PARTICIPATORY INTERACTIVE PEER EDUCATION [PIPE] AS A TOOL FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY EDUCATION & MOBILISATION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

PARTICIPATORY INTERACTIVE PEER EDUCATION [PIPE] AS A TOOL FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY EDUCATION & MOBILISATION FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT.
 WHAT IS PIPE?

PIPE is a structured, participatory, interactive communication tool designed for community mobilization, and applies entertainment as a vehicle for intensive and sustained education in communities and hard-to-reach groups.
This concept can be adapted for community education and mobilization in a wide range of development issues, from health, democracy & governance, to the environment, food and water security.
It is being applied to HIV/AIDS infection prevention and management education in communities and hard-to-reach groups in three states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in Nigeria.

This presentation here is as PIPE applies to HIV/AIDS information and education programming.

 PIPE APPLIES THE NARROWCAST CONCEPT

PROJECT AT
EMPOWERING ADOLESCENTS & YOUNG ADULTS AND THEIR PARENTS WITH SEXUALITY INFORMATION TO ENCOURAGE SEXUAL ABSTINENCE AND PARENT- CHILD COMMUNICATION ON SEXUAL & REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ISSUES, THROUGH NARROWCASTING A DRAMA SERIAL ON HIV/AIDS IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, FAITH-BASED ORGANISATIONS AND COMMUNITY CENTRES IN NIGERIA.

Project AT is an interactive youth/family empowerment programme designed to inform and educate adolescents, young adults and their parents, on sexual health issues including HIV/AIDS using entertainment as a vehicle. Specifically, Project AT uses the power of television plus the advantages of (Participatory Interactive Peer Education – PIPE-), to educate young people through the facilitation of the young people themselves, and reinforced with parental involvement.

AT stands for ABSTAIN < COS OF> TOMORROW.

Project AT employs the PIPE MODEL, developed by Dr, Richie Adewusi, Youthaid Initiatives and The Centre for Family & Reproductive Health Initiatives.

THE PROBLEM.
Discussions about sexuality issues in our society, like many other societies, are rather private. However, the problems brought about by sex and lack of understanding of sexuality issues (HIV/AIDS especially), are having serious impacts on Nigerians, especially adolescents. This becomes obvious in view of the 5% national prevalence median, and the 5.2% prevalence among people in the 15-24 age bracket.
Since 1998, UNAIDS has reported that over 50% of all new HIV infections occur among people aged 10-24 years (UNAIDS 1998 WAC document).
Young people within this age range (10-24 years) are either in secondary schools, tertiary institutions, doing National Youth Service (NYSC), gainfully employed, or in our communities waiting for admission into one form of tertiary educational institution or the other. Others are learning one form of trade or the other or are just idle. Sexual activities among people in this age range is also high as it has been recorded that 63% of young women (would) have experienced sexual intercourse by age 18, and HIV/AIDS among adolescents have taken an epidemic proportion (Journal of Women Health and Law, 1999:10), quoting a research conducted in Lagos State.
HIV epidemic is fast eroding existing human and material resources, while the functions of available resources are also changing, often in response to far broader, more urgent range of needs. Young people are more vulnerable for several reasons.
Young people are ill-prepared to face the challenges of sex and sexuality issues, and as such, have little or no understanding of how infections and conceptions occur (even among those that are sexually active), because parents are embarrassed to discuss sexuality issues with their children due to cultural and religious inhibitions. Others lack information, or the skills necessary for sharing sexuality information with their children. Schools’ curricular equally, have little or no content on sexuality issues, (until recently, in a state like Lagos). So, peer and media influences on sexual behaviour of people within this age range is heavy and often times, mislead young people to engage in risky sexual behaviours which pre-dispose them to risks of HIV infections, unplanned/unintended pregnancies and their numerous health as well as socio-economic consequences for young people, their families and society in general. This is a dangerous scenario considering that youths hold the key for the future.

There have been responses to this epidemic by way of HIV/AIDS/Adolescent Reproductive Health (ARH) issues awareness raising through different information, education and communication interventions for young people. However, these activities do not often lead to the desired behavioral change as they are didactic, boring and often times do not include/involve the young people in their design and implementation.

