strategy for curriculum development in population education that could became part of a new project. It differs significantly from the way in which INT/92/P94 was designed and implemented. The work would build on the positive aspects of INT/92/P94. With support from FAO, education materials would actually be created at the institutional level in a participatory manner.
The new strategy is based on experiences and sound principles, however it needs to be tested in the field under developing country situations, where institutional capacity to support rural youth programmes is often weak or non-existent. As a normative activity, in support of improved curriculum, which is at the heart of many rural youth programmes, FAO is committed to test and refine this new methodology to help rural youth programmes expand and strengthen their curriculum offering, especially in areas such as health, environment and natural resources, drug demand reduction, sustainable agricultural and population education.
Institutional Setting. To understanding this new strategy, it is important to have some idea of the nature of the variety of institutional contexts in which the project is to be implemented.
Community-based programmes for rural youth. Community-based youth programmes offer special challenges. Where available, formal school systems have the advantage that relatively large numbers of young people gather together in a facility on a daily basis to learn. They from a captive audience. Community-based programmes for rural youth are very different. They depend heavily on the abilities and motivation of the youth members themselves and adequate support from adult volunteer leaders, usually parents, to keep the activities going. Most of the groups have no buildings to meet in and often gather together on a farm of one of the members and/or leaders. As part of the youth programmes experience, members are usually expected to carry out small-scale production projects. Most of the groups hold regular meetings to learn new knowledge and to share experiences concerning their project work. This is an opportunity to integrate population education into the on-going educational programming during these regular club meetings at the village level.
Adult volunteer and youth leaders. The materials were developed with the idea that they would be used by community-level volunteer leaders working with groups of rural youth. The assumption is that collaborating organizations and agencies would have an extensive network of local volunteer leaders. These leaders on an on-going basis would receive training and regular support from the organization's professional staff. Often these volunteer leaders are parents of members. In some cases, youth themselves were designed as leaders to receive training and go back to their groups to facilitate learning with the population educational materials.
The reality of the situation was very different for many organizations participating in INT/92/P94. Some had no leaders before the project. Those who did not were able to recruit, select and train volunteer leaders for the first time from the local pilot communities were the field experiences were carried out.
Youth clubs/groups. The design of INT/92/P94 assumed that all collaborating organizations would have pre-existing rural youth groups or clubs. Over half did not and had to form new ones on a temporary basis in order to carry out the project. In all cases there were attempts to have a balance between male and female participants in the same group.
Organizational arrangements. INT/92/P94 demonstrated clearly that the FAO/UNFPA population education materials and methodology are well suited to a wide variety of institutional settings, including both government ministries and NGO's. Among government agency and NGO collaborating organizations, some had traditional formally established youth programmes, While others had to create a temporary rural youth programme structure on a pilot basis for the purpose of implementing the project. In the later case, there is now interest for many of these organizations to continue working with out-of-school rural youth. The most notable case is with the Extension Service of the Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia, which is taking steps to formally establish a rural youth programme.
Summary of the Key Element of the New Strategy
The following is a brief description of some of the main features of the new methodology:
1. Design of curriculum at institutional level. Although prototypes materials will be provides, the new strategy goes far beyond the experiences of all the countries involved in INT/92/P94 in terms of adapting the FAO/UNFPA Leader Guides. Activities would be custom-designed to meet the specific needs and interest of rural youth being targeted by each organization.2. Participatory curriculum development. In the current project, attempts were made to involve many people in the adaptation of the FAO/UNFPA Leader Guides. This new effort will not only involve youth professions, subject matter and education specialist, but most importantly will include community volunteer leaders and youth themselves as part of the writing teams.
3. Needs assessment. Although carried out in some of the countries under INT/92/P94, the new approach will include formal needs assessment, such as knowledge, attitude, skills, aspiration and behaviour (KASAB) surveys of selected youth, focus group discussion among youth, parents and community leaders in representative villages and other participatory techniques.
4. Environmental Scanning. Youth programmes do not work in a vacuum and there is no need to duplicate the efforts of others. There are also possibilities of learning from what other have done and adapt it or build on to it to come up with something even better. A national assessment will be carried out of all government, NGO and donor-driven programmes, projects and activities associated with population education in the country. This will also include an analysis of population education curriculum used in the formal school setting. In addition, a resource library will be prepared of the relevant curriculum materials collected from the different organizations and agencies in the country. As possible, regional and international materials may also become a part of this collection. Environmental scanning will also include an assessment of national social, cultural and economic factors that affect rural young people.
5. Volunteer leadership development. The key to success for any organization in rural areas with a non-formal educational programme designed for out-of-school youth is a large network of well-trained and supported community-based volunteer leaders. Institution who rely solely on their organizational field staff to work directly with youth can never hope to reach significant numbers of young people in rural areas. Volunteer leader greatly expand the efforts of the organization.
6. New format for the Leader Guides. Under the new methodology, the educational materials will no longer appear as bound booklets. All materials produced under INT/92/P94 were in the form of booklets, with the same format as the original prototype FAO/UNFPA Leader Guides. The new materials would be available in a loose-leaf notebook format facilitating updating, including the addition of new activities and the revision of existing ones. The heart of the notebook would be a series of one-page activity sheets. Each page, front and back, would explain the activity and give background information to help the leaders work with a groups of young people. The notebook would have an introductory section in front and references and resources at the end. The activities included would be indexed according to general themes (i.e. nutrition and population) and coded to help leaders determine the range of age-appropriateness.
7. Age-appropriateness of the materials. Although there is large difference among cultures and even among individual youth within local communities, in terms of the relationship of age and suitability of education materials, the existing FAO/UNFPA prototype Leader Guides were designed primary for older adolescents and young adults. The curriculum materials need to reach a broad range of ages from children (8 to 10 years of age) to young adults (18 to 25 years of age) and those in between. Most of the activities in the currently available prototype materials are not suited to all ages, therefore they need to be made age-specific and clearly identified as such.
