Anchoring Awareness in the Community - Handicap International

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throwing stones if condoms were mentioned. Because of denial and stigmatization, testing was not offered. Encourage testing through “positive life” testimonials In Ethiopia, each time testing was offered during a festive event, a number of persons volunteered to be tested. Personal testimonials by PLWHIV who continue to live a full and healthy life thanks to antiretroviral medicines, allowed them to dare to be tested. Hearing these stories decreased the fear of discovering HIV status and showed why it is necessary to know one’s status in order to be treated. Use humor to raise awareness In Somaliland, circus acts and small skits on the subject of HIV/AIDS were designed to make people laugh, enabling awareness of some topics. Subjects were varied: prenuptial testing with a couple about to marry, stigmatization with a person who doesn’t want to shake hands with a HIV + friend, risky sexual activity with a man who gets drunk in a bar and then goes to see a prostitute, etc. Make realer than real by demonstrating It is not enough to promote condom use; men must know how to use it! Thus, during a public event organized in a military camp, the animators brought along a replica of a penis in wood to demonstrate condom application. that a very attractive and healthy-looking young woman could carry the virus! Ask questions to make sure During festive events, a quiz (questionnaire) enabled showing people that in spite of thinking themselves well informed on HIV, they were often unable to answer the questions asked. The quiz thus made them attentive to awareness messages that followed it. “At the beginning of the event, young people were bored because they had heard talk about HIV in the media and thought they knew everything about it. But during the quiz, they realized that they couldn’t answer the questions and therefore didn’t know everything. This made them pay attention to what they were told later.” 20 Use powerful symbols For raising awareness, using symbols was effective for reinforcing messages. World AIDS Day on December 1 was, for example, an excellent occasion for organizing festive vents in partnership with other stakeholders working on the same topic. In the same way, during the project a festive event was organized on the strip of land separating Ethiopia and Somaliland, using the symbol of the border to insist on the fact that “HIV/AIDS knows no borders”, which is the major message of the project. Use high-impact testimonials For an audience made up of young Ethiopian soldiers, a pretty young woman came to tell about the fact that she was living with the AIDS virus and that she used condoms during sex to avoid contaminating her partners. For these soldiers, this woman was living proof 20. Tensig Gimariam, representing a youth organization on the Dire Dawa project advisory committee 38
4. Carrying out more precisely targeted actions Part 2 1. Special targeting of populations d Meet with groups at risk d Discuss with target populations during workshops d Raise awareness of the young in familiar surroundings d Create a climate of trust before talking about a sensitive subject d Carefully orient the conversation d Find the proper relays 2. Promoting condoms… where it is acceptable to do so d Locate the most pertinent places d Make condoms available daily d Go beyond skepticism to innovate d Educate young people through other young people d Pay attention to appearances In the geographical area covered by the project, some populations were identified as being more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, such as prostitutes, young men or truck drivers. For these persons, specific awareness actions were implemented. For prostitutes, workshops on disease awareness and the use of preservatives were organized. Truck drivers were approached during awareness activities and condom distribution on the traffic corridor. Concerning young men, distribution of condoms was organized in Ethiopia in front of some bars on weekend evenings. In Somaliland, where it is difficult to mention condoms, young people were made aware through interventions at schools, but also outside schools for those who were not students, and through the implementation of activities at a youth center. © Julie de Lamarzelle pour Handicap International 39
Page 1 and 2: LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE: KNOW-HOW A
Page 3 and 4: Contents Introduction 04 P a r t 1
Page 5 and 6: Context and Methodology Part 1 This
Page 7 and 8: 2. An ambitious project Part 1 Alth
Page 9 and 10: homes and implying community leader
Page 11 and 12: A VARIETY OF LEARNING-FROM-EXPERIEN
Page 13 and 14: Implementing Know-How Part 2 1. Dar
Page 15 and 16: ADAPTED AWARENESS METHOD The choice
Page 17 and 18: has come as a “dagou” (meaning
Page 19 and 20: COMMUNITY LEADERS AS FACILITATORS T
Page 21 and 22: people to receive the animators by
Page 23 and 24: Through house-to-house awareness de
Page 25 and 26: ANIMATORS AND AWARENESS DEVELOPMENT
Page 27 and 28: INVALUABLE DOUBLE SUPPORT FOR ANIMA
Page 29 and 30: STRENGTHENING PARTNER ASSOCIATIONS
Page 31 and 32: 3. Creating an awareness environmen
Page 33 and 34: of 40 radio programs broadcast over
Page 35 and 36: HIV/AIDS in Somali, which were well
Page 37: FESTIVE EVENTS TO CONVEY THE MESSAG
Page 41 and 42: SUCCESS STORY: BAR OWNERS ACT AS RE
Page 43 and 44: To learn more… In this document,
Page 45: Handicap International 14 avenue Be

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