Saturday, 3 March 2012

Peace Corps Life Skills Seminar

Today we finished our two-day Life Skills seminar for 15 participants across 5 organizations that work with youth groups and women in the community. What is Life Skills you ask? I'll let Preparing for Work eloquently describe the program:

"The Peace Corps Life Skills Manual is a comprehensive behavior change approach that concentrates on developing the skills needed for life, such as communication, decision-making, and critical thinking. It also helps learners understand the importance of assertiveness, self-esteem, resisting peer pressure, and creating healthy relationships. Additionally, it addresses the important related issues of empowering girls and guiding boys toward new values.

The program moves beyond providing information. It addresses the development of the whole individual, including their health—so that a person will have the skills to make use of all types of information, whether it be related to reproductive and sexual health, safe motherhood, and other communication and decision-making situations. While the focus is on health, the life skills are relevant to those found in work readiness curricula and could be adapted for other purposes.

This manual consists of more than 50 different interactive lesson ideas, using role plays, games, puzzles, group discussions, and a variety of other innovative teaching techniques to keep the participant fully involved in the sessions. Lessons include HIV/AIDS training sessions that are particularly useful in working with youth and other vulnerable groups."

Participants included Red Cross staff, Breaking Ground coaches, teachers, and general motivated community members. At the end of the Training-of-Trainers seminar, each organization made an action plan of how they will implement the Life Skills curriculum in their work. Go team!

Peace Corps Coordinator Djenobe Talajo served as the Life Skills Trainer

The participants were happy to receive their diplomas

Showing Djenobe some gratitude

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