The programme area that this story relates to is the peer-led Lifeskills Programme. Brighter Communities Worldwide first began to facilitate Lifeskills Courses in 2002. The course consists of 10 modules relating to various topics such as:

• communications and values
• stages of development
• relationships
• sexuality
• HIV and AIDs
• family planning
• maternal health

Currently three new modules are being added to the course:

• nutrition
• drugs and addiction
• mental health

The Lifeskills Course is often the first step that Brighter Communities Worldwide takes with a community and from it the participants form groups who go on to work with local youths, women, water projects etc. to help make improvements and changes in their own communities. The peer-education element leads many participants to co-facilitate subsequent Lifeskills Courses and to train as facilitators for other programmes that Brighter Communities Worldwide are involved in such as the Remote Emergency Care and ARP Programmes.

Newton's story

This story is from Newton who is man from Kunyak. He participated in a Lifeskills Course with Brighter Communities Worldwide in 2009. Before that he says that he didn’t have the knowledge or skills to help the people in his community. However, he was highly motivated to want to help people and through the Lifeskills course, he learned how to handle people within the family and how to motivate people. He was able to help families to become more stable. Last year, for example,  two young girls in his community became pregnant and they dropped out of school. He worked with the girls and their families using the skills he had gained through the Lifeskills programme.  He supported them in making decisions that will impact them for the rest of their lives. The mothers agreed to look after the babies when they were born and now the girls have returned to school to finish their education.