8. Supplemental learning aids to be included. Posters and special cards to supplement some of the lesson were produced under the first UNFPA project, however none were developed and used as part of INT/92/P94. In future curriculum development activities, as appropriate, supplemental teaching aids should become an integral part of the education materials produced and used. The guide should also stress how to locate and incorporate other resources into the learning process, such as the use of a village health worker and/or teacher.
9. Increased emphasis on gender issues and adolescent reproduction health. Most of the later versions of the prototype Leader Guides developed under INT/92/P94, especially those in Latin America, included an increased emphasis on gender and adolescent reproductive health. In some cases, a considerable amount of time during leader training was devoted to these two important topics. The new materials to be developed will have a heavy emphasis on gender, adolescent reproductive health and related topics.
Recommended Strategy for a Future Project
Figure 1 shows the diagram of how to apply the new strategy to a project for integrating population education into government and NGO programmes targeting out-of-school rural youth. With additional follow-up support, it should ultimately lead to the eventual institutionalization of population education within these organizations. The minimum recommended length of the activity in each country would be 18 months.
Conclusions
FAO, along with partner organizations who helped adapt and field test the FAO/UNFPA Leader Guides have learned a great deal. The existing prototype Leader Guides have been found to be popular and effective, however the learning association with population education for out-of-school rural youth can be greatly enhanced by applying a different strategy of participatory curriculum development. This new approach is based on sound principles and concepts of youth development, however they needs to be tested and refined.
FAO welcomes the opportunity to again join with UNFPA, other donors and partner institutions to build on past experience and come up with the best possible methodology and materials to fully institutionalize population education among rural youth programmes around the world.
Mr. Fransisco H. Roque
Advisor, UNFPA - Country Support Team
YOUTH OF THE WORLD - Aged 10-24 Years (in millions) - Youth by Region, 1994
Source: Population Reference Bureau/CPO
YOUTH POPULATION IN ASIA - Aged 15 - 29 Years - Youth Distribution By Sub-Region, 1995
Source: World Assembly of Youth, 1995
Source: World Assembly of Youth, 1995
PERCENTAGE OF YOUTH POPULATION - Southeast Asia, Aged 15-29 Years
|
Nat. pop. |
0.3 |
10.3 |
196.4 |
4.9 |
20.1 |
46.5 |
67.7 |
2.8 |
58.8 |
74.5 |
|
Youth (%) |
27 |
26 |
30 |
25 |
26 |
28 |
28 |
23 |
31 |
29 |
Source: World Assembly of Youth, 1995
Major Obstacles
· Existing laws, policies and practices prohibit access to contraception.· Most family planning programmes are generally directed only to married couples and married adults, and have done very little to reach adolescents.
· Health workers' strong bias against serving unmarried youths.
· Teachers are generally ill-equipped to provide suitable sexual education.
· Adolescents' own reluctance to access existing services.
Major Reproductive Health Risks Young People Face
· Sexually transmitted diseases
· Unwanted pregnancy
· Higher risks of maternal morbidity and mortality
· Low birth weight and prematurity among babies
Countries at High Risk of HIV Spread in East and Southeast Asia, (WHO 1995)
· Countries with rapidly increasing HIV: Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand· Countries with potential for rapid increase: Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, South China, Vietnam
· Countries where HIV is increasing: China, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea
Needs for South and Southeast Asia
· Undertake more research to identify specific reproductive health needs of adolescents at country level.· Implement educational interventions through in-school activities, continuing education, and out-of-school efforts.
Factors Contributing to Inadequate Attention to Youth Needs
· Inadequate levels of knowledge about human sexuality
· Poor quality reproductive health information and services
· Prevalence of high risk sexual behavior
· Discriminatory social practices
· Negative attitudes towards women and girls
· For many women and girls, limited power over their sexual and reproductive lives
· For adolescents, lack of information and access to relevant services in most countries
Enabling Information for Responsible Decision-Making
Provision of Information and Services to Help Adolescents:
· Understand Their Sexuality
· Protect Them From Unwanted Pregnancies, STD's, And Subsequent Risk Of Infertility.
Education Of Young Men:
· To Respect Women's Self-Determination
· To Share Responsibility With Women In Sexuality And Reproduction
Early Marriage And Early Motherhood:
· Can seriously limit the educational job opportunities of youth
· Are likely to affect the quality of life of young women and their children
Educational Interventions in East and Southeast Asia
In School Activities
Introduce or improve existing sexuality education with focus on:
· Responsible sexual behavior
· Benefits of delayed marriage & delayed first pregnancy
· Counseling for pregnancy prevention
· Dangers of unsafe abortion
· STD's, HIV/AIDS prevention
· Training or retraining of teachers in communication and counseling skills
Out of School Efforts
· Improve counseling with focus on family planning methods, risks involved in each family planning method, and STD, HIV/AIDS prevention· Retraining of service providers in communication and counseling skills
· education of parents and other influential community members to improve interactions with youth
· initiate peer education
· involve the youth in all aspects of community-based outreach programmes
Goals of Sexuality Education
Primary objective: promote sexual health
Immediate objectives: assist children to have a positive view of sexuality; provide them with information and skills about taking care of their sexual health; and help them acquire skills to make decisions
Scope of coverage of sexuality education: sexuality development; reproductive health; interpersonal relationships; affection; intimacy; body image; and gender roles.
Six key concepts in a sexuality education programme:
(1) human development;
(2) relationships;
(3) personal skills;
(4) sexual behaviour;
(5) sexual health; and
(6) society and culture.
