Download and Community-Level Outcomes

Outcome Evaluation of Latin American Youth Leadership
in Sexual and Reproductive Health Program
Julie Solomon, PhD1; Jacqueline Berman, PhD2; Kristin Bard2; Thomas Goldring, MA3;
Gwendolyn Smith, MPA2; Alberto Colorado4; Esther Tahrir, MPH5
1J.
Solomon Consulting, LLC, 2Independent Consultant, 3Carnegie Mellon University, 4Advocates for Health International, 5Public Health Institute
Background
In Mexico and Central America, adolescents face high risks of early pregnancy, sexually
transmitted infections, including HIV, intimate partner violence, unsafe abortions, and poor
birth outcomes.*
Principal Outcome Evaluation Findings
Individual (Fellow) Level
• Positive influence on knowledge, attitudes, and skills in ASRHR and leadership
• At least 75% of alumni engaged in or looking for paid or volunteer ASRHR work
The Summit Foundation-funded Youth Leadership in Sexual and Reproductive Health
(GOJoven) Program, implemented in English and Spanish by the Public Health Institute,
builds young adult leaders’ (Fellows) and local organizations’ capacity to improve
adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (ASRHR) in Belize, Guatemala,
Honduras, and Quintana Roo, Mexico.
• Increasingly influential ASRHR-related Fellow leadership roles
Since GOJoven began implementation in 2004, PHI has tracked programmatic outputs and
changes in Fellows’ knowledge and skills. In 2011, Summit commissioned an external
evaluation of GOJoven to: (1) identify GOJoven’s outcomes at multiple levels; (2) identify
the program’s most promising practices; and (3) support planning for GOJoven’s next
phase.
• Increased inter-organizational collaboration and organizational visibility
* UNFPA & PRB. Country Profiles for Population and Reproductive Health, www.unfpa.org/public/countries.
• Little formal or systematic evidence of behavioral or health status outcomes
Organizational Level
• Positive influence on staff’s youth- and ASRH-related knowledge and skills
• Positive influences on organizations’ youth- and ASRHR-related focus (mission, services)
Community Level
• New ASRHR programs and services available
• Some evidence of positive short-term changes in youths’ ASRHR knowledge and attitudes
National/International Level
• Some Fellow involvement in ASRHR-related committees, conferences, and programming
and advocacy initiatives
• Little evidence of policy or service outcomes
The theme of right[s in] SRH has
become a passion for me and I
have committed myself much
more to working on this theme.
[Because of GOJoven] we have a
plan that is based on the need to
strengthen . . . our work in sexual
and reproductive health with youth.
-Honduran Alumni Fellow
-Guatemalan organization
Principal Program Components
• Fellowship Year: Teams of 5-6 Fellows (ages 18-30) from each GOJoven country
receive training and coaching and plan team leadership projects
• Post-Fellowship Year: Fellows implement projects and have access to more training,
networking activities, and professional development funds
• Institutional Strengthening (IS): IS Project grants and IS Workshops are available to
organizations working (or interested to work) in ASRHR
Evaluation Methods
Example: Organizational & Community-Level Outcomes
Background: Centro Escolar Mexico Junior College
Challenges
Recommendations
• Fellows not (yet) in
positions of national-level
decision-making authority
• Continue to offer alumni professional development
opportunities and focus on linking Fellows with local,
national, and international ASRHR networks/platforms
• Sustaining organizational
• Provide training to Fellows/organizations that focuses
change effected through IS
on proactive sustainability planning
Projects
• Consider strategies for involving the private, for-profit
sector in ASRHR
• Limited awareness of and
collaboration with
GOJoven among nationallevel organizations
• Disseminate GOJoven information, conduct outreach,
and seek to collaborate more proactively with the
ASRHR sector, organizations in allied fields, and the
public
• Limited formal or
• Develop outcome targets, an M&E plan, and common
systematic monitoring and
instruments for prospective evaluation
evaluation (M&E) of
• Build local M&E capacity among Fellows, their
community-level outcomes
organizations, and others in the sector
• Budget for dedicated evaluation staff
• Tensions over GOJoven
time commitments
• Communicate annually with Fellows’ organizations
about expectations
Promising Practices in Leadership Development
• Focus on Fellows’ self-awareness and personal development
• Foster a sense of community and peer support within GOJoven
• Employ a highly participatory, interactive training methodology
• Provide ongoing opportunities to apply new knowledge and skills
• Include institutional strengthening with Fellow involvement
• Technical junior college, Corozal District, northern Belize
• ~177 students, ages 17-30, largely from rural communities; ~15 teachers
GOJoven Involvement
• Two teachers became Fellows (2009 and 2011 cohorts)
• IS Project Grant*: ASRH needs assessment, staff training, strategic planning
• IS Workshop* attended by school Principal and Fellow
Next Steps for GOJoven
Apply evaluation learnings to GOJoven’s next-phase efforts, which aim to:
• Mobilize alumni and other in-country stakeholders to positively impact ASRHR
programs and policies at local and national levels
• Systematic review of 204 program documents
• TA from a local consultant
• Partner with alumni to build leadership and ASRHR capacity among new youth
leaders and service providers
• Paper and web-based alumni Fellow survey (N=88, 78% response rate)
Organizational- and Community-Level Outcomes
• Web-based survey of affiliated organizations (N=53, 29% response rate)
• ASRH integrated into entire school curriculum
• Build in-country infrastructure to sustain capacity development efforts
• In-country interviews and focus groups with Fellow project teams, project beneficiaries,
IS Project organizations, GOJoven staff, and ASRHR key opinion leaders
• Collection and group discussion of Fellows’ Most Significant Change stories
• Four in-country alumni Fellows assisted with instrumentation, data collection, and
dissemination of findings
• Greater teacher comfort discussing and addressing ASRH
• New partnership with National AIDS Commission for campus condom distribution
• Staff and students disseminating ASRH information to local community
For Additional Information
• Pregnancy-related school drop-outs decreased to zero (2011)
• About the Evaluation: Julie Solomon, PhD, [email protected]; reports:
summitfdn.org/foundation/programs/empowering-youth/spotlight
* Funded by the World Bank.
• About GOJoven: Esther Tahrir, MPH, [email protected]; see also gojoven.org