Furthermore, they are in most cases uncoordinated and not sustained, making it difficult for their outcome with regards to behaviour change to be monitored and measured. In other words, they most certainly create awareness about HIV/AIDS/Adolescent Reproductive Health issues and the problems inherent in these issues, they do not however empower the young people to practice lower risk/no risk sexual behaviours.

Though there is high risk of HIV infection/unplanned teenage pregnancies due to increased level of casual/unprotected sexual activities among young people within this age bracket (10-24 years), and the evident epidemic proportion of HIV prevalence rate among them, they are however mostly ignorant about their HIV status because there is apathy to accessing HCT services due to problems associated with stigma and discrimination, as well as lack of adequate information about the availability of HCT centres/services, which could mean that the spread of the virus among this age bracket and beyond it, may continue if nothing coordinated and sustained is done to encourage young people who are sexually active to access HCT services and practice secondary virginity, while empowering those who are not yet sexually active to protect themselves by abstaining from sexual intercourse until they are married.
THE INTERVENTION.

There is therefore a need to employ a concept and tools that would engage and involve young people in educating themselves on HIV/AIDS/ARH behavioural change issues in an entertaining format that also involves them in the design and implementation. It is also a scientific fact that electronic media interventions, which are not supported by off-air inter-personal communication components, cannot bring about behavioural change by themselves.

To this end, the NARROWCAST multi-media option of using an educative television drama serial on HIV/AIDS/ARH issues, produced specifically for the family, which would give the young people the opportunity for facilitation, entertainment, learning and return demonstration of what they would have learnt at the end of the NARROWCAST, which is coordinated by a trained youth facilitator, using various off-air Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) materials, and sustained over a 26-week period is a format that has indicators through which behavioural outcomes can be measured.

This project is a product of lessons we have learnt from pilot interventions carried out with young people through two television programmes – YOUTHAID LIFELINE AND GENERATIONS.COM, a monthly tabloid – THE BIG ISSUE, an inter-school drama competition – THE LAST CANDLE AND KEEP OFF THE GRASS! , and an annual youth focus group discussion programme – THE YOUTH AGENDA SUMMIT, and several peer health educators’ training programmes since 1996 which have enabled Youthaid Initiatives to know what works with young people.

TARGET GROUPS

In-school and Out-of-school young people aged 10-24 years, and their parents/guardians.

OVERALL PROJECT GOAL

Mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria by providing Sexual and reproductive health information, as well as HIV infection prevention and management information to in-school and out-of-school young people aged 10-24 years, and their parents, through a participatory interactive approach over a one year period.

PROJECT AT- THE PIPE CONCEPT
This project uses the narrowcast concept which as stated earlier, combines the known advantages of television as a major source of information on sexuality issues for young people, and the interpersonal communication advantages inherent in peer education, made possible by facilitated viewing sessions of a drama serial produced for television played back on a specific day of the week at a specific time of that same day every week, for 24 weeks, with a high probability of having the same audience ( powered by sheer quest for finding out what happens ‘next’), watch the production every episode till the end of a particular series.

The facilitated viewing sessions provide the young people with the opportunity for interactions bordering on questions/answers, contributions/clarifications and coordinated HCT referrals; which can be monitored and evaluated in a more specific and accurate manner for behavioral change than through a broadcast process.

Since the audience for narrowcast is expected to be a captive audience (schools, churches and community centres) that is expected back every episode of the programme ( to know what happens ‘next’ to particular characters ), which is guaranteed to hold due to the availability of the necessary technical and human resources like multi-media projector/screen, generator and facilitators. Unlike in broadcast, where there are conflicting choice of programmes on other channels, power failure and the limited participatory options, Narrowcast is designed to optimize participation and interaction within a target group, and through that target group, other groups that have communication relationships with the primary target group.

Considering the fact that young people are known to appreciate information sharing and interaction with there peers, training them as facilitators is expected to enhance participation which we believe will encourage, eventually, behavioural change, specifically abstinence, or the empowerment for HIV infection risk assessment, which would lead to accessing HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT), since it is known that all adolescents and young adults are not on the same level, with regard to sexual experiences and behaviours.

The narrowcast process makes it possible for accurate records to be taken regularly that would profile the viewers, their contributions, the clarifications they receive, referrals given, materials distributed and ultimately if there are any real impacts in terms of behavioral change.

