TeenUp CSE platform
Without comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), 16 million students’ sexual health and well-being are at great risk:
In Vietnam only, a child gets sexually abused every 8 hours (tuoitre.vn, 2017); the rate of children engaging in sexual activities before 14 has doubled in six years (tuoitre.vn, 2022); and abortion rate is in World’s top 3 with 70% of secret abortions performed on teenagers aged 13-19 (vtv.vn, 2019). Such indicators and trends of problems are also seen in other SEA countries like Laos, Indonesia, Thailand (Guttmacher Institute, 2022).
At the same time, stress from academic, family relationships and gender prejudices leaves children vulnerable to mental health issues, affecting their lifelong happiness.
The absence of comprehensive sexuality education perpetuates cycles of poverty and injustice. 16 million youths, especially girls, lacking essential knowledge about their bodies, relationships, and rights face higher risks of sexual abuse, STDs, unwanted pregnancies, child marriages, and school dropouts.
That is why schools and parents demand a solution of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) to equip both themselves and their children with the competencies to overcome the problems, secure healthy relationships, and ensure their children grow up safe, healthy and happy.
We offer TeenUp, a dynamic CSE platform with a wide range of learning modalities:
- In-app lessons (app subscription)
- Offline classes at partnered schools (as a subject)
- Offline classes at our learning centers
- Books and materials
At the heart of TeenUp is a user-friendly mobile app available on both Android and iOS platforms. This app serves as a central hub for all students, offering interactive CSE lessons, quizzes, and a supportive community for users to connect and discuss important topics.
Furthermore, our CSE initiative extends our impact beyond individual students. We partner with local schools, offering trainings so they effectively deliver our CSE curriculum, app and materials to students as a dedicated subject. This ensures a consistent, high-quality learning experience. Through this model, students benefit from weekly lessons enriched with engaging content and activities, while teachers receive workshops to enhance their competence and confidence in teaching our curriculum. This blended learning approach combines the convenience of digital education with the personal interaction of in-person classes, fostering a deeper understanding and and application of the knowledge.
Classes at our learning center(s) are the same, but taught by our own experts.
Our CSE materials include guides, textbooks, information cards, hygiene pads, and condoms, etc., delivered as a complete package so students and their parents can overcome the awkwardness and learn CSE at home.
16 million students are growing up without CSE: In 2018, the Ministry of Education approved of its first-ever CSE guidance (adapted from ITGSE - International technical guidance on sexuality education). This was a big step, yet, the guidelines were too general for actual lessons, leaving the guidance almost unused. This happens for two reasons:
1. Lack of complete CSE curriculum and infrastructure: The guidance itself and provided learning materials are not enough. To deliver actual lessons, schools and teachers would need detailed lesson plans and adequate teaching materials ready on their hands.
2. Inadequacy of professionals and teaching staff: Almost no local teachers were trained to teach CSE. Expecting them to deliver quality lessons just based on a document of guidance is not possible.
As a result, 16 million students lack access to CSE in both public and private educational settings, especially in rural areas.
TeenUp democritizes CSE and addresses unmet need for SRHR so students grow up safe, health and happy: Through high-scalable modalities and their learner-centric approaches, TeenUp equip students and parents with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to grow into sexually healthy adults - capable of self-care, recognizing and tackling violence, healthy relationships, and a confident, kind, and respectful attitude toward themselves and their community.
Particularly, TeenUp plays a crucial role in addressing the unmet need for SRHR services, especially for students from families with low and middle income. Young people, especially girls and young women, are provided with accurate information on bodily autonomy, essential care, and informed choices about SRHR in a non-judgemental space. This enable them to overcome challenges from gender inequalities, social norms, economic disparities related to the lack of SRHR, as well as integrate SRHR practices into their daily lives.
Our primary students are adolescents aged between 8 and 18, representing the critical stages of youth development. To date, 28.000 students and a corresponding number of parents have been impacted. Their demographic include:
Gender: 51% male, 49% female
Geographic Diversity: 62.7% are from rural regions, while 38.3% are from urban areas.
Occupation: Since our primary users are students, their occupation is focused on educational pursuits. The students' parents represent a wide spectrum of professions, including professionals, educators, skilled workers, service providers and manual workers.
Income Diversity: Vietnamese households vary from low-income at USD$218.52/month to high-income at USD$1,660.79/month. Our users represent various socio-economic backgrounds and we offer diverse programs and pricing to make our services accessible across these income levels.
A. WeGrow comprises 27 young people (under 25) out of 39 staff members. The organization was founded and led by two young women (born in 1997 and 1998), also the two Co-founders of Vietnam Organization for Gender Equality, a leading youth organization on Gender Equality since 2016. Therefore, we greatly value the contribution of Vietnamese youth and welcome everyone regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, and origin.
B. Children and adolescents are the center of our programs. They contribute to the designing and programming through different feedback processes. This process includes 4 stages, which always ensure our programs are learner-centric:
Develop:
We conducted comprehensive assessments with locals schools, students, parents and students through survey, interviews and focus group discussions to understand their concerns and develop our programs.
Implementation:
We empower a diverse team both within and outside our organization, encouraging male teachers to participate in decision-making and promoting female teachers into leadership roles, especially at local schools.
Train of trainers (TOT) sessions enable teachers to understand the importance of feedback from fellow teachers and their students from all communities and backgrounds.
On-site lessons with WeGrow’s teachers to demonstrate and ensure expected learning experience for young students at partnered schools
Our classrooms provide equal opportunities for students of all genders, fostering a safe and empowering environment so all students can thrive.
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E):
We actively gather user feedback through survey, interviews and focus group discussions to prioritize effective youth engagement and gender inclusivity in our programs. Our surveys include specific questions assessing the impact of our product on individuals of different genders and age groups.
We commit to a continuous process of curriculum development, implementation, and M&E based on learners’ feedback ensuring that the program is ‘alive’ and able to accommodate the development of learners’ social context. It is meant to be for the youth, to develop with the youth, and to be operated predominantly by the youth.
- Prioritize infrastructure centered around young people to enhance young people’s access to SRH information, commodities and services.
- Vietnam
- Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model that is rolled out in one or more communities
1. Number of Students Reached: The cumulative total of students who have accessed our CSE as paid users.
+ 2021: 2864 students
+ 2022: 15789 students
+ 2023 YTD: 28832 students
2. No. teachers trained for CSE: The cumulative number of teachers completing CSE training of trainers program.
+ 2021: 20 teachers
+ 2022: 119 teachers
+ 2023 YTD: 377 teachers