From December 19-21, 2025, Save Your Generation Ethiopia (SYGE) conducted a three-day peer educator training at Dessie Health Science College focused on preventing and responding to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). The training targeted thirty (30) students (24 female, 6 male) from vulnerable communities near the "Gerado" and "Degan" Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) centres. Its primary objectives were to build foundational knowledge of SGBV concepts and legal frameworks, develop core facilitation skills for sensitive discussions, and enable participants to create actionable plans for community-level interventions.
The training covered essential topics including SGBV impacts, risk factors, legal provisions, protection mechanisms, and context-specific issues such as SGBV in educational settings and Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs). Employing a highly participatory methodology, the training emphasized practical skills through group work, role-plays, and drama, focusing on communication, community mobilization, and youth-led advocacy. This approach ensured participants could effectively translate knowledge into practice within their communities.
The training successfully concluded with all thirty (30) participants receiving certificates and committing to apply their skills through upcoming community awareness sessions and a planned youth-led participatory research initiative in the IDP centres. This achievement represents a significant step in building local capacity, empowering a new cohort of peer educators’ particularly young women to lead SGBV prevention and response efforts, thereby enhancing protection for vulnerable adolescents and women in the region.
