The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) is committed to teaching limited-resource families how to make informed dietary choices and become more effective managers of their available resources. Since its beginning, peer educators have worked directly with individuals and families, in their homes and communities, to offer a series of lessons. These peer educators continue to be key to the success of EFNEP. Program leaders and EFNEP supervisors lead peer educators in becoming top performers by optimizing their unique strengths to create well-rounded teams through:
- Investment in professional development programs that hone skills and focus on strengths.
- Teaching, informal coaching, mentoring, and leadership opportunities.
- Highlighting client success and behavior changes.
- Receipt of certifications, awards, promotion, and merit pay.
- Furthering goals, aspirations, and education.
Utilizing strategies such as these while managing essential skills results in higher programmatic outcomes, increased team morale, more employee engagement, and positioning peer educators for success. Gallup research reports that simply learning their strengths makes employees 7.8% more productive, and teams that focus on strengths every day have 12.5% greater productivity. Attendees will be able to replicate ideas that grow the strength of peer educators.
