Are We on Track? - Talking about sex... - Project Experiences

[Guest guest]

To all,

The message below was posted by Ros Davies of the Population Concern. I

think these ideas are very important to begin creating dialogues around

issues of sexuality for both adults and youth in India.

M.

RE: Are We on Track? - Talking about sex... - Project Experiences

Ros Davies, UK

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In response to Calle Almedal's query [posting 1141] as to whether we are

talking about " sex " in our programes Population Concern, a UK based

international NGO working to promote reproductive health care worldwide,

has a number of experiences of projects with partner organisations in the

south that do explicitly deal with " sex " when it comes to behaviour change

communication regarding HIV/AIDS, and sexual health in general.

However, whilst it is valid to remind ourselves that " sex " should not be

forgotten or sidelined in the debate about HIV/AIDS, it is just as

important to remember the varying contexts in which " sex " takes place,

especially for vulnerable groups in society. In addition to providing

information on basic preventive measures, projects do need to tackle the

wider issues relating to " sex " - sexual violence, sex for money, drug

abuse, empowerment, gender equality, relationships, and wider

communication skills.

In Ghana, with the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana, Population

Concern has worked on a youth project in Akuapem North. We are working

with young people, predominantly out of school youth, but also in schools,

providing sexual and reproductive health education and services via a

static youth centre, and peer counsellors approach. Peer educators provide

information (and services) to other young people talking openly about

issues relating to sex, and using language that adults would normally, due

to cultural factors, feel uncomfortable using with young people.

In Ghana we have produced a highly participatory training manual for the

peer counsellors to address all the wider issues mentioned above,

specifically as experienced by the young people themselves. They worked

with a facilitator to devise the manual content and activities. The

information is technically accurate but is based on the young people's

experiences, language and understanding. Talking about sex is no longer

taboo in these communities.

In another Population Concern supported youth programme which was

implemented by AMREF in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, sex education given to

young people covered all aspects of SRH including male and female anatomy,

physiology, assertiveness skills in interpersonal relationship etc. As a

result of their newly acquired knowledge and skills through the project,

young people of as little as 8 years old made public speeches, presented

dramas and poetry at village events, schools events, district authority

events etc. whereby they mentioned sex, rape, incest, HIV/AIDS, substance

abuse etc. in their local languages in the presence of their peers,

parents, teachers and religious leaders without being victimised or

labelled as promiscuous. By the end of the project the word 'sex' was no

longer taboo in either English or vernacular in all the project sites.

An Adolescent Health Project in Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria, implemented in a

collaboration between Population Concern and Women's Health Organisation

of Nigeria (WHON), broke the barrier to open discussions about sex in the

community and ultimately reduced the incidences of rape, incest, sexual

violence, teenage pregnancy/ school drop-out for pregnant girls. The

project was implemented from 1997 to 2000 and being the first of such to

approach the problem head-on in the project community, adequate groundwork

had to be done to sensitise the community leaders, which resulted in the

project being warmly embraced by the traditional ruler of Ijebuland, the

local government authority and other influential groups in the community.

Population Concern hopes that this sharing of project experiences

is helpful in indicating that there are reproductive health programmes

which do address sex " full on " . However, as these are generally relatively

low-cost low-profile projects, they do not attract the international/media

attention accorded to the " high level " discussions on debt relief and

poverty connected to HIV/AIDS.

The lesson from this must be that more is done to disseminate good

practice and results from the small-scale projects which do have an impact

on a local basis.

Ros Davies

Chief Executive, Population Concern

E-mail: rosd@...

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A cross posting from af-aids@...