ED-Empowering teachers and health care workers in providing school-based sexual and reproductive health education to promote gender equality

BE2022ITP245A101 01/01/2023 - 31/12/2025 Aims. This project aims to reduce gender inequality in education. Girls in Tanzania often are deprived of upper secondary education because of pregnancy and early marriage. Also both male and female adolescents are at high risk of sexual transmitted infections. Formal Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) education is not compulsory yet in schools, and teachers struggle with a lack of competence and experience discomfort in teaching key SRH education topics. Moreover, there is little communication between schools/teachers and health care workers. Given that SRH education is a fundamental tool to prevent SRH problems, this project will empower and train teachers and health care workers in providing school-based SRH education. Method. We focus on two rural regions in Tanzania with the highest percentages of teenage childbearing: Tabora (43%) and Katavi (45%). To create shared ownership of the training, first a local network will be established with input from local stakeholders (teachers and directors, community delegates, adolescents and parents) by means of ‘chat cafés’. This will lead to a better view on the needs of adolescents, strengths/opportunities and needs/pitfalls in the field of SRH care and education. Next, experts will design a training to create a sustainable intersectoral collaboration between teachers and health care workers, taking into account contextual characteristics. Next, a group of teachers and health care workers (midwives) will be trained to transfer knowledge and skills to adolescents and parents in Region 1. After evaluation of this ‘cycle’, the training will be adapted as a ‘blended learning’ training to foster sustainability. This blended learning training will be implemented in Region 2. Again, this cycle of training teachers and health care workers and the implementation of their acquired skills and knowledge in schools will be evaluated. Output. Besides changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in the stakeholders (professionals, parents, adolescents), the project will lead to policy suggestions to improve SRH education and gender equality. To foster sustainability, the team will work together with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health. The blended learning module can be used in the education (pre-service training) of future teachers and midwives, and also within schools or health care centers (in-service training) in other regions of Tanzania.