Peer education program for adolescent girls is piloted in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, Samarkand and Tashkent regions

With a view of increasing awareness of teenage girls about healthy lifestyles and reproductive health issues, the Ministry of Health, together with the Ministry of Education and UNFPA launch a pilot training program based on “peer-to-peer” approach in Samarkand and Nukus cities during 12 to 16 October and in Chirchik on 19-23 October.

60 young girls will be trained on the basics of a healthy lifestyle, including reproductive health, gender equality, HIV and social skills that a person needs throughout the life, including the development of leadership and communication skills. In total, 3 trainings are organized: in the cities of Nukus and Samarkand on October 12-16 and in the city of Chirchik on October 19-23, the training participants represent different regions and were selected on a competitive basis. 

In November 2019, a peer-to-peer training manual was developed for adolescent girls of secondary schools with support of the leading specialists from the Ministries of Health and Public Education and technical and methodological support from UNFPA. 

The first piloting of this peer education program was carried out in 2019 in three districts of Jizzakh region with participation of 60 girls leaders. Within 5 months upon the training the young leaders were able to fully transfer information among their peers through reaching over 15,000 of their peers with an information campaign.

This series of trainings is held within the framework of the “Qizlarjon” summit, which is organized by the Ministry of Public Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry for Support of Mahalla and Family, the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communication Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan, with the technical support of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.