Reframing Their Story

“If you’re age mates, you talk to them and they feel comfortable. But if someone who is older talks to them, they feel shy and don’t ask any questions” explains Elite as she sits in the grass in the late afternoon Ugandan sun.  

Elite, a Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) peer educator, emphasises that when it comes to sex, young people prefer talking to people their own age. Young people will find it easier to talk to their peers in an open and honest way and may be more trusting of their peers rather than adults.

Across Uganda, RHU’s constellations of peer educators are an integral part of SRHR community outreach services, bringing information directly to the people that need it most. Peer educators provide safe sex information to their peers and community on a range of difficult and sensitive subjects from pleasure to how to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Peer educators are trained and mentored by RHU on SRHR issues, but also in areas of leadership, mobilisation and communication skills that will continue to serve them later in life.

Peer educators are in a unique position to understand the challenges young people face and the information they want and need. So, what would happen if they photographed their reality? What stories would they tell? What life experiences would they share?

We decided to find out. Together with RHU, we put cameras into the hands of 20 peer educators to tell their own story and show why the right information on SRHR is so hard to come by. Trained in participatory photography to record their realities and perspectives, participants provided a unique insight into everyday challenges and opportunities. Since the training, participants are continuing to curate meaningful, impactful health messages and document the challenges young people are experiencing.

We believe young people’s visual voice has the ability to raise awareness, facilitate breakthrough conversation and create change in their communities. That’s why we are committed to building the capacity of young people in Visual Storytelling to identify interventions with them and their communities to accelerate progress on SRHR. Our Knowledge and Information on Safe Sex (KISS) project supports peer educators to use their visual voice and ensure these stories are heard by their peers, communities and decision-makers.