Education Fights AIDS International » EFA Establishes Peer Mentoring Program

EFA Establishes Peer Mentoring Program

Submitted by Education Fights AIDS International on September 3, 2008Add Comment

In April 2008, EFA International established a Peer Mentoring Program to assist with the development of the youth network in northern Cameroon. Five members of AJEPS, the first youth association to be supported by EFA, were selected to serve as Technical Assistants to the five newest associations in the network. Technical Assistants have six primary responsibilities:

To attend all important meetings of their assigned association.
To work with the Executive Officers of each association to define their goals and to outline their individual action plan.
To assist in identifying strategic partners and donors within the local community.
To identify the primary challenges facing the association – and to develop trainings to assist the members in confronting said challenges.
To provide EFA International with a detailed report once every three months.
To attend regular meetings with the regional EFA International staff.

There are two primary goals of the Peer Mentoring program.

First, new associations benefit from the advice and experience of the more senior members of the network.
Second, the trainers in the Mentoring Program benefit personally from the experience, as they have the opportunity to develop their own training and leadership skills.

In addition to these primary goals, the Peer Mentors assist EFA in combating issues of stigma, as it is often easier for members of new associations to disclose their HIV+ status to another Cameroonian youth living through the same situation than it would be to work directly with EFA’s regional staff.

As the youth network expands, EFA plans to identify promising members of other associations to use as trainers with new groups interested in joining the network.