“Qualifying school-based interventions in sexual reproductive health for adolescents – FESBI”

Background - Young people are about 33% of Mozambican population In 2003 46.9% of girls and 42.5% of boys (15 to 19 years)had started their sexual life between15 and 17 years while more that 90% of both girls and boys did not use any contraceptive during their first sexual relation; To answer to young sexual and reproductive health (SRH) problems, Geração Biz Program (GBP) started 1999 with school, out of school and health based interventions. Formative Evaluation of the School-Based Intervention (FESBI), was developed in 2008 to analyze the most effective strategies and to establish school quality standards for implementation interventions in ASRH.

Methods - The FESBI is an innovated research methodology and consists of an assessment of all GBP schools, qualitative studies in sample of 20 schools that include focus group with GBP students-beneficiaries, interviews with school directors and teachers, questionnaires with peer educators, observations of GBP school and programmatic spaces. A comparative analysis of KAP studies was done in GBP schools and in a a control group of 65 schools without GBP.

Results - The data of the qualitative studies show that school's leadership is essential for the success of the school based approach. Others factors of success include private youth corners, easy access to condoms, organization of school-wide events and support from teachers and active peer educators. Clear and direct communication with adolescents contributes to SRH behavior change. The analysis of the KAP surveys, qualitative studies and school profiles will be finalized in May 2011