Peer Education Project

Peer Education in 2003: In 2003 Mouth That Roars piloted a Peer Mentoring Scheme, whereby we recruited & trained young people as mentors who could make films with other young people. The Local Network Fund was able to support this process: The young people who went through our training programme are now an integral part of projects run by MTR. The young people received training in all aspects of running a media workshop & at the end of the programme they completed evaluation forms discussing...

• Why they wanted to get involved in the training/what they hoped to gain from the training
• If they felt equipped to carry out sessions as a co-facilitator
• If training was available long term & what they would like to learn more about

Although an interest was shown to learn all aspects of media; camera, editing and directing were by far the most popular.

Some of the young participant's feedback after the training session:

'I really would like it if every month we had a session with the whole group just as we had one today'.
Vishal.

'Thanks for giving me a chance'.
Daniel.

'I worked with MTR before and I enjoyed it, so I thought working[as a co-facilitator] with MTR would be brilliant'.
Mohsan.

The young co-facilitators stated that they had:

• developed/gained confidence
• widened their experience
• improved on their listening skills
• learnt to speak out and voice their own opinion

However they also identified the need for further training in technical/video skills and a wish to meet other facilitators on a regular basis in order to develop team building.

Having been awarded funding from The Local Network Fund, Mouth That Roars has been able to extend its peer education training during 2005. This extended training will see the development of a second cohort of young people. Benefiting 16 young people who have worked with MTR on various film projects they will receive intensive training & support & will produce a short film to demonstrate their learning.

• To give young people employment opportunities
• To enable young people to develop leadership skills & gain more confidence in participating in new programmes & within new groups
• To have a team of young people who can help develop MTR, who are regularly consulted on the development of MTR
• To give young people who wouldn’t ordinarily be given this opportunity, a chance to develop skills that can help them in their future