Youth LEAD, UNFPA & UNESCO revamp the TeenGen leadership training programme for adolescents from key populations
With support from the regional offices at UNFPA and UNESCO, Youth LEAD is revising one of our core leadership programmes for adolescent key populations (AYKP) called TeenGen. TeenGen aims to mobilize and identify potential activists to be part of the broader youth movement engaged in addressing HIV issues, upholding sexual and reproductive health and rights and includes components on sexuality education. It was developed in 2017 and has been rolled out over 50 times in 22 different countries, globally. However, recent feedback from Youth LEAD’s implementing partners of TeenGen have commented that a lot of the content is outdated in terms of the fast-paced space of HIV and SRHR for adolescents and AYKP.
The revision of TeenGen’s content was completed in 2023 and included several consultations from TeenGen’s implementing partners, YKP experts in sexuality education and the Inter-Agency Task Team on YKPs (IATT). Further research included desk research on guidelines such as the International technical guidance on sexuality education: An evidence informed approach (ITGSE), and the International technical and programmatic guidance on out-of-school CSE: An evidence-informed approach for non-formal out-of-school programmes. One of the highlights of the new version of TeenGen include the UNESCO adapted learning materials on life skills-based HIV and sexuality education (AMAZE) video (https://amaze.org/us/) and companion learning materials.
In January 2024, Youth LEAD was very excited to workshop the updated content among 23 youth and YKP leaders across the region who were either implementing partners of TeenGen or who could provide their expertise on AYKP sexuality education. The countries included India, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Not only did YKP leaders get a chance to experience and lead the new activities but provide their insights on activity flow, structure and appropriateness of content. This feedback is currently being used to finalise the TeenGen v.2 training manual (available in May 2024).
Post-workshop, the country teams from Laos and Viet Nam will get an opportunity to pilot the new training manual among in and out-of-school learners in their respected countries during the month of March. In May, Youth LEAD will host an Online Regional Learning Exchange to share lessons learned and best practices in preparing for, implementing and evaluating TeenGen v.2. We encourage all our partners and focal points to attend in case you are interested in rolling out TeenGen v.2 in your areas!
