Rutanang: Peer Education

Rutanang is a set of materials and a process communicating an exact approach to peer education for programmes serving youth in school, community, and higher education settings. Rutanang's basic manual describes a set of ten multi-level standards, ranging from what programmes must have, to what they should and could have as they engage in self-reflection and growth planning. These standards are arranged in easy-to-use checklists customised in implementation guides for each of three settings: schools, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and higher education.

In its first two years the Rutanang collaborative produced a comprehensive package of tools that are being disseminated throughout South Africa and are available for wider use in the region.

They include:

• Book 1, Toward Standards of Practice for Peer Education in South Africa, 156 pp.
• Book 2, Peer Education Implementation Guide for NGOs in South Africa, 160 pp.
• Book 3, Peer Education Implementation Guide for Schools in South Africa, 164 pp.
• Book 4, Peer Education Implementation Guide for Higher Education in South Africa, 152 pp.
• Book 5, Peer Education Lesson Plans, 128 pp.
• Book 6, Peer Education Training Manual, in preparation, expected June 2004.

Rutanang's objectives are:

• To strengthen the effectiveness and sustainability of peer education programmes addressing HIV/AIDS, other STIs, and Life Skills.
• To stimulate ongoing programme self-assessment, evaluation and improvement.

Its goal is a primary and secondary prevention system for adolescents and young adults, integrating education with voluntary counseling and testing (VCT), STI and HIV/AIDS treatment, and care and support for infected people and their families. It is especially proactive in addressing young people's beliefs and norms about abstinence and delaying sexual debut, gender violence and gender equity, and transactional sex.

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