The mission of El Instituto de Educación y Salud (IES), or the Institute of Education and Health, a non-profit non-governmental organization founded in 1991, is to promote teenagers’ and young people’s free and informed experience of sexuality, without fears or shame, and to build citizenship. One of their major projects is Punto J, an education and strategy project conducted in alliance with youth in the region. IWHC has support IES since 2002.

Projects

• Promotion of Healthy Lifestyles in Teenagers and Young People on Issues Related to HIV Prevention – This project benefitted teenagers and young people from the seven Peruvian cities with the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS: Lima, Callao, Ica, Iquitos, Huancayo, Chimbote, and Piura. In order to implement it, an alliance was created among different actors united in a consortium led by IES and integrated by Pathfinder International, Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University, the Calandria Association of Social Communicators and the Support Program for Self-Help of People Living with HIV.
• Strengthening Citizen Capacities for Participation in Health: Second Stage – This project seeks to guarantee the sustainability of youth participation by involving public institutions and civil society organizations.
• Punto J: Teenagers, Youth and ICTs in Response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean – This project focuses on the ‘Punto J’ (J Spot) strategy, which is based on adult-youth alliances, HIV and AIDS prevention, as well as the use of information and communication technologies. It highlights the central participation and leadership of ‘los y las Jotas’ (‘the Js’), young volunteers who build their own skills in order to take on the challenge of informing and guiding other youth on sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention issues through the creation and maintenance of a website. It also aims for other Latin American and Caribbean countries to adapt the ‘Punto J’ strategy to their own context.
  

 

“Punto J has enriched my knowledge and led me to discover qualities I didn’t know I had nor knew how to use. I’ve come to realize just how important it is for young people to work for our rights. I’ve reflected on my role as a young woman, which has helped me understand how important my body is and how I must take care of and respect it.” - Female volunteer, 18 years old

“Since I’ve been in Punto J and at the IES, I’m busy every afternoon. I feel that my time is more valuable... I used to spend the afternoon ... wasting time. Now I feel that I’m helping other young people, and when they don’t have someone else to talk to they ask me about things that happen to them.” - Male  volunteer, 16 years old

 Impact

Advocacy

• Promotion of a bill on free and informed sexualities (through IES participation in the Peru AIDS Network).
• 5 regional governments prioritize the promotion of free and informed sexualities in their agendas.

• 10 public institutions implement proposals for the development of a healthy sexuality among young people.
• 5 organizations from Latin American countries implement an IES-driven strategy that incorporates youth participation in the response to HIV and AIDS through the use of information and communication technologies.
• More than 215,000 young people receive information on HIV and AIDS prevention.
• 2,000 young people are trained as sexuality peer educators.
• 7 young people linked to the projects implemented by IES participate in international events on behalf of their youth groups.
• 18 educational publications: 9 modules, 3 guides, 3 games, and 3 audiovisual materials.

Research

• Public officials have up-to-date information and evidence for designing and developing sexuality and health programs.
• 200 citizens receive daily electronic information on sexuality and HIV/AIDS through the Ruwarisun Health Information Center.
• 7 research reports and 1 systematization have been published.

To learn more,visit the IES website and the Punto J website (both in Spanish) and watch the Spanish-language video about the Punto J program posted below. 

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