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Peer education

One of the HIV/AIDS/IDU/STD prevention methods very widely used by the NGO staff and psychologists is the Peer Education. The story of this methods counts a decade, and it comes from abroad. The best known activity in the sphere of Peer education is the one of the PEP/ LA NGO of Los-Angeles. Its president, Wendy Arnold repeatedly visited Russia and conducted trainings on Peer Education in Moscow, Barnaul, Tomsk, Omsk and other cities. The staff of the PSC have undergone the education at her trainings, too.

The reviewed method is based upon the training education of the representatives of various target groups (adolescents and youth, drug users, youth specialists), who later advance this information to their peers (adolescents – to adolescents, drug users – to drug users, sex-workers – to sex-workers. Etc .) preferably in the same training form . Why training ? Because training is a very fascinating process! The person who once in his life took part in the training, remembers it for long.

In the wide sense, the training is:

• Getting to know yourself and your environment
• Change “yourself” through commnuication
• Communication in the trustful atmosphere and informal setting
• Effective knowledge mastering method
• The tool of forming skills and abilities

According to the research, the man masters the information faster if the education is interactive, if it is possible to debate upon the unclear moments and ask questions, master the knowledge practically, in group for the person along with just receiving the information. This method involves the participants into the process, and the process itself becomes easier and more interesting. The acquisition of the own experience in this case is the key to perception during the training.

The training is the tiresome and longterm process, however, if it is conducted professionally and by a competent specialist, the results will be overwhelming the expectations. The mastering effect is 70% for the infromation acquired during the training. If the participant becomes the educator himself later on , this effect rises to 90%.

What’s more, the peer principle itself, the principle of the equality of the educator and the student – is the important factor of increasing the effectiveness of the learning process. As many researches show, people tend to be more trustful towards their peers, those who are equal with them in age and social value.Thus, the information offered by the peer educators is accepted and mastered with maximal effectiveness. So it was the peer education method that was used as the foundation of the Centre for Prevention and Support for the adolescents.