Also, it is more realistic to expect a peer education program to increase the number of young people who seek services or testing for HIV or STDs than to expect a group of seven teens to reduce the rates of infection in an entire city. The second finding concerns programs that are not appropriate for specific populations and goals. Examples include programs that require peer educators to provide structured activities when informal outreach may be more appropriate or that design a just say no project for youth who may be forced into nonconsensual sex. Another frequent reason for failure is inadequate investment in the program. The authors note that peer education should never be viewed as a cheap or easy option for the delivery of health promotion.
Successful programs require time and monetary commitments.
This should be recognized from the beginning. Because of the popularity of peer education, the skills needed to coordinate a program are often underestimated. The authors note that sometimes peer program management is simply added onto a staff member s other responsibilities, while practitioners recognise that a good peer education approach requires a trained and committed staff and may be labour and time intensive. Adequate training and support are also necessary for the peer educators and many programs underestimate the level of training required. Youth must have opportunities to develop facilitation skills as well as to learn facts and information.