CORE LEARNING POINTS

Core Learning Points:

Through equipping and empowering our students, Wise Choices for Life’s training courses aim to bring long-term, transformational change. Typically, we cover and address the areas of reproductive health, life skills, environmental concerns, personal value and self-worth, choices people can make.

• Reproductive Health and Planning for a Family
  We teach basic knowledge in terms that lay people can understand. Using visual teaching aids, we demonstrate how our bodies function and the way they are intended to be used.
  We promote a full range of family planning methods both natural and medical, but do not hand out products, and do not do individual consultations. We always recommend that people go to the health clinic for further advise.
  The majority of our trainers are not health professionals, however we do aim to have one medically trained people on the team for each workshop.
  Helping youth to understand puberty, the menstrual cycle, conception, pregnancy and birth is instrumental to keeping girls in school and for boys to wait for consent.
• Life Skills
  Knowledge alone will not change behaviour, but when we combine it with practical life skills then it can lead to new attitudes which in turn lead to new behaviour and habits. Our Life Skills cover the following four categories:
  • Critical Thinking to understand consequences
  • Decision Making to help resist peer pressure
  • Relationship Skills to be respectful and develop safe loving relationships.
  • Communication Skills to become confident and assertive not passive or aggressive

  Using these skills to take hold of practical knowledge allows young people to more effectively apply what they are learning.

• Environmental Concerns
  Large population growth leads to the nation being unable to provide the educational, medical and housing needs for all. Deforestation, pollution of rivers, air quality, loss of natural vegetation for wildlife have all contributed to the poverty of the family. Our training covers our duty and privilege in maintaining the planet so future generations can enjoy its beauty and thrive.
• Personal Value and Self-Worth
  Underpinning all of the information and skills is the foundational knowledge that we are all made equally. Each male and female has equal value. We have a focus on those with a disability and left more vulnerable to be included and valued. Harmful traditions and myths often exclude people with a disability or are female. This mindset is challenged by helping people to examine and discuss their faith, culture and science in a new fresh light.
  Wise Choices for Life sees the connection between having a healthy self-esteem and personal life value that enables youth to withstand peer pressure, discern between myths and truths around relationships. Knowing you are loved valued and cared for creates a strong, determined and wise decision maker who can confidently avoid unsafe relationships.
  Through our training we show:
  • how a woman’s body has been designed for pregnancy and birth, and the things that need to be considered to keep both the mother and baby healthy.
  • the impact on the family, community, environment and the nation of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.
  • that good parenting skills and role models impact the next generation to also make healthy decisions in life.
• Choices people can make
  People cannot make choices if they do not have correct reliable information. Or if they are passive, under resourced and economically disempowered. One of the world view challenges we discuss is the belief that having many children will make you strong, wealthy and prosperous. We provide this knowledge and education using respected cultural leaders who transfer the information and life skills to people, encouraging them to think critically and make wise choices for their lives.