| GOLD Peer Educators Stand Up Against Poverty |
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Across South Africa and Botswana, GOLD Peer Educators will be joining millions of people across the world to take part in the international Stand Up – Take Action Against Poverty Campaign from 16-18 October. The peer educators will be undertaking various community upliftment activities such as initiating food gardens, raising awareness of issues affecting youth such as HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy and substance abuse and tackling illiteracy. The Stand Up – Take Action Against Poverty Campaign aims to mobilse citizens to become actively involved in poverty alleviation and call on governments to deliver on promises made around the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs aim to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Last year more than 116 million people worldwide took part in the Stand Up Campaign and this year they will be joined by GOLD Peer Educators from the community based organisations implementing the GOLD peer education programme. In Imbali in Kwazulu Natal, GOLD Implementing Organisation, ISAAC, will be calling on local government to get their hands dirty to combat poverty. They will be hosting an event attended by local government representatives from the Departments of Health and Agriculture to launch a food garden to be maintained by peer educators. Peer educators will deliver a presentation on the Millennium Development Goals and call on local government to support their food garden which they hope will feed needy community members. In Paarl, GOLD Implementing Organisation, Koinonia decided to address HIV as a root issue of poverty. They got a head start and conducted a march through their community to encourage people to know their HIV status on 10 October. With the support of local schools and the clinic, peer educators handed out pamphlets about VCT and addressed the community about being empowered to protect their health and future by knowing their HIV status. Other exciting initiatives will have peer educators facilitating discussions and sharing knowledge with learners about HIV, teen pregnancy and substance abuse, educating children about their rights and how to report abuse and the establishment of a host of food gardens across the country. Initiating and taking part in community upliftment activities is integral to the role GOLD Peer Educators, who act as positive change agents in their schools and communities. The GOLD peer education model uses the methodology of peer education which harnesses the influence that young people have with their peers to encourage youth to make informed choices and develop health-enhancing social norms. “Peer education uses peer pressure as a positive force,” explains GOLD CEO Susannah Farr. “Young opinion leaders are elected by their peers to become peer educators. The peer educators are mentored and trained in a range of subjects from self-development to sexual and reproductive health, gender and rights, communication, leadership and community development and they then share what they have learned with their peers.” “It’s a holistic approach to HIV prevention,” Susannah continues. “We believe that by investing in key individuals, we can multiply impact. To put it simply, individual change leads to group change which then leads to community change,” About GOLD GOLD Peer Education Development Agency (GOLD) is a dynamic non-profit organisation playing a key role in the transformation of under-served communities in Sub-Saharan Africa through the roll out of a long term adolescent peer education model. GOLD is currently working with 35 community organisations to roll out the GOLD peer education model in 122 schools and community sites to over 7400 peer educators in the Western Cape, KZN and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa and in Botswana and Zambia. In December 2006 the implementation of GOLD Peer Education in Botswana and South Africa was awarded the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Award for helping education in disadvantaged communities and difficult circumstances. This was judged from applications across 52 countries. http://www.goldpe.org.za/ For further information contact: Jacqui Latimer GOLD Advocacy and Marketing Manager This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it 021 685 5038 073 140 9713 Bookmark this article:          |
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