Peer learning and health-related interventions: Family planning and nutrition in Kenya and Uganda, 1950–2019

This chapter examines the role of peer education in the transmission of health-related information in Kenya and Uganda. It focuses particularly on knowledge transmission around family planning and malnutrition, and concentrates on three ethnic groups, the Ganda, Kikuyu, and Luo. The chapter considers the uneven relationship between formal education and changes in health-related behaviours. By focusing on learning rather than teaching, the chapter places emphasis on the context, language, and practice. The chapter observes how behaviours have been adapted through the use of concepts and logics that connect to and resonate with individuals’ worldviews and felt needs, even if they do not immediately replicate these. It notes, however, that this process of vernacularization of biomedical concepts and practices is neither smooth nor organic. In the case studies analysed within the chapter, the translation of family planning and nutritional programmes varied in terms of both its success in aligning local and external goals and the level of engagement of medical organizations. Particular significance is placed on the role of peer associations as venues for the transmission of usable knowledge. The chapter notes that the effectiveness of peer learning through associations was shaped by the historical development of each society’s associational life from the late colonial into the postcolonial periods.