We are here today because of a mission that the Foundation for Adolescent Development (FAD) is committed to and that is “to help young adults develop their potentials to become whole, emotionally secure through proper value formation thereby making them self-reliant and productive individuals and responsible members of the community.”

Broad as it may sound, FAD’s mission finds expression in the various programs we have been engaged over the last 14 years. These programs address the critical issues confronting young people particularly in the areas of adolescent health and sexuality. We will tackle sexuality, not just as a matter of physiological and biological existence and a progress towards maturity and adaptation into society but rather view it altogether as an aspect of person hood which makes us capable of entering into loving relationships with others. Sexuality of a male or a female is much more than genital activity. It is an aspect of personality, which lets us enter other persons’ lives and encourages them to enter our lives as well. As one enters into a relationship, one gives out oneself to another as a gift.

The approaches of our intervention stress: values formation--including spiritual, behavioral skills training in managing relationships, basic understanding of the period of adolescence, correct information and counseling as a support mechanism.

One such project that responds to FAD’s mission is the “Capability-Building of Colleges and Universities in Metro Manila on Adolescent Health, Sexuality and Development”. The project concept is based on the Foundation’s experience with the schools in Manila’s university belt area.

Since 1984, FAD has been operating the Manila Center for Young Adults (MCYA) located at R. Hidalgo, Quiapo. It is a resource center conducting an average of three to five requests per month for lectures, symposia, video fora and group discussions among college students on critical concerns of today’s adolescents. Such range of issues cover boy-girl relationships, parent-child and peer relationships as they relate to pre-marital sex and unplanned teen pregnancies, sexual identity, depression, suicide, substance abuse, STD and HIV-AIDS and now more admittedly, sexual harassment or date rape.

Likewise, there is a growing demand for technical assistance to train school peer facilitators. The ratio of counselors to student population ranges from a low of one counselor is to 584 students and a high of one counselor to 4,000 students.

Added to these are FAD’s feedback in the Dial-A-Friend hotline and school fora which confirm that teenagers often end up confiding in their peers especially when it comes to affairs of the heart.

Thus, the school-based project concept was born in 1996 and implemented in 1997 with assistance from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The aim is to provide technical assistance to schools which are willing to allow their students to play a role in assisting fellow students by providing correct information and counseling in response to their health and sexuality concerns.

Two sets of students are involved. First, the student leaders representing the different organizations as selected by the school administration. Second, selected students who will serve as peer counselors and facilitators under the umbrella of the guidance program.

Thus, the innovative features of this project include: a school-based yet off-classroom approach, youth-to-youth intervention approach, understanding of adolescence, stress on the development of behavioral skills, a sustainable mechanism through the possible integration of these concerns in the constitution of a student organization and finally, it is led, implemented, and evaluated by the students.

This approach required heavy investments from the Foundation. The project has the following components:

A Pre-operational Research

The pre-operational research confirms the relevance of this project to young people in a campus set-up. The research enabled the intended beneficiaries to express their perceptions and needs related to sexuality and reproductive health. This was conducted among college students aged 16-19. The findings from the report conclude that:

• Students admit the inability to resist peer pressure
• “Risk situations” are admittedly not in one’s consciousness and not anticipated
• Pregnancies among single young females are perceived as common
• STD infections are not perceived as a common problem among singles
• Loss of virginity has caused serious depression or loss of self-esteem
• Some family conditions hasten adolescents to have sex
• Peer groups quite strongly encourage directly or indirectly to have sex
• Homosexuals are becoming more evident
• Definitely, some intimate interactions involve sexual intercourse
• Such intimacies occur not only in the context of love
• Peers are the student’s preferred counselors
• Parents should be involved
• Identification of possible student organizations to be involved were specified
• Topics students suggested to be addressed ranged from general topics on human sexuality and related issues of teen pregnancy and AIDS; topics on how to handle relationships including how to be monogamous; to topics related to one’s development such as self-esteem, “how to say no”, “how to recognize risks”, “how to strengthen religious and moral foundations”

Advocacy and Negotiations for Partnership with School Administrators

The task of FAD in advocating to school Presidents and administrators was not an easy task. FAD conducted a series of exploratory consultations and negotiation meetings with eleven non-CEAP colleges and universities in Metro Manila before we concluded our partnership with the five institutions: Arellano University (AU), Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU), Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), Systems Technology Institute College (STI College) and University of the East (UE).

