Life Skills Education Toolkit

6•PART ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION TOOLKIT

What is in the Tookit?

The Toolkit is a comprehensive package comprised

of a Facilitator’s Guide, Life skills education

Modules, Information Sheets and a list of

Resources for further reading and reference.

The Facilitator’s Guide provides a rationale for

behavior change through child participation, how

children can participate, what facilitation and

support is required by significant adults and the

wider community, and various tools that can be

used by children themselves in planning,

implementing and evaluating programs. There are

two sections in the Guide.

Section One introduces life skills, defines life skills

and explains why they are necessary to address HIV

risks. The section concludes with a discussion on

lessons learned from the child-to-child approach

about how participatory approaches help in the

learning of life skills.

Section Two discusses programmatic issues such as

planning, implementing and evaluating programs

and includes setting objectives and indicators.

Particular emphasis is placed on involving children

in planning, implementing and evaluating a Life

Skills Education Program and ensuring that ethical

guidelines and the best interests of children are

followed. This section provides detailed information

on selecting and training facilitators, developing peer

education programs and suggestions on

recommended follow-up once the Life Skills

Education Program is completed.

The Life Skills Education Modules contains 10

seperate modules for developing psychosocial skills

pertaining to the relationship between growing up

and contracting HIV. These are adaptable across

different age groups. The modules in sequential

order are: Getting Started, Knowing Myself,

Communication, Relationships, Decision-making,

Coping with Emotions, Growing Up, Preventing

and Living with HIV, Substance Abuse and

Reaching my Goals.

The Information Sheets provide additional

material on a variety of topics. Presently, the

following six information sheets are included in

the toolkit:

1. Children’s rights and HIV/AIDS;


2. HIV/AIDS;


3. Sexually transmitted infections;


4. Preventing sexual transmission of HIV
   through the ABC approach;


5. Stages of development and HIV information
   needs of children; and


6. Understanding grief and coping at
   different ages.
   A List of Resources provides additional materials
   for facilitators to read and utilize as necessary.
   The toolkit was designed to be forward looking by
   recognizing that the Life Skills Education Program
   needs to be integrated with other development
   programs for a holistic and more sustainable
   approach to working with children. Most
   importantly, it recognizes that children and young
   people have a tremendous potential not only to learn
   and participate in promoting safe lifestyles, but also in
   making positive contributions to community life.