Promoting the Use of Reproductive Health Research Results:

1. Promoting the Use of Reproductive Health Research Results: A multi-sectoral workshop for priority-setting in Youth SRH research in Peru Carlos F. Cáceres, MD, PhD Director of Research, REDESS Jóvenes

2. Background • Consolidation of the view that the State has an obligation with youth health, through the provision of services • During the past decade, an increasing number of both programmes and studies has been observed • This is also true in Peru, but it is also clear that the relationship between research and programmes is limited

3. The workshop • In May 1999, in the context of a larger, Ford Foundation-supported project, REDESS Jóvenes (the Peruvian Network for Youth Education, Sexual Health and Development) organised a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary workshop for discussion and priority setting on youth SRH research in Peru for 1999-2001. • Public sector, international agencies, universities, private and community-based organisations participated.

4. Objectives of the workshop • Discuss research priorities in youth SRH, based on the analysis of available information and of the foreseeable data needs for decision-making: • (1) Assess the availability of information • (2) Discuss the needs of production and/or utilisation of information • (3) Identify research priorities

5. Initial reflections • Non-existence of formal channels of diffusion of information to facilitate a dialogue between researchers and programme designers and managers • Limited interest in, or limited ability for, advocacy work among researchers • In academia, lack of a culture of broad dissemination of results among the public (including research subjects), beyond peer-reviewed publications

6. Limited interest in, or ability for, utilisation of research results among programme designers and policy makers. • Inadequate planning or the processes of programme design, which relegates formative research and monitoring to a secondary level or priority. • Lack of a culture of public discussion of priorities • Lack of co-ordination among sectors (e.g. between universities and the pubic sector, so that graduate students can implement relevant research)

7. Panel presentation on recent relevant research on YSRH • Inclusion of: • Ministry of Health (RH Programme) • National Institute of Statistics and Informatics • Academia • NGOs • International Cooperation

8. Group work 1 • Available but not well-known information on youth SRH: • Substantial increase • Concentrated in urban areas • Knowledge and diffusion are limited - publication is uncommon or delayed • Utilisation is particularly limited regarding perception of adolescents on providers and vice versa.

9. Group work 1 • New information needed in 1999-2001: • Adolescents with incomplete abortions • Sexuality among non-sexually active adolescents • Interaction between youth and the media • Family violence and impact on youth • Political impact of content of youth SH programmes • Young men and sexuality • Youth and sexual identity • Life projects among the youth • Adolescent mothers and everyday life

10. Group work 1 • Improving the use of information • Broadly diffuse success stories • Budget for diffusion of results • Train professionals in inner parts of the country, working with local universities • Support networks of researchers • Build coalitions of universities, CBOs, municipalities, cooperating agencies • Learn how to facilitate use of research results among non-academics

11. Group work 2: Theme prioritisation • Demographic/Epidemiologic(adolescent pregnancy and attrition; adolescent abortion; sexual violence; family violence and gangs) • Cultural/social (sexuality and images of sexuality; sexuality among non-active youth; young men and sexuality; risk perceptions on pregnancy and STDs; youth sexual identity) • Services and programmes for change (impact evaluation; decision making in public policy; supply and reception of media messages among youth; successful alternative models; economic impact of YSRH problems)

12. Group work 2: 5 Priority Topics • Evaluation of services and programmes • Adolescent pregnancy • sexual violence and its impact on the future sexual experience • Mass media and urban culture • Legal and institutional framework

13. Group 2: Geographic priorities • Need to define difference regarding: • Rural/urban • Coast/highlands/jungle • Men/women • Age and ethnicity • In rural areas: Legitimacy of domestic violence • In urban areas: Migration, sex work, STD/HIV and social vulnerability

14. Outcomes of the workshop • Memories were published in a volume distributed free of cost in the academic milieu, the public sector and NGOs • The volume included a foreword by local authories (two women: the Second Vice-President of Congress, and the Director of the National Sex Education Programme) • No formal evaluation of the process was possible (the project was finishing)

15. Conclusion • The project was considered an innovative, pioneering activity, and is well considered among stakeholders • It remains difficult to analyse its impact in 1999-2000 given the political changes experienced by the country, in the absence of a formal evaluation • We need more studies on the research-policy interface and policy change.