Health Education

Talking about issues like relationships and sex can be difficult between adults and children, especially in countries where such topics are taboo.

But children in Zambia need to start learning at an early age how HIV spreads (and to dispel the myths about it), and how to keep themselves and others safe. Learning from other young people is easier and more effective. This is why Cecily’s Fund encourages our young graduates to use the months between the end of their schooling in January and getting their final results in April, to train and volunteer as peer health educators.

This not only helps to spread HIV awareness, but also gives the young trainers confidence and valuable work experience, inspiring both the trainers and the children they teach that being an orphan does not prevent them from becoming a respected, productive member of society.

How the program works:

We support Cecily's Fund (UK)'s work with the Copperbelt Health Education Programme (CHEP) to fund the training of 50 young people each year.

After the training, the young peer health educators are supported to run HIV prevention and awareness-raising sessions in 25 Kitwe schools. Using drama, song and games, the trainers help children to understand complex issues, what their rights are and where to go for help.

Since the program began in 2003, Cecily’s Fund has helped train 240 peer health educators, who have reached an estimated 7,500 pupils each year. It costs $400 to train an orphaned school-leaver as a peer health educator and pay for them to deliver workshops in school for a whole year.