The Workbooks

In collaboration with the Bayan team and in consultation with students, parents, tutors, and community members, we developed three short workbooks and a reflection journal:

  1. Living my youth with purpose (from now on Living my youth): Lessons focus on life’s purpose, friendship and romantic relationships, spiritual values, and chastity. 

  2. Youth with equality: Lessons focus on elements of comprehensive sexuality education including gender, puberty, relationships, violence, contraception, personal skills (including communication, negotiation, and decision-making with a focus on child marriage), and sexual health (including sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, and pregnancy). 

  3. A reflection journal where students reflect upon the content studied in the workbooks. 
  4. How to guide our adolescent children (parent workbook): Includes the content of the two student workbooks tailored to parents.

Workbooks during COVID 19

Table 1 describes the lessons in  HEY!’s workbooks:
Name of Text Grade Lessons
Living My Youth with Purpose 7

Lesson 1: What do I want for my future?
Lesson 2: Materialism: false happiness
Lesson 3: Lasting happiness.
Lesson 4: Impediments to reach our goals
Lesson 5: Self-esteem and self-respect
Lesson 6: Foundations for a good relationship
Lesson 7: Important qualities for healthy relationships.
Lesson 8: How to develop qualities for healthy relationships.
Lesson 9: The importance of consulting with others.
Lesson 10: Gender equality
Lesson 11: Getting to know the character of others.
Lesson 12: Friendship first.
Lesson 13: Working together
Lesson 14: Getting to know each other in different settings
Lesson 15: Making conscious decisions.
Lesson 16: Benefits of chastity.
Lesson 17: The difference between love and attraction.
Lesson 18: Being mindful of our intimacy
Lesson 19: Resisting peer pressures

Youth with Equality

Lessons 1-9: 7th grade

Lessons 10-12: 9th grade

Lesson 1: Child marriage: Causes and consequences.
Lesson 2: Gender
Lesson 3: Gender in (equality) 
Lesson 4: Gender inequality and child marriage
Lesson 5: Puberty
Lesson 6: Our lives during and after puberty
Lesson 7: Puberty, early unions, and pregnancies
Lesson 8: Corporal integrity
Lesson 9: Healthy romantic relationships
Lesson 10: The importance of our sexual reproductive health for a fulfilling life.
Lesson 11: Family planning

How To Guide Our Adolescent Children Parents

Lesson1: Developing trust with your children
Lesson 2: Taking time to converse with your children
Lesson 3: Acknowledging the potential of your children.
Lesson 4: Conversing about moral and spiritual values.
Lesson 5: Advice
Lesson 6: Establishing norms and expectations.
Lesson 7: Helping your kid develop self-discipline
Lesson 8: Punishments
Lesson 9: Setting a good example
Lesson 10: From childhood to adolescence
Lesson 11: Changes during adolescence
Lesson 12: Learning about peer-pressure
Lesson 13: Conversing about friendship and dating.

In the Theory of Action section, we identified the problems found during our exploratory research to understand the causes of CM in rural areas of Honduras.  The knowledge that we acquired guided the design of the curricular products through the identification of change drivers, which refer to the events, activities, behaviors, or resources “that facilitate the implementation of change throughout the organization and, specifically facilitate individual adoption of change initiatives” (Whelan-Berry & Somerville, 2010, p. 177). After identifying the main problems to address, change drivers were identified for each problem. Lessons were developed for the workbooks to address all the problems that were recognized. 

Table 2 describes the change drivers for each problem identified along with the applicable theoretical framework and corresponding workbook lesson: 

Problem

Change Driver

Theoretical basis

Lessons in Workbooks

1. Prevalence of gender inequality in families and society at large

Cognitive dissonance about gender norms.

Exposure to positive role models that challenge gender stereotypes.

Deeper analysis of how gender inequality promotes CM.

Cognitive dissonance

Marianismo

Capabilities approach

Prototype willingness model

Living my Youth: 10 


Youth with Equality:2-4

2. Lack of awareness about the biological, psychosocial, and cognitive changes that occur during adolescence

Knowledge about the biological changes that occur during puberty

Knowledge about the social changes that adolescents go through puberty

Cognitive dissonance about the stigma around girls’ and boys’ sexuality

Deeper understanding of the role of puberty and intimacy in CM

Adolescent development framework

Marianismo

Living my Youth: 1-5, 15

Youth with Equality: 1

3. Adolescents are not aware of the consequences of child marriage and hold false beliefs about child marriage

Knowledge about the causes and consequences of CM in Honduras

Case studies that portray the lives of girls who marry early.

Collective practices and false beliefs

Prototype willingness model

Marianismo

Living my youth: 4

Youth with Equality: 1,8 

4.Impulsive decision-making processes in adolescents regarding romantic relationships

Reflection about one’s meaning of purpose/happiness

Appeal to taking decisions after analyzing one’s situation and life goals.

Exposure to positive and negative case studies of scenarios regarding CM.

Exposure to information and examples that will challenge the false beliefs they have about CM.

Collective practices and false beliefs 

Prototype willingness model

Marianismo

Youth with Equality: 5, 6, 7 

5. Prevalence of unhealthy romantic relationships among teenagers

Discussion of the personal qualities that contribute to healthy relationships 

Understanding of the characteristics of healthy/unhealthy relationships. 

Discussion of the characteristics and benefits of assertiveness

Prototype willingness model.

Marianismo

Youth with Equality:1, 8 

6. Lack of awareness of the legislation that protects bodily integrity, particularly of minors by community members, parents, and students 

Review of local legislation connected to CM and bodily integrity.

Prototype willingness model 

Capabilities approach

Living my youth: 6-14 

Youth with Equality: 9

7. Limited knowledge and access to sexual reproductive health (SRH) resources

Discussion around the importance of SRH for personal well-being Knowledge about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases. 

Adolescent development framework 

Capabilities approach

Living my youth: 16-19 

Youth with Equality: 10-12

8. Conflict at home/ poor communication between parents and children 

Exposure to positive role models that help parents improve communication with their children.

Exposure to the changes that students go through adolescence. Information about CM and early pregnancy and the importance to have open communication about these issues. Information about the importance of sexual reproductive health. 

Adolescent development framework 

Marianismo

Prototype willingness model 

*Parent workbook