Africa-Press – Seychelles. The Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) has held its first training workshop for the Peer Educators programme at the Docklands Auditorium, targeting 45 peer educators from post-secondary institutions.
The session in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which focuses on sexual and reproductive health agency, was launched on Wednesday by the SNYC’s chief executive, Albert Duncan.
SNYC’s counsellor, Farella Charlie, said the Peer Educators programme is to empower and educate young people working with other youths about health issues and their general wellbeing. The session was facilitated by counselor Benjamin Vel.
“As you know a lot of young people do not trust adults or do not want to share their personal issues to just anyone, so we thought that these peer educators, who are the same age as them, they go to the same school, who are friendlier and more approachable and whom they have access to daily, will be in a better position to listen to them and guide them,” explained Ms Charlie.
She said that during the first capacity-building session, a broad list of topics were addressed, including mental health and emotional support, social ills and its impact, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse and sexually transmitted infections, among others.
They also learned about the role of peer educators and how their task was different to that of a peer counsellor, their qualities and general behaviour and what their work entails.
Ms Charlie said they want to ensure the peer educators were fully equipped to handle any concerns that were brought to their attention.
“However, if a student approaches a peer educator with a matter deemed too complicated or sensitive, and he or she feels that they cannot address it, then they can refer the person to my office at SNYC for counseling,” explained Ms Charlie.
According to SNYC, the Peer Educators programme will not only attend to young people’s concern but allow the council to identify young people who are at risk and afraid to speak up.
The peer educators following the training were volunteers or had been selected at school level by their heads of school. They will now be focal persons in their respective school.
The Peer Educators programme will also promote networking among youth-led services such as the Youth Health Centre and SNYC, and the new peer educators are being encouraged to create their own platform to address issues such as health, nutrition, stigmatisation, and gender violence.
SNYC said that if the programme is successful within a year, it will be introduced at secondary level.
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