Teen Peer Education in Mali

How Teen Leaders are Changing the Conversation on Sexual Health

Navigating adolescence often comes with critical questions about health, relationships, and the future. Yet accurate, judgment-free answers can be hard to find. In Bamako, Mali, traditional gender norms and social taboos often leave young people, especially girls, at higher risk for HIV, STIs, and unintended pregnancies.

Our Teen Peer Education Program bridges this gap by turning trusted friends into lifesaving mentors.

Under the dedicated leadership of our program coordinator, Socrates, our peer educator facilitates weekly discussion groups at a local health center in Sikoro, equipping youth with vital knowledge on HIV prevention, STI awareness, family planning, consent, and healthy relationships. In 2025, the program reached 640 total adolescents with these life-saving sessions, including 432 girls and 208 boys.

The next horizon: Engaging more young men

With girls making up more than double the attendance, our next critical step is to bring more boys into the room. In Mali’s traditional cultural landscape, gender dynamics heavily influence personal health decisions. Expanding our outreach to young men is essential, not only for their personal well-being, but to foster shared responsibility, promote mutual respect, reshape traditional gender norms, and protect the health of the entire community.

Your partnership directly funds Socrates' team as they recruit, train, and deploy the next cohort of peer educators.

How your gift creates direct impact:

• $10: Sponsors 2 teens in attending a single program session.
• $20: Sponsors 4 teens in attending one of our weekly discussion meetings.
• $50: Covers the entire monthly stipend for an HIV peer educator to facilitate sessions and mentor youth.
• $75: Fully funds an entire community outreach session, delivering potentially lifesaving knowledge and preventive supplies to dozens of teens.

Thank you for standing alongside GAIA Vaccine Foundation, our youth educators, and the young people of Bamako as they build a healthier, more equitable future!