Ms. Diana K. Myers

At the end of meeting ECDO gave her some publications on indigenous peoples & she thanked to ECDO for giving that publications. Dr. Nizam Uddin Ahmed Director, HIV/AIDS Sector & South Asia Program Advisor, HASAB’s representatives & others were accompanying with her. ECDO authority was very pleased to get her in ECDO office. Mentionable that ECDO organized Master trainers training, Peer educators training, Gate keeper meetings with young peoples guardian, Condom seller training, conducting young peoples Life Skills Education sessions, conducting youth counseling sessions through youth friendly health corner etc. to make aware on HIV/AIDS & STI particularly for young peoples within the age limits of 15-24, since 2008 with support from Save the Children USA through HASAB consortium in Sylhet, Bangladesh. ECDO believes that the activities of this project already have made a good impact at community level.

Under this project our main activities are:

Facilitate Training of Trainers for Master Trainers and Peer educators:

Under the umbrella of HASAB, ECDO recruited 3 Master Trainers (MT) and 25 Peer Educators (PE) in its campaign to spread awareness on HIV/AIDS and offer knowledge on Life skills to the youth of Northeast Bangladesh. The age limit for the MT and PE is 15-24 yrs. ECDO being a gender sensitive organization ensured fair representation and therefore recruited thirteen females and twelve males as PE and two females and one male as MT.

ECDO organized 5 day training in Dhaka by HASAB for Master Trainers. The course contents included water born diseases, HIV/AIDS and STDs, future decisions making process and adolescent health problems. The present situation of HIV/AIDS globally and in Bangladesh was also explained to them. After the training it was their duty to disseminate their learning to the peer educators.  Another 5 day training was organized by ECDO locally in Sylhet town for the training of the PE.

Formation of Youth groups:

The peer educators are responsible for running youth groups and it is expected that they will disseminate their learning to the community. ECDO formed 38 youth groups, consists of 20 members for each. The groups are from all parts of Sylhet Upozilla so as to ensure the most effective spread of training. The female PEs are to give training to females and males to male for ease of discussion. The groups comprise of youth between the ages of 15-24 yrs, and these sessions are conducted for two hours daily for 8 consecutive days. The time and venue should be identified by the participants to ensure their convenient attendance. 

Gate keeper meeting with guardians:
The need for the guardians’ permission plays a vital role in participation of youth groups in the LSE project. Taking this into consideration, ECDO organized 20 gatekeeper meetings with the guardians of youths. ECDO ensured the participation of a minimum of 30 guardians per meeting and the main aim was to sensitize them on what the trainings were about, its benefit to their youth and their participation in the programme. This ensured greater participation of the youth.

Organizing condom seller training:

ECDO has organized training for the Condom sellers, already completed four of this. The trainings are divided into two- Pharmacist training and the Vendors (Grocery/ Health worker) training. Each group has 27 participants and the sessions involved discussion on the usefulness of Condoms and how to use it properly and the session also encouraged the participants to offer assistance to their customers.

Set up of Youth friendly health corner:
A Youth Friendly Corner has been set up at ECDO main office in Sylhet town. Master Trainers are here everyday for about three hours to offer counseling services to the youth plus hold sessions with PEs to check on their progress and offer guidance. ECDO staff is also available to offer any assistance to the master trainers when needed.