PROJECT AT viewing centres are known as T-A-L-K CENTRES.
A T-A-L-K CENTRE is expected to host 100 participants or more weekly. However, project evaluation would be based on 100 participants per centre.
T-A-L-K stands for TIME to pay ATTENTION and LEARN, to acquire KNOWLEDGE required, for HIV/AIDS infection prevention and management.

PROJECT AT – THE PIPE PROCESS
For this project, Youthaid is introducing two television drama materials on HIV/AIDS, TSHA TSHA & KING UBOKA: A HARVEST OF WHIRLWINDS.
Tsha Tsha sets a new standard for youth television. Tsha Tsha is set in Lubusi, a fictional town in Eastern Cape of South Africa. In the dusty streets of this improvised rural town, the serial follows the lives of four 20-somethings as they negotiate a bumpy course along the path of adulthood. Although the characters do not live in the big city, they certainly deal with big issues: AIDS, death, love, relationships and sex and its consequences. Tsha Tsha is heavily entertaining and sub-titled fully in English.
KING UBIKA:A HARVEST OF WHIRLWINDS is a 24 episodes TV drama serial written by Dr. Richie Adewusi, for Family Health International/Nigeria. It was produced by Tade Ogidan; it has been aired on over 30 TV stations in Nigeria, and on MNET. It portrays the cultural factors that fuel the spread of HIV, and the impact of AIDS on traditional institutions, families and individuals.
Project AT involves playing back of the 30-minutes/less HIV/AIDS drama serial followed by another 30-minutes/more of interactive session facilitated by a trained youth.

Ten young persons are trained as facilitators/Peer Educators for each T-A-L-K CENTRE.

Facilitating the interactive session is expected to encourage questions/answers and clarifications by the facilitator. Participants can put their contributions into songs, poems, paintings and drama. This ultimately allows for a return demonstration of what they would have learnt in the course of the narrowcast sessions.

Relevant public service announcements and television spots produced for ARH/HIV/AIDS, or for this target audience can be played back any number of times in the course of the narrowcast process, at each of the T-A-L-K CENTRES for effectiveness. Other behaviour change communication materials like T-A-L-K POINTS and The BIG ISSUE/IMAGINE IT!, produced for this target group are distributed at the T-A-L-K CENTRES.

                                                    PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

The T-A-L-KPOINTS Family Life Education Card game is an ‘off-air’ continuous interaction and education component, that the young people take home that would allow for sustenance of discussions, and clarification of sexual and reproductive health, drug use/abuse, gender and conflict resolution issues within the family setting. The young people receive this game at the T-A-L-KCENTRES, and take home, to play with their parents/guardians.
Participating parents are empowered, to form a network of concerned parents (The Concerned Parents Network – COPANET-), through seminars and workshops on Parent-child communication on sexual and reproductive health issues at local government areas, state, and national levels, to put Parent-child communication on sexual and reproductive health issues in the front burner of national discourse, as provided for in the National Strategic Frame work for HIV/AIDS.

PROJECT AT -THE PIPE OUTCOME

This process through this project is expected to empower adolescents, young adults and their parents, with information and education on sexuality issues in a manner that is culturally acceptable and would enable them to assess their HIV infection risk factors and therefore practice a greater up-take of abstinence behaviour, and for others, accessing HCT. This project is also expected to ignite the creative abilities in the target group in such a way that they can turn their energies into putting what they have learnt or what they expect or what they can do or what they want done about the various situations and challenges that young people face as far as sexuality issues including HIV/AIDS and relationships are concerned into paintings, songs, poems and dramas that they can exhibit for the benefit of themselves, their peers and society in general. This would ultimately also allow adults and youth programme planners and other stakeholders on adolescents and young adults’ issues to have a peep into the minds of the target group which helps with understanding how they feel and what their struggles are like and what can be done with these feelings and struggles.

AT4LIFE FESTIVAL.

Participating youth groups from different institutions/communities or different halls of residence/houses within the same institution are expected to present their own productions either as songs, poems, paintings or drama in a competition format at the AT4LIFE FESTVAL, at the end of 24 episodes of KING UBIKA:A HARVEST OF WHIRLWINDS, thereby creating a network of concerned students/youths helping other young people and society. This is to encourage full participation and further contribute to monitoring and evaluation/sustainability of the project.

This process is applicable both to urban and rural adolescents and young adults alike.