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Interagency Youth Working Group

© 2003 Sean Hawkey, Courtesy of Photoshare© 2001 Jim Stipe/Lutheran World Relief, Courtesy of Photoshare© 2001 Jennifer Knox/CCP, Courtesy of Photoshare© 2006 Jane Koehler/CCP, Courtesy of Photoshare© 2005 Esther Braud, Courtesy of Photoshare

Resources On Youth Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS

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Summary Meeting Notes
Fourth Meeting of the Youth GLP Partners
March 13, 2008


Attendees
Shanti Conly, Ladan Fakory, Liz Greene, Jenny Truong, USAID
Charlotte Feldman-Jacobs, PRB/BRIDGE
Holly Burke, Karah Fazekas, Bill Finger, FHI
Shane Khan, MEASURE DHS
Robin Anthony Kouyate, ACCESS/FP Project (JHPIEGO)
Aditi Krishna, Constella Futures
Cate Lane, ESD/Pathfinder
Sujata Naik, Institute for Reproductive Health/AWARENESS
Theresa Norton, INFO Project, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Communication Programs
Lena Kolyada, Gael O’Sullivan, Sarah Sulzbach, Abt Associates/PSP-One
Ilene Speizer, MEASURE Evaluation (phone)


Meeting Overview
The IYWG Partners held their fourth meeting on March 13, 2008, from 9 am until noon in Washington, D.C. The first part of the meeting, open to USAID staff, was a presentation by Holly Burke on the results of an FHI/YouthNet study to assess the impact of youth peer education. The second part of the meeting was attended by IYWG Partners and others by invitation. Participants introduced themselves and provided a brief overview of their current youth work. These summaries were followed by:

  1. A presentation by Abt Associates/PSP-One on a project supported in part by Youth Global Leadership Priority (GLP) funds: “The Saathiya Youth-Friendly Family Planning Program in Lucknow, UP, India: Baseline Survey Results and the Saathiya Intervention Model.” Additional USAID staff were invited to attend this presentation.
  2. Discussions about future IYWG activities, including events at the international youth conference in Nigeria, Investing in Young People's Health and Development: Research that Improves Policies and Programs.
  3. A brief update of the IYWG Web site.  

Updates
Jenny Truong gave an update on how the Office of Population and Reproductive Health’s (PRHs) funding structure is changing and how that may impact the IYWG. Under the current structure, the IYWG Partner meetings provide a mechanism for those receiving GLP funds to share ideas and work together, while the larger IYWG meetings are open to all interested in youth RH/HIV issues. Starting this year, funding for youth initiatives through PRH will be allocated as part of “core” funds rather than through what were formerly designed as “GLP funds” . USAID is now assessing how this change might affect the purpose and structure of the IYWG Partners group. Input on these upcoming changes is welcome.  

Shanti Conly reported that the Office of HIV/AIDS (OHA) is committed to cost sharing with PRH on the IYWG. OHA will continue to focus its resources on knowledge management and the Web site. Currently, OHA is working toward a more balanced portfolio that invests in adults as well as youth. Shanti asked that IYWG Partners think about how to contribute to the field of youth, share best practices, and email USAID and FHI with their ideas.

Some brief updates from attendees included:

  1. MEASURE DHS is developing a youth comparative report looking at 38 countries and is currently asking for report reviewers. They are planning promotion efforts for the Youth Corner on the DHS Web site.  
  2. ESD/Pathfinder is conducting a variety of initiatives to improve youth-friendly services in Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania. In Yemen, they may train midwives associations to improve services for young women. The community involvement framework for M&E is almost complete.  
  3. PRB/BRIDGE recently published a report on cross-generational sex and is completing a shorter research brief based on the report.  
  4. Institute for Reproductive Health/AWARENESS is almost done with formative research in Guatemala and Madagascar on the needs of younger youth. They anticipate a training approach that would adapt My Changing Body.  
  5. ACCESS/FP Project is looking at community involvement and ensuring youth peer educators are referring youth for youth-friendly services in Haiti. 
  6. MEASURE Evaluation undertook a PLACE study in Haiti and started a study to demonstrate how different methodologies get used (e.g., PLACE and DHS data) to identify youth. MEASURE submitted a draft of an ABY Curricula Review to OGAC in early February and is awaiting input to produce the final document.  MEASURE Evaluation is also undertaking a portfolio review of AB programs in Mozambique.
  7. WHO/Child & Adolescent Health recently completed publications on the importance of parenting adolescents. They are in the process of finalizing a course to strengthen the planning of RH and HIV programs directed at young people.
  8. FHI is finalizing a training guide for an HIV counseling and testing for youth provider manual and is working to increase the utilization of faith-based family life education and peer education tools (Y-PEER toolkit). A small process evaluation in the summer will help determine how IYWG publications and the Web site are being used and provide guidance for how to further improve utilization of IYWG resources.


Future IYWG Activities

Nigeria Youth Conference Events
Bill Finger explained the process that USAID and FHI used in planning the IYWG spring meeting. Together, it was decided to focus time and resources on participating in the international Nigeria youth conference sponsored by The Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHU/Gates). FHI submitted several proposals for panels and workshops on peer education and faith-based family life education that were accepted. Bill provided the IYWG Partners with a list of these IYWG/FHI sponsored events (this list will soon be posted on the IYWG Web site). For more information on the conference go to http://www.jhsph.edu/gatesinstitute/policy_practice/adolhealth.

Summer 2008 IYWG Meeting
The IYWG is working with JHU/Gates to promote and disseminate new information learned at the conference. Plans are underway for an interactive half-day IYWG meeting tentatively scheduled for June 23rd in DC to synthesize the newest research presented at the conference. Robert Blum of JHU/Gates will lead an overview at the beginning of the morning. JHU/Gates will publish an abstract book and make PowerPoint slides available on their Web site. A Youth InfoNet issue may summarize highlights of the conference, if there is a way to synthesize the material.  

Fall 2008 IYWG Meeting
Planning has not begun for the fall 2008 IYWG meeting. Results from the completed participant evaluation forms at the last meeting suggest several areas and new formats to explore. Bill Finger asked for ideas on topics or speakers. Ilene Speizer suggested that there should be an M&E component similar to half-day companion meeting held in December 2007.

IYWG Web Site
Karah Fazekas briefly demonstrated some of the new features of the IYWG Web site including the research page, current events, and program area pages. Many felt it would be useful to report on the number of downloads from publications on the site. Abt Associates/PSP-One requested that a page be set-up for their publications. The site is continuing to be promoted by the Partners, and the IYWG is always looking at new ways to promote the Web site. 

 

Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Government or The Johns Hopkins University.