4.2 Recruiting and motivating peer educators

4.2

Recruiting and motivating peer educators

Any peer education project begins with the recruitment of peer educators. When recruiting and selecting young people, it is important to consider what is meant by a ‘peer’. The word peer comes from the Latin word ‘par’ which means equal to or ‘on par with’. Peer education is based on the principle that youth information

delivered by an equal is often seen as more credible

and trustworthy than one delivered by authority figures. Young people being educated by peer educators need to identify with them as someone who is ‘like’ themselves and in some way equal to them.

“A peer is a person who belongs to the same social group as another person or group. Peers are individuals who share related values, experiences and lifestyles and who are approximately the same age.”

Peer-to-Peer in Youth Information

Training manual for youth information workers, trainers and peer educators

The ‘peer’ aspect can also be based on other parts of a person’s identity and background such as ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, occupation, health status, or living location.

When recruiting and selecting peer educators, it is important to think about the young people they will educate. In general, peer educators should come from the same group as the young people they are working with. Examples could include:

→ Young people delivering peer education to other young people in their school, → Young immigrants delivering welcoming programmes to new immigrants, → Young people delivering programmes to young people in their neighbourhood that they are friends with. No two people are exactly alike, so the extent that someone is perceived as a peer by participants will vary from person to person.

Above all, peer educators need to be motivated and interested in taking on voluntary roles. Being a peer educator requires an extended commitment from young people. To be attractive and motivating the role should provide benefits to the young people involved. These can include:

→ The opportunity to develop new skills as a facilitator or trainer, → Formal recognition for the voluntary work undertaken - through accreditation and validation, → The opportunity to address youth information issues that the peer educators are personally motivated by.

Benefits should be communicated clearly during recruitment (see Chapter 2). It is also important to communicate transparently what commitment is required for the role, as well as what support is provided. Developing clear guidelines, or even a job description, can be useful.