Transcript IATT Education

Youth, Difference and the Right to
Education: Challenges and Opportunities in
Reducing Vulnerability of Young People.
Robert Carr
Associate Director of Policy and Advocacy - ICASO
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations
 Data
 Roots Policy Conflicts
 Stigma
 Social Exclusion
 Solutions
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Global percentage of young people
who have first sex before age 15, by sex
Male
Female
20
15
% 10
5
0
1998-2002
2003-2007
Year
4.6
Source: Measure DHS.
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Russia
75 percent of new HIV infections by the end of 2007,
were among young people aged 15 – 30.
66.2 percent of young women and men aged 15 – 24
could not correctly identify ways of preventing the
sexual transmission of HIV and reject major
misconceptions about HIV transmission.
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Caribbean
1400
Number of Cases
1200
1000
Male
Female
800
600
400
200
0
<1
year
'1 - 4
'5 - 9
Male
68
143
48
25
676
1260
759
Female
60
129
31
70
616
805
397
>= 60
Not
known
431
162
64
174
82
38
'10 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 - 59
Age Group
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Policy Conflicts
Despite
epidemiological evidence, the responses remain weak.
Comprehensive knowledge of HIV
among young people (ages 15–24), 1999–2007
100
2005 Target
2010 Target
80
Male
60
%
Female
40
20
0
1999–2003
2004–2007
2010
Year
4.3
Source: MEASURE DHS (2008)
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Roots of policy conflicts?
Competing & conflicting
ideas
Childhood
Children
Adolescence
Adolescents
Youth
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
General agreement that …
adolescence is a passage from childhood to youth
we need to ensure
‘safe passage’
there are many opportunities, decisions & possibilities
where life may go wrong
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Moral response & judgment of
premature fertility & drug addiction
Human nature & the effect of
providing information
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Premature fertility
Already a
reality in many settings
Outside or apart from
pregnancy
society
understands that young people
are sexually active
evidence in social debates indicates that
Opposite moral directions for boys and girls …
the
‘studs’ and ‘sluts’ response
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Drug Use
Drugs are part of every society – some legal, some illegal
Drug addiction is a
clinical condition, with predisposing
social and genetic factors
People who use drugs or are addicted, have a
‘drug career’…
eventually, most will simply stop of their own volition.
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Fear
Stigma
Important context for how
people and systems
react to youth who are
prematurely fertile or
addicted to drugs.
Image © IRIN
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
“
SPOILT
DAMAGED
IMMORAL
UNCLEAN
BAD INFLUENCE
”
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
“Stigma and Discrimination”
Goffman (1963)
Abomination of the body
Blemish of the individual character
Membership of a despised social group
…“spoilt identity”
Stigma: Notes on the management of spoilt identity
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
“Stigma and Discrimination”
Das (2001)
Contagion
Defect
Disability
… in local moral worlds
… including policies and programmes of larger
social actors
“Stigma, Contagion, Defect: Issues in the Anthropology of Public Health.”
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
HIV
Prevention
Makes
communities less
vulnerable
Pre-empts need
for further
mitigation
Treatment
and Care
Pre-empts need
for treatment
Reduces risk,
strengthens
communities
Makes
people less
susceptible
to infection
STIGMA
Strengthens
systems for
delivery and
care
Pre-empts
need for
future
mitigation
Addressing the Impact on Human Development
HIV/AIDS: Implications for Poverty Reduction, UNDP 2001
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Public Policy Debates on HIV
and Youth Education
information on condoms and sex, triggers sexual
activity
Providing
information on drugs, triggers drug
experimentation, leading to addiction
Providing
These stymie
programs for youth through established institutions:
schools, church, family etc. So left to peers.
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Out of School Youth
POVERTY
Already stigmatized, as predisposed environmentally.
Often come from communities where teenage
pregnancies and drug use are common.
Often no sense of a meaningful future.
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Out of School Youth
Inequalities + neo-liberal strategies mean erosion of social safety
nets.
Failures in education and employment opportunities exacerbate
disconnection from wider society.
‘Problems’, ‘misfits’, ‘troublemakers’ of whom society aught to be afraid of
or disdain.
police, security forces and justice system, through
incarceration and length of sentencing.
Behavior of
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
HIV
Prevention
Makes
communities less
vulnerable
Pre-empts need
for further
mitigation
Treatment
and Care
Pre-empts need
for treatment
Reduces risk,
strengthens
communities
Makes
people less
susceptible
to infection
SOCIAL
EXCLUSION
Strengthens
systems for
delivery and
care
Pre-empts
need for
future
mitigation
Addressing the Impact on Human Development
HIV/AIDS: Implications for Poverty Reduction, UNDP 2001
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Solutions
Respect the rights of the child and young people
myth that information leads to risky behavior and
that ignorance or morality lectures are effective
Get past the
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
IT’S A LOT MORE
DIFFICULT THAN
IT SOUNDS
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Use an
age-appropriate
staggered approach
to ways in which issues are discussed.
BUT, always evaluate if intervention is working.
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Appreciate that young people, like everyone else is
embedded in family, community, society & global systems
that shape youth realities, opportunities & choices.
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
education
& human development
for all youth, including those who are
stigmatized
The role of
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Education & Development
Choices, freedoms and capabilities central to
development
Sexual & Reproductive Health and drug education
build resilience when coupled with effective systemic
interventions.
Good governance means social inclusion and citizen
rights of everyone, including young people.
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
THANK
YOU!
The International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
Nested Realities
Ecological models illustrate “levels” or “layers” of influence that affect individual opportunities
and choices. Different stakeholders operate at these different “layers” and all must be reached
using appropriate channels and activities in order to shift the barriers to universal access.
Reached through
political groups,
lawmakers, religious
leaders etc.
Structural/Societal
(e.g. cultural values,
residence patterns,
policies and laws)
Reached through local
gatekeepers, employers,
educators, local
government, kin groups,
neighbours etc.
Community and
organisations
(e.g. leadership, networks,
gender norms, social capital)
Reached by and
through individuals
and their networks
Relationships
(e.g. parents, sexual
partners, sex work clients,
drug use partners)
Individual
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)