Engaging Communities across Africa on Sexuality Education

Back in October 2014 UNESCO commissioned SAfAIDS to help engage countries across eastern and southern Africa in support of teaching comprehensive sexuality education, or CSE, in schools.

Why communities and not the teachers? 
UNESCO and many others are already working with regional and national bodies supporting in school education

(check out this blogs on 30 October 2014 http://knowledgeforaction.blogspot.com/2014/10/an-adolescents-hiv-prevention-and.html ).

One of the biggest barriers is community support and endorsement. Without this the teachers find it hard to teach (and remember, teachers are parents and community members too and need also to be on board). Communities are the game-changers!

When we talk about CSE, most people just think sex! But CSE is about soo much more, essentially it is keeping our young people safe.

Is there a problem that needs solved?
YES! Africa has the youngest population in the world, with one in three in eastern and southern Africa aged between 10 and 19 years. This group also records the highest new HIV infections, are married too early and pregnant too soon, many of the children unwanted (UNFPA). Approx 13 million pregnancies are terminated each year in Africa, inflating maternal mortality rates across the continent (WHO)!

With these sort of facts our young people need defense systems and THIS is what CSE is all about- prevention and access to information and services. UNESCO studies have shown that where CSE is taught well in school, sexual debut is delayed. Others have shown us where young people get access to contraceptive and SRH information and services, unsafe abortions are fewer.

Whatever your thoughts on CSE - it is most likely that you NEED TO KNOW MORE! SAfAIDS have developed a CSE Community Enagegement Toolkit for UNESCO that will be initially rolled out in eight countries in southern and eastern Africa (and hopefully with ongoing support to many, many more).

The CSE Community Engagement Toolkit
The kits is beautifully, yet practically packaged, and has been pre-tested with stakeholders and community members in all operational countries (South Sudan and Namibia joining in after the inital workshop on what was needed).

The kit is currently in English but plans are already underway for full toolkits in Swahili and Portugese, with some of the community level IEC also being translated into Arabic, Chichewa, French and Sesotho.

Central to the success of the kit is dialogue- written materials as part of a wider campaign approach have MUCH more impact. The dialouge guide uses SAfAIDS tried and tested Community Dialogue Model and talks to the Radio and TV
campaigns also being rolled out by SAfAIDS Media Team!

Well done UNESCO, and thank you for partnering once again with SAfAIDS. As long term development practitioners and health information communicators we are MORE than the sum of our parts. We are a publication house able to take projects from conceptualisation to dissemination adding technical value at evety stage.

To support the work of UNESCO follow their social media, we do :D

http://youngpeopletoday.net/