Co-designing youth peer health volunteer model in Kiribati

In partnership with Y-PEER, the program kicked off a third round of co-design sessions, attended by 40 participants, including young people, community leaders and representatives from the Australian High Commission. During the two-day workshops, participants embarked on co-shaping the youth peer volunteer model that is perceived as having a high potential in the Kiribati community.

Through this project, the program has engaged with community members to learn about their ongoing needs and co-design a peer-based youth volunteering model that could support sexual and reproductive health promotion. Based on the insights from previous workshops, the team developed a youth peer health-and-skills volunteer model, sought feedback, and explored the conditions required for this idea to be successful.

Workshop activities were designed to support understanding among young people and community leaders to address the disconnect between what young people felt they needed from their community and what community leaders believe is the role of young people in the community.

Both the community and the Australian High Commission representatives in Kiribati commented that the initiative, which brings youth and elders together, was unique and had strong potential to generate solutions to community-identified issues. Various Kiribati organisations expressed interest in taking ownership of the model to implement it locally.

Following the workshop, the project team tested parts of this health-and-skills based volunteering concept to learn more about its viability and scalability. Additionally, the program continued to engage project partners, including YoPEER, Agriculture Youth Club, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Women, to strengthen sustainability and the impact of the Kiribati youth peer volunteering model.