After conducting a series of meetings and consultations with each school, the roles of the partnership were clarified and agreed upon.

Technical Assistance in Building the Capability of Students to become Peer Educators by Providing Information and Counseling Services

A. A pre-training orientation was given to school administrators, student leaders and peer facilitators to familiarize them with the subject of adolescent health, sexuality and development and the concept of the campus-based program.

This orientation was an essential step before students went into training to enable them to understand the partnership fostered between FAD and their respective schools. It also provided a venue to clarify doubts and misconceptions regarding FAD’s entry into their school. Most importantly they were clarified on the role they were expected to play in the partnership.

Topics covered were FAD mission statement, programs and services, background and objectives of the Capability-Building Project, framework on adolescent sexuality problems of Filipino youth and results of the needs assessment research .

B. Training of student leaders and peer counselors

FAD conducted training workshops for each of the five schools. Each one included both student leaders and peer facilitators. The training has two modules: “Understanding the Adolescent” and “Helping our Peers: Skills Building”.

After conducting two workshops, participants gave us feedback that sessions were too theoretical. We realized that students must be allowed to air their personal views, anxieties, and beliefs on adolescent concerns. FAD’s experience with volunteers of the Dial-A-Friend hotline provides the same insights on the need for a peer helper to process and unload his or her own concerns. Otherwise these issues will hinder the helper from assisting others. Thus, module 1 was redesigned to include “Rediscovering Yourself,” an experiential and introspective activity that enables participants to get in touch with the joys and difficulties of their personal adolescence and to understand how they managed to cope with such difficulties.

C. Feedback and monitoring

FAD and each partner school conducted feedback meetings with administrators and student leaders to review the accomplishments, learning, insights and problems encountered as well as to review the action plans.

D. Networking with referral agencies for services and information

Work in the field of adolescent health, sexuality and development is multifaceted. Given the limited services of partner schools in addressing the student’s health concerns such as violence against women, HIV/AIDS education and prevention, teen pregnancy, drug abuse prevention, networking is a necessity. The aim is for mutual awareness and support.

A beginning activity to establish networking was accomplished by organizing group tours for student leaders. This also served as part of skills building. Three batches of students with a few faculty advisers combined from different schools were conducted. Organization visited include Norfil Foundation , Dangerous Drug Board, Project Haven, Center for Family Ministries, and Remedios AIDS Foundation.

E. Provision of consultants and resource persons

In the conduct of lectures and symposia at schools, consultants and resource persons were invited by FAD to serve as speakers or lecturers on substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, abortion, sexual harassment, understanding adolescent sexuality, boy-girl relationship and parent-child communication. Most often, the resource person would come from the referral agency. In the process, we hope that this would add to capability-building.

Examples include “Courtship and Marriage” (Center for Family Ministries), “Substance Abuse” (Dangerous Drug Board), “HIV/AIDS” (Remedios AIDS Foundation), and “Sexual Harassment” (Women’s Crisis Center).

Drafting of a Resource Book

The resource book now under development will contain the experiences of the five academic institutions in mobilizing its student leaders to implement a “youth to youth” approach. The aim is to eventually have a handle to facilitate the transfer of technology to other schools who may be interested to replicate the concept.

Project Assessment

Another component of this project is an assessment that was conducted last October, 1998.

The evaluation discussed the project’s accomplishments, the varied experiences and lessons gained by students and administrators in project implementation. One unintended outcome is the emergence of a core group structure in four of the five partner schools.

The advocacy and negotiation period with partner schools took 6 months, from January to June. From pre-orientation, to training, to networking, to conduct of activities by student leaders, covered a period of 15 months. Given semestral breaks, Christmas vacation, and end of school year breaks, the time gaps were significant in affecting the implementation of activities. A total of only 10 months went into student implementation. Product development requires time investment and despite the time limitation of this project, a few highlights are in order.

