HIV/AIDS and SRH – Страница 7

Learning About Living e-Learning programme (OneWorld UK and Butterfly Works, Nigeria 2007-2011)

23 января, 2016

Background: ‘Learning about Living’ (LaL) was designed to empower young people in Nigeria to make well-informed decisions about their personal lives and relationships by utilising ICTs to provide accurate and non-judgemental information about sexual health. Its objectives included a measurable positive change in adolescent knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to sexual health.

It was initiated in 2006 by OneWorld UK and Butterfly Works, Netherlands, working with key stakeholders’ in the youth sexual and reproductive health field in Nigeria. A two-year pilot ran from 2007 — 2009, followed by a three-year scale-up stage which ran from 2009-2011. In 2012 the programme was passed onto local partners and stakeholders to run and manage.

What did the programme involve? An interactive e-Learning programme in the form of an electronic version of the Family Life and HIV/Aids Education (FLHE) national curriculum was created in order to teach adolescents about all aspects of reproductive health, including HIV prevention. This was based on the curriculum developed by the National Agency for Curriculum Development in the Nigerian educational sector. The programme was rolled out across over 500 schools and wider reach was later provided by a national mobile phone helpline.

Teachers from each school involved received training about how to use the programme – including learning about participatory teaching practices, such as how to encourage and prompt discussion amongst young people in response to the issues raised by the programme. Teachers also received copies of the LaL CD and help with set-up, plus ongoing support provided through local organisations. Some schools were also given a computer.

The e-Learning programme featured virtual peer educators who provided interactive information – through games, activities, cartoons, and quizzes — on various sexual and reproductive health issues including HIV prevention as well as wider issues such as self-esteem and how to stay healthy.

The mobile phone helpline supported this classroom based programme as it meant students who had more personal questions they felt uncomfortable asking or discussing in the classroom could call or text the confidential mobile phone helpline or could be referred by their teacher to a local young-people friendly health service.

Why this approach? The ‘participatory learning’ approach was used as this approach acknowledges and welcomes existing knowledge and competence of the students; students are central in the learning process and teachers become facilitators. Students are given space to develop their own viewpoint through active experience. It is most appropriate when the subject being taught affects deeply help beliefs and attitudes. HIV/AIDs and other reproductive health issues fit into this category, hence the choice of a participatory approach. Participatory approaches should empower young people to co-solve the challenges and co-design the path forward.

Results observed: In the 2012 yearly evaluation, 78% of young people who used the service reported that they passed on the information they received to family and friends. The impact of eFLHE was found to be up to 10-20% more effective as a teaching method when compared to the regular method of teaching the curriculum.

Learning About Living encouraged young people to think about issues relating to sexual health. This is evidenced by the fact that when the mobile phone helpline was launched in November 2007, over 11,000 questions had been sent by the end of January 2008. 27,000 questions had been asked by mid-July 2008. The external evaluation including feedback from students, including one student who said: “I feel free now to talk about issues of sexuality.”

Lessons learnt: One of the key lessons learnt from the case study is the importance of continuing evaluation. Evaluation of the programme in schools highlighted that some students still felt uncomfortable asking certain questions in a class environment. As a result of this, the confidential mobile phone helpline was introduced.

In addition the importance of participation can be seen. Through young people being encouraged to learn actively, they are more likely to share their knowledge with others.

(Source: Learning about Living website)

Freedom HIV/AIDS: The use of mobile technology to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, (Star Programme, East and Southern Africa, 2006)

23 января, 2016

Background: Freedom HIV/AIDS is a company specialising in mobile game development with the aim of trying to combat HIV/AIDS through the use of ICTs. Their original project was based around educational games created for mobile phones. The success of this project in India led to Freedom HIV/AIDS collaborating with the Africa Reach Programme in 2006 to create the ‘Star Programme’. This programme was implemented in six countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia, countries of high HIV/AIDS prevalence. The focus was on adolescents and young people, although the games could be used by anyone.

The Star programme aimed to use technology to create HIV/AIDS awareness and sensitivity amongst young people in the target countries. By increasing awareness, the programme aimed to reduce the spread of HIV.

What did the programme involve? Two mobile games were created, in both English and local languages: AIDS Penalty Shoot Out — a football game where players save and shoot penalties whilst receiving information and messages on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention — and AIDS Fighter Pilot — where a village boy and girl who area peer educators, dedicate their lives to fighting HIV/AIDS as they fly around their village and region, distributing knowledge, condoms and red ribbons.

Why that particular approach? Mobile technology was used due to its prevalence in the target countries. The number of people with mobile phones — especially young people — was rapidly growing and as youth were the target demographic this made focusing on mobile phone technology a logical move. Using technology to communicate information and raise awareness was also deemed to be more cost effective than using health workers, and it was felt it would allow information to reach rural areas that might otherwise be excluded.

