Reports
Summary
Advocates for Youth and Mwangaza Action conducted a four-year program in an effort to improve youth sexual and reproductive health in Burkina Faso. The project involved training three youth organizations to engage community members, especially young people, in identifying priorities and developing and implementing community-based interventions to address these priorities. An additional goal included building the capacity of these youth organizations around adolescent sexual and reproductive health programming. Project implementation was completed in March 2002.
Main Communication Strategies
Strategies included community mobilization; information, education, and communication IEC) in the form of interpersonal communication, video showings with discussions, theater, dance, and fairs; and peer education and youth-friendly services training and follow-up.
Specifically, Advocates for Youth and Mwangaza trained members of the three participating youth organizations—l'Association des Jeunes pour le Développement de la Région de Bittou, l'Association des Jeunes pour le Développement de Pama, and le Réseau des Jeunes de la Sissili et du Ziro—in sexual and reproductive health issues, strategies, programming, and community participation methodology. These young people then visited villages in their regions to conduct participatory workshops with committees comprised mostly of young people (young men and women), with a few adults. During these workshops, communities identified the following priority areas in adolescent reproductive and sexual health: HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs); contraception; female genital mutilation; parent-child communication; and youth-friendly services. Members of the youth organizations then conducted focus groups to help village committees identify strategies to address their concerns. Strategies included peer education through the use of folk and modern media and interpersonal communication and training for health center personnel on youth-friendly reproductive health services.
In the second phase of the project, which began in July 2000 and ended in March 2002, community-based interventions were launched. As before, Advocates for Youth and Mwangaza conducted trainings for the youth associations; Mwangaza followed up with on-site technical assistance. Training enabled the youth organizations to, in turn, train a total of 47 peer educators (about half young women and half young men) to carry out the strategies identified by the village communities. Peer educators conducted topic-specific discussions open to all villagers (séances grand publique), which involved a video showing, a music or theater performance, or a traditional fair. (In addition, one of the youth associations used its theater troupe to perform skits on these same topics about twice a month). Peer educators also made home visits and sold condoms. Adult committee members conducted home visits that focused on parent-child communication around sexuality issues.
Peer educators were assisted by the village committees, who provided feedback on their work and facilitated logistics. Members of the three youth organizations held ongoing village assemblies to seek input on the village committees' work. They also scheduled regular meetings with local and provincial administrators and leaders to keep them informed and to seek their support for the project.
Key Points
At each site, the peer educators conducted approximately 30 group talks and seven music and video activities per month, reaching up to 900 community members per month. The young people conducted 60 home visits per month and sold about 600 condom packets per month (each packet contains 4 condoms), reaching about 1,024 youth per month. Hence, for the three sites combined, peer educators reached approximately 3,070 youth per month. Adult committee members reached about 60 adults per site through home visits focused on parent-child communication.
Results indicated improvements in knowledge about HIV, an increase in current condom use, an increase in youth's reporting that they could talk to their parents about sexuality issues, a decrease in youth's intending to excise their future daughters, and an increase in youth's awareness as to where to obtain contraception and services. In terms of organizational capacity, there is evidence of increased efforts on the part of local partners to implement reproductive and sexual health programs for youth. Finally, results suggest that the peer education component of the program improved access to information, contraception, and services for youth, in addition to creating a group of self-confident youth who were widely respected and sought after for information and counsel in the community.
Partners
Program implementation: Advocates for Youth, Mwangaza Action, l'Association des Jeunes pour le Développement de la Région de Bittou, l'Association des Jeunes pour le Développement de Pama, and le Réseau des Jeunes de la Sissili et du Ziro.
Program evaluation: Pacific Institute for Women's Health. Funding was provided by the Mellon Foundation.
For More Information, Contact
Nicole Cheetham
Director, International Division
Advocates for Youth
2000 M Street NW, Suite 750
Washington, DC 20036 USA
Phone: (202) 419-3420
Fax: (202) 419-1448
www.advocatesforyouth.org
For Burkina Faso,
Roger Thiombiano
President, Mwangaza Action
06 BP 9277
Ouagadougou 06, Burkina Faso
Phone: (226) 36 07 70
Fax: (226) 36 33 85
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For Information on the Evaluation,
Muadi Mukenge
Program Officer for Africa and Action Grants
Pacific Institute for Women's Health
3450 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1000
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2208
Phone: (213) 736-4802
Fax: (213) 386-2664
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This summary written by
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, consultant for The Communication Initiative, April 2003.
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