School administration must be credited not only for its openness to test a new idea, but even more important was their flexibility to adjust in strategy.

To get a handle on the project, Polytechnic University of the Philippines with a population of 40,000 scaled down its implementation to the College of Arts. A practical decision! Lessons learned will be applied to other colleges in the future.

They integrated the project with the Student Center in charge of assisting various student needs from sports to educational and cultural committee. A sub-committee on adolescent health and sexuality is now subsumed as an objective of the education committee. This sub-committee is composed of 3 representatives invited to participate in the project.

Congratulations to Dean Albino C. Amoguis!

Arellano University organized representative students from several organizations to form a core group called DOSA or Developmental Organization for Social Awareness. This is directly under the Guidance Department. To top it all, DOSA has developed its own by-laws in support of the project.

Congratulations to Mrs. Milagros A. Campos!

One would think that a hi-tech institution would not have an interest in the human development aspect. Not STI College or Systems Technology Institute College. Like PUP and AU, STI College has combined peer facilitators and student leaders under an umbrella entity which they labeled as SYD or Student Youth Development. This group will be in-charge of planning activities to respond to the adolescent health and sexuality concerns of the students. SYD now has its own constitution and by-laws. Like AU, SYD is directly under the guidance department.

Congratulations to Ms. Vilma C. Caparros and Ms. Rodilma F. Pedrido!

Manuel L. Quezon University exhibits a slight variation. Their peer facilitators are directly with the guidance department while student leaders who are organization representatives formed a core group with a new label of IYO or Integrated Youth Organization. Unlike AU and STI College, MLQU has given the Office of Student Affairs the supervising role over the Integrated Youth Organization.

Congratulations to Dean Zenaida M. Beltran!

University of the East has given the Dean of Students overall supervision of the student organizations involved in the project through the Student Affairs Office. UE has the most number of organizations that the Student Affairs is trying to engage. Unlike all the other four institutions, UE does not have an integrated organization to date. Advocacy to capability-building among so many organizations will be a challenge.

Congratulations to Dean Trinidad O. Abenojar and Director Remedios V. Porio!

To date, the AU, STI College, MLQU and PUP core groups are recognized organizations in their respective schools.

The most visible indication of the student’s performance is in the range of activities they organized. One of the more popular activity is the film showing of 30- minute video on relationships-one on parent-child, boy-girl, barkadahan or peer relationship as well as on gender issues which FAD produced with Johns Hopkins University. Other activities comprised expression board; seminars, parent orientation; poster making contest, lantern making and slogan writing.

Conduct of FAD’s Student Congress

This concept was originally conceived as early as November ‘97 to serve as an inter-school interaction among the five institutions for the sharing of experiences. From an intended number of 200 participants, one thousand of us are here today.

Aside from sharing the overview of the project, this Congress brings to you the experts who can provoke you to think about and probably give answers to some basic concerns you have during this period of transition from childhood to adulthood.

As the adolescent sexually awakens and naturally begins to experience love, how do you view sex with love and vice-versa? Dr. Vicente J. A. Rosales will attempt to show you what is natural, what you should expect and how you should behave.

As tradition, culture and religion suggest, how should you act as a male and as a female, what will you finally adopt as your guide to relationships? Ms. Theresa Balayon clarifies this.

Is the negative influence of media impossible to reject? Ms. Rina Jimenez David will tell us.

How can you be made to realize that HIV/AIDS is a realistic threat among young people like you? Dr. Rossana A. Ditangco will tell us more.

And finally, how do you manage date rape and sexual harassment? Atty. Evalyn G. Ursua will suggest to us.

Please allow me to express my appreciation to the students, FAD staff and special members of FAD’s board of trustees: Kathleen Borotra, Andrew Gan, Karen Montinola, and Lizette Cojuangco. Thank you to our sponsors, all our guests from the 30 colleges and universities and most of all, to Chairman and CEO Panfilo O. Domingo of the University of the East.

A paper presented during FAD’s First Student Congress, November 20-21, 1998 held at the University of the East, Manila. Organized by the Foundation for Adolescent Development, Inc.