IMPACT

SPW has worked with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) & Development in Action (DiA) to produce a set of guidelines for young people thinking about volunteering in developing countries. If you are concerned about issues of sustainability and partnership and interested in what SPW does to make sure volunteering is beneficial both to the volunteer and to the communities in which they work please click here.

Cost Effectiveness

With up to 800 volunteer Peer Educators in the field every year, SPW reaches hundreds of thousands of young people at very little cost. SPW works in full partnership with local communities, who provide Peer Educators with housing and furniture; SPW provides training and an allowance for food. By minimising costs and using available free resources, SPW is able to mount and sustain large scale efforts at a low cost– weekly health education lessons are provided by SPW Peer Educators at an annual cost of only £5 per child.

Because SPW recognises that young people can profoundly affect and be affected by their community, we use a wide range of activities to maximize impact for both young people and the wider community:

• Teaching Adult Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH) classes using non-formal education, built into the school timetable, and organizing workshops for teachers in the use of non-formal education techniques and the delivery of adolescent health education.
• Targeting out-of-school youth to improve access to information through clubs, sports, drama groups and community events.
• Establishing and rejuvenating youth clubs and youth resource centres in local schools and communities to provide reliable and confidential information from relevant Ministries, UN agencies and local NGOs, and serve as the focal point of community development activities.
• Engaging parents and influential community leaders through community action groups, workshops, seminars, and events to build supportive attitudes towards women, young people and people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Working with local health facilities to ensure that services are youth-friendly and contributing to the fight against HIV and AIDS.

“I have heard a great deal about the work of SPW and its role in the fight against HIV/AIDS, alongside its wider work. I have been deeply impressed by this charity’s innovative and effective approach.”

Rt. Hon. Jack Straw M.P. UK Foreign Secretary