AYA PROGRAM AREAS

Policy & Advocacy — AYA works to foster a supportive community and political environment for adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) through advocacy activities at national and community levels. AYA and its advocacy partners employ the following strategies to develop this support: youth involvement and participation, partnership with the media, community mobilization and participation in project activities, and social networking and coalition formation.

Behavior Change Communication — Through AYA, in- and out-of-school adolescents receive accurate, age and gender-appropriate information, life-planning skills education, and counseling through extracurricular school and community-based programs. In addition to life-planning skills education, AYA also uses entertainment-education, peer education and counseling, mass media, and social marketing campaigns to increase youth knowledge and skills related to sexual and reproductive health Participatory social change campaigns are also being conducted to increase community-wide awareness of ASRH issues.

Youth-Friendly Services — To increase access to quality ASRH services, AYA expands and institutionalizes youth-friendly reproductive health information, services, and counseling available through the public, private and nongovernmental organization (NGO) health services, youth activity center, sports clubs, school, and other youth-oriented networks and programs. AYA focuses on quality improvement, youth involvement, linkages to voluntary counseling and testing, social marketing, and pre-service training. Community-based distribution programs are used to reach rural and out-of-school youth.

Institutional Capacity Building — AYA helps in-country partner organizations and district personnel plan, implement, manage, evaluate and sustain ASRH programs and services in Tanzania. The project works to increase its partners' ability to use data for decision-making, as well as improve planning and management systems by providing technical assistance and training as needed.

Integration of ASRH into Livelihood Skills Development Programs — By providing ASRH information to youth involved in vocational programs, AYA is able to have an impact with young people, even with limited resources. Skills for economic self-sufficiency along with ASRH information and skills help the country's youth lead long, productive and health lives. The Tanzanian Government has put in place an extensive vocational training program, and AYA works to integrate ASRH activities into those centers, beginning with those in the Arusha Municipality. AYA produces materials and training modules to provide vocational instructors with the skills to pass on ASRH information to young members.

Coordination & Dissemination — In partnership with government, private and public sector organizations, in-country partners, and other national NGOs, AYA coordinates and strengthens links between activities and helps increase opportunities for systematic ASRH programming. AYA also makes certain that knowledge and information to implement successful ASRH programs is shared among all stakeholders.

Youth Participation — Youth involvement is built into each component of the AYA program. Young people are involved in selecting the priority issues affecting them for advocacy purposes, and in designing advocacy messages. For behavior change communication activities, youth serve as peer promoters and work with the media to develop appropriate messages. Youth also participate in assessing youth-friendly services and designing interventions based on the findings.

Sustainability — AYA collaborates with the government to manage and coordinate project activities, because government involvement and ownership is critical for the sustainability of its activities. AYA promotes social networking and coalition building for ASRH through national NGOs, and professional and youth associations. Additionally, AYA works to mobilize financial resources for ASRH from a mix of private and public institutions.