Templeton World Charity Foundation

Lubuto was awarded a grant from Templeton World Charity Foundation in 2020 focused on character development and adolescent health. Over three years—partnering with Professor Anthony Ahrens, Chair of American University’s Psychology Department—we have worked to answer the research question: does tradition-based mentoring enable youth participants in Lubuto mentoring programs to modify their life stories in a way that strengthens their ability to change sexual and reproductive health (SRH) related behavior?

Three mentoring cohorts, nearly 500 participants, completed the program combining traditional storytelling and drama with the widely-used, evidence based Stepping Stones SRH curriculum. The graduates had a lot of positive things to say:

One participant shared that he found the program both helpful and interesting. He drew particular attention to a mentoring topic called “how we act” as being transformative in how he understands equality among boys and girls. Learning about HIV/AIDS also helped him know how to take precautionary measures to stay safe.

Another participant said that he had challenges dealing with peer pressure before joining mentoring. He didn’t know how to avoid bad influences because he was shy to speak out and was scared to lose friends. He cites the topic titled “responsibility and courage” as enabling him to know right from wrong, and was grateful to have gained confidence to speak out and steer his friends away from bad influences.