This manual is based on the findings of a systematic review published by Family Health International (FHI) on the Impact of Sex and HIV Education Programs on Sexual Behaviours of Youth in Developing Countries (Kirby et al., 2005) and deliberations from an expert consultation meeting convened by FHI in January 2006. One of the results of the research was a list of 24 characteristics of effective curriculum-based programmes. Twenty of the standards are adapted from the systematic review and four of the standards emerged from the technical meeting. Coupled with the standards is a publication that provides suggestions about how to improve the attainment of the standards, as well as programmatic examples illustrating how the standards can be implemented. This publication is particularly useful to learn more about what experts consider state-of-the-art programming to be. This manual provides solid evidence for the elements of an effective curriculum and how these elements should be delivered. It is divided as follows: the introduction and overview sections describe the development of the 24 curriculum standards; a checklist of the 24 standards with brief descriptions; the 'standards in practice' section provides examples and lessons learnt from experiences of using reproductive health and HIV education curricula. Annex 4 is a collection of annotated resources that may help in developing or adapting curricula and in developing reproductive health and HIV education programmes. They include background materials, tools, research, curricula and websites.