Games were used as ‘edutainment’ rather than as just information packages, because edutainment methods can often be more effective at spreading messages and creating awareness than just presenting large amounts of information to target audiences. The games engaged and entertained making it more likely that young people would retain knowledge gained whilst playing.

Results observed: Assessing the results of the programme is difficult. However, in 2006 there were six million downloads of the game, which suggests that the game is both popular and being used widely.

When the games were first launched there was no evaluation system in place to study the impact of the games. However, since then during the game play the score, variety of messages delivered, message weights, levels and replay history were recorded in order to assess the impact. Using this information, it has been suggested that games have increased players’ knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Freedom HIV/AIDS is developing more games and rolling out the initiative to other parts of the world, which suggests the organisation views the edutainment games as a success.

Lessons learned: The Star Programme highlights the importance of formative research. Through connecting with local NGOs the programme initiators learnt about cultural and regional sensitivities, allowing ‘tailoring’ of the games. Formative research also highlighted the popularity of football across Africa which determined the focus of one of the games. However, the lack of evaluation system when the games were first implemented has made it more difficult to evaluate the impact of the project. This highlights the importance of continual monitoring and evaluation.

(Source: Freedom HIV/AIDS website)

Femina Hip online multimedia and civil society initiative (Tanzania 1999 onwards)

19 января, 2016

Background: Founded in 1999, Femina Hip is a multimedia platform and a civil society initiative working with youth, communities and strategic partners across Tanzania. The aim is to promote healthy lifestyles, sexual health, HIV and AIDS prevention, gender equality, citizen engagement and more recently includes coverage of income generation and employment issues through edutainment, connecting young people and giving them a platform to speak up and share experiences. The project has received financial support from a number of partners, including SIDA and USAID/PEPFAR.

What the programme involved: Using edutainment as its main approach to entertain and educate young people Femina produced and developed a wide range of media products, which include two magazines (English and Swahili language ‘Fema’ and ‘Si Mchezo!’ ) aimed at 15 – 25 year olds; two TV products (Fema TV Talk Show and Ruka Juu), an interactive website (Chezasalama or ‘Play Safe’) which focuses on providing youth-friendly information on sexual and reproductive health, and an interactive SMS platform. All are supported by community mobilization and interpersonal contact through Fema Youth Clubs.

In 2010, the use of social media and the era of accessing the Internet via phone, and indeed the ‘smart phone’ were just beginning in Tanzania and Femina began exploring how young people used these products and how they in turn could use them – particularly Facebook – to reach out to young people. In 2010, Femina Hip opened its first Facebook account (and later a Twitter account) and invited young people in Fema Clubs to become ‘friends’ and ‘like’ the page. It later encouraged Fema Clubs to develop their own online spaces.

Femina Hip recently updated their SMS system and there is now a strong SMS feedback system that allows young people to communicate with Femina directly. Outgoing messages are used inform audiences about new issues of TV shows and magazine editions. Incoming SMS messages help generate content (in the form of audience questions), gage the level of understanding and knowledge of audiences, and allow an easy and affordable communication platform. It also encourages young people to learn, understand and use technology more – all of which are useful skills that Femina would like to encourage and expand to include more rural young people, especially girls. Femina Hip is also exploring the use of SMS as a counselling system.

Why this approach? ‘Entertainment education’ – including portraying the realities of everyday life for young people, magazine and TV features that featured and included young people, published messages and letters from young people etc. – encouraged and enabled young people to easily get on board and actively participate in discussions about issues that resonated with them.

Results observed: Femina’s work is evaluated through a Results Based Management system In terms of Femina’s social media output it was found that the audience is mostly urban and mostly male and mostly interested in sexual and reproductive health questions and content. When TV and radio programming is live and on-air Femina sees a surge in SMS responses from young people.

However, through social media engagement Femina has seen an increase in audience participation and engagement with their core topics, they have reached more young people with relevant information, especially with sexual and reproductive health information, and they have expanded the use of technology in rural areas. Overall Femina’s media and social media products are estimated to reach an audience of around 11 million.

Lessons learnt: Social media spaces are public platforms, and often in the public domain. Young audiences might not be fully aware of this and some of the consequences of posting in public spaces, so it’s important awareness is raised, particularly in relation to the content of certain subjects that Femina Hip encourages debate on. A social media policy can provide a useful guideline for staff on how to participate in online spaces.

Access to phone and internet technologies are still limited in Tanzania and this can make young women especially vulnerable; being offered the use of a phone and credit by men in exchange for sexual favours. This makes outreach and face-to-face training an important component of Femina’s programme.

(Source: Report by C4D Network member Lynn O’Rourke )

Learning About Living e-Learning programme (OneWorld UK and Butterfly Works, Nigeria 2007-2011)

Freedom HIV/AIDS: The use of mobile technology to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS, (Star Programme, East and Southern Africa, 2006)

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