Dance 4Life Trajectory

Adding some fun in Learning!

Dance 4 Life together with FHOK co-created a CSE curriculum called Journey 4 Life which is a model aimed to reach young people in and out of school with quality SRHR Education, Information and linkage to SRHR services.

The curriculum was designed to be peer led and therefore, 40 Young people called champions 4 Life aged 18-22 years were identified in four counties (Nairobi, Kisumu, Kakamega and Bondo) and trained on the model so as to ensure quality of content delivered. After the champions 4 Life training, a total of 24 schools and 6 youth groups were identified in the four counties where the model would be implemented so as to reach the agents 4 change (young people in and out of school). The journey4Life being an Empowerment Model has had positive effects on young people SRHR in the different Counties. It is a transformation model that tackles the key determinants that influence intentions to change behaviour.

It has three stages which include: ME stage ME and YOU stage ME and SOCIETY

Three stages Model

ME stage

which aims at building self-confidence of young people ME & YOU stage

which creates gender equal attitudes

which critically assesses challenging social norms surrounding young people

ME & SOCIETY stage

he model links young people to SRHR services through an activation in one of the encounters.

The Dance4Life empowerment model relies on the process of experiential learning. This means that the methodology of the encounters always engages and allows participants to go through an experience, reflect on the experience and are able to generate insights which they incorporate in their daily lives. The activities take the participants through a concrete experience which can be a game or role play in which they actively participate. After each activity there are questions to reflect on the experience allowing participants to discover themselves and their behaviours in such situations. These reflections offer new insights and lessons learned which the agents 4 change can plan to incorporate into their daily lives when they face a similar situation.

Journey4Life model reached 4280

young people

1980

males

2300

Females

The approach of the model is geared towards involving young people to find solutions to issues within themselves. The overarching activities to facilitate reflective and critical thinking within the Journey4Life are journaling, mindfulness, storytelling and creative expression which makes the model interesting for young people. A total of 4280(1980M; 2300F) were reached with the model in 2019 with 953(431M; 522F) accessing quality AYFS services. The model uses monitoring tools and CSE implementation checklist.

CHALLENGES

at first the model did not have adequate SRHR content, this was rectified through contextualization process whereby the Dance4 Life team, FHOK and IPPF team reviewed and added SRHR content to the manual thus ensuring that the agents 4 change access quality SRHR information.

tight school calendar which affected implementation in school. The project team maximized on the out of school activities so as to ensure the targets were achieved.

SUCCESS

The model was accepted in schools and out of school settings where it was implemented and the agents 4 change were always motivated to participate in the sessions .This was because of the interesting activities in the manual which include role plays and activations that are experienced by the agents 4 change in real life as well as the fact that the model engages the agents 4 change to find solutions amongst themselves.

Quality content delivery of the model by trained peer educators

Contexualization of the model to fit to suit the Kenyan context showcasing real life situations faced by young people in Kenya thus creating local ownership

Since the program started I have witnessed a lot of character change among the students especially those who belong to the group

Veronicah Kimathi. Head of Guidance and Counselling.

Dandora High school