1st March 2013

Shimoni Hub GVI supports essential personal and social development of primary and secondary students in Shimoni through the creation of two lesson plan packages
Having taught life skills classes at local primary and secondary schools for the past year, GVI personnel have put together a series of lesson plan packages covering personal and social education. The aim is to create a series of interactive and useful lessons which will enable those teachers who arent sure how to teach the material, to do so with confidence.

Volunteers lead life skills classes at local primary and secondary schools

The GVI Health Project is based in the Shimoni Sub Location which is a small group of villages located on a 15km in length peninsular in the Coast Province of Kenya, only 30km north of the Tanzanian border. There is a rapidly increasing population of over 4,000 residents, most of whom earn a living from fishing in the rich waters of the Indian Ocean on which the main village of Shimoni is located. There are a number of public health issues affecting people living in the Shimoni area, many of which are preventable diseases, including HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria. GVI have been working closely with the Public Health Officer (the government official responsible for putting in place mechanisms to tackle public health issues in the area) to assist with local efforts to tackle public health issues. One of the most effective ways to do this is through education and as the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure. For the past year, GVI volunteers have been leading life skills classes at local primary and secondary schools. Life Skills is a compulsory subject in the Kenyan curriculum but as it is not examined many schools place more attention on other subjects. Furthermore, many teachers are uncomfortable teaching the subject matter. Life Skills consists of teaching students about personal and social development including topics such as puberty, dealing with emotions and stress, negotiation, non violent conflict resolution, sex education, HIV/AIDs awareness, early marriage and a whole host of other issues. It is therefore an incredibly important subject and crucial in terms of preventing public health issues. At the request of local teachers, we began teaching at local schools. The classes have proven to be incredibly successful as a result of using interactive teaching methods and class debates. Whilst we love teaching life skills, it is not sustainable for the schools to rely on GVI personnel to teach the subject matter. Furthermore, several other schools had requested GVIs support

to teach life skills classes.

In order to make the life skills education programme sustainable, we decided to create a series of lesson plan packages for both Primary and Secondary level. These lesson plans covered the curriculum and also included additional topics we felt were important. The plans also give more interactive ways of teaching the subject matter which we have found engage the students more and ultimately increase their learning. The ultimate goal is to train local teachers to teach the same subject matter with confidence. This will also enable us to approach many other schools in the area that we do not currently support with the aim that this will ultimately improve public health awareness for more children in the Shimoni Sub Location. The life skills lesson packages are now complete. All that is left to do is to set up workshops in local schools to train teachers how to teach the subject matter effectively. "The life skills lesson plan project (LSP) is an essential part of all GVI health project and our local Community Unit partner initiatives in the sense that it provides an educational support to all implemented initiatives and more. It also aids the aim of incorporation of life skills classes in all Kenyan schools by providing effective implementation assistance to teachers. The LSP project is targeted towards the most influential and crucial populations of Kenya, the future generation and those who teach them. It will enable expansion of our potential impact by providing a transferrable guide to many schools, teachers and students that we may not have been able to reach physically. It is training material that will help the teachers to teach in a way that they may not have had the opportunity to learn in the past and pass on vital skills that will undoubtfully enrich the lives of their students." (Matata Diomonde Health Project Field Staff and former volunteer) Life Skills lesson packages are an example of simple measures that can be taken to increase knowledge of public health issues and ultimately led to their prevention in the future. Educating the youth on personal, social and health issues is essential to prevent public health issues arising, and empowers people to know when to seek professional medical attention. GVI continues to work towards its long term objectives to improve public health for all residents in the Shimoni sub location. If you would like to read more about this project and sign up to volunteer please visit our website, check out our blog and follow us on twitter for the latest up to date information from the field.