Lao Red Cross Youth Peer Education Program - Lao PDR

In Phase 1 (1993-95), the project surveyed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices relating to HIV/AIDS and sex among young people in Vientiane Municipality and Savannakhet. Phase 2 (1996-1998) and Phase 3 (1999-2001) involved the development and implementation of youth HIV/AIDS peer education interventions throughout 7 provinces in Lao PDR. During Phase 4 (2001-2005), the project focused on increasing the scope of the youth peer education project from 7 to 11 provinces, covering 34 districts and the establishment of home and community care in 4 provinces. In addition, the Phase 4 design took into account institutional development and the capacity building needs of the Lao Red Cross Health Division, the branches through which the project operates, and the Lao Red Cross National Office. In late 2005/early 2006, the Australian Red Cross is exiting from the project (but will continue funding it), leaving local staff to carry on the activities developed during the 4-phase development period.

A key programme approach is cultivating sensitivity to gender differences through HIV/AIDS peer training workshops. Village chiefs (male elders, or Nai Bahn) both select participants (which include at-risk youth like migrant workers and bar and disco patrons), and attend sessions in an effort to show community support. Led by a project officer and 'junior' facilitators (district trainers), the workshops focus on building (mostly unmarried) young people's knowledge of HIV/AIDS and encouraging better attitudes toward people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). An effort is made to increase the participation of young women and enhance their learning opportunities, in part by working to ensure a safe, effective learning environment for these women. Fifteen minutes of the workshop is devoted to explicit discussion about gender and gender roles.

Attention to the capacities of the young participants is another key strategy. Many of the participants are illiterate or have only a few years of elementary education. For this reason, workshops include visual aids (a colour flipchart), pictures, and role-playing rather than note-taking and pamphlet distribution. Workshop activities like skill-building exercises that require reading and writing are allotted ample time.

Workshops focus on communicating risk by helping participants see themselves and their peers as vulnerable. Facilitators often present the scenario of a young man with some money in his pocket wanting to go drinking and purchase sex in an effort to illustrate that it is not just 'bad' people who are at risk for HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS, Gender, Youth, Reproductive Health.

Compared with Thailand and Cambodia, HIV/AIDS prevalence in Lao is relatively low, but the incidence is rising. Organisers say that HIV/AIDS awareness is crucial as the number of migrant workers increases, entertainment venues multiply, and roads are built - further exposing Lao to the outside world.

An evaluation of the project found that it is working differently for girls than it is for boys. While equal numbers of boys and girls attend the peer education workshops, it was found that boys who attended were far more likely to have more HIV/AIDS knowledge than girls who attended. There was significant stigma attached to condom use, particularly for women, and boys also had more positive attitudes toward condoms. Knowledge about condoms and prevention in young people who attended the workshops was generally good, but large differences in attitudes about males and females buying and carrying condoms persist. (Please see contact information below to request a copy of the report or further project details).

In response to these findings, provincial project officers have participated in workshops to increase their understanding of gender issues and curriculum; visual materials have been revised to better reflect gender equality and positive female role models. There are now trained female facilitators at every workshop and an increased emphasis on teaching young women condom use negotiation skills in single gender groups.