Anchoring Awareness in the Community - Handicap International

of 40 radio programs broadcast over five
months.
Make information available to all
The variety of communication tools produced
for the project enabled communicating
with different audiences and making the
awareness messages available to everyone. In
the brochures, most messages were presented
as drawings, with a few written explanations
in Amharic and Somali. In addition, the song
clip promoting testing included a simultaneous
translation in sign language in order to reach
hearing-impaired individuals.
Target priority subjects
without trying to be exhaustive
Possible subjects for HIV/AIDS awareness
were many. During creation of tools, it was
necessary to target the message precisely,
without trying to talk about everything, in
order to avoid drowning the information. For
example, one of the brochures used drawings
to focus on decreasing stigmatization by
raising awareness of disease transmission
modes, as well as on how the disease cannot
be transmitted (by eating together, by shaking
hands, by talking, etc.). Another brochure
highlighted positive ways of living with the
virus by choosing a HIV + man and woman
of different religions and from different social
areas.
Have the tools validated
by different partners
Before validating the tools for production, we
asked the different partners to give us their
opinion of them. For the film on HIV/AIDS
awareness produced in Somaliland, we
met a number of times during editing with
government and association partners to collect
their comments, which were invaluable for
creating a final version that was coherent with
Somali culture and pertinent for all inhabitants.
They suggested we hide the faces of PLWHIV,
moderate some topics that were too direct,
include more well-known images of the city
and country, etc.
For the information boards, health authorities
and community leaders were consulted
on what they felt to be the most effective
type of contents. They suggested including
photographs of influential people in the
community, accompanied by an awareness
message.
Test the process before generalizing it
For painted walls and radio messages, we
started by producing “samples” in order to test
the level of comprehension and satisfaction
of different audiences. This enabled not only
adapting our way of communicating, but also
testing the logistical organization required
and improving it for communicating later on a
larger scale.
Promote broad distribution of tools created
To enable broad and rapid distribution of
stickers, half-day contracts enabled us to
hire a few people to paste stickers on public
buildings or in busy places, as well as on
“bajaj” taxis (these are small, three-wheeled
Ethiopian taxis) and public minivans. Using
this approach, in less that two hours over half
of the public transportation in mid-size cities
featured a project sticker!
In addition, to increase the impact of posters
and the awareness film in Somaliland, an
official ceremony was held when they were
launched. This ceremony brought together
all local partners involved in the fight against
HIV/AIDS. Next, the film and the posters
were widely distributed to all interested
organizations and to hospitals. Each festive
event within the project framework presented
an opportunity to show the film, which
contained footage of local celebrities, creating
even greater impact in terms of awareness.
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