Digital Pulse - Ch 3 - Sec 2 - Auntie Stella Project

Development Issues: Youth, STI's, sexual health.

Programme Summary

TARSC is a Zimbabwean non-profit organization that provides training, information, research and capacity building assistance to organizations concerned with public health, social policy, food security, reproductive, gender and child rights and government relations. TARSC seeks to provide other non-profits with access to the information necessary to enhance their own service delivery and efforts to contribute to development. Many of TARSC's publications and materials are available for download over the Internet, including an innovative program aimed at youth known as "Auntie Stella" – a component of their Adolescent Reproductive Health Project (ARHEP). ARHEP arose out of work undertaken by TARSC since 1993 in the area of reproductive health rights. TARSC identified adolescent reproductive health as a key area for follow-up work. After 1997 ARHEP began investigating the level of information, perceptions and concerns of adolescents on reproductive health and on ways of providing information to adolescents. ARHEP undertook participatory research studies in secondary schools that showed that while adolescents are subject to strong social, economic and peer pressure in many areas of their reproductive health, they lack sources of open and reliable support and information.

Summary of ICT Initiatives

Auntie Stella is an activity pack developed by TARSC, that is designed to encourage young people, aged 13 to 17 years to discuss important issues concerning their mental, physical and sexual health. It also provides teenagers with otherwise difficult to find information about pressing issues. The activity pack has been recently developed into a website that facilitates the programme's usage. There are now over 30 “questions” that cover issues such as relationships with parents, dating, sex, gender roles, HIV/AIDS and STDs. The objectives of the Auntie Stella website are:

• To encourage young people to discuss key issues related to physical and emotional aspects of adolescence, relationships, family life, etc, and to get reliable information and advice that is hard to find elsewhere.
• To enable teenagers to talk to others in the region and elsewhere and share ideas, experiences and concerns, through the internet.
• To create a non-authoritarian activity and an atmosphere where young people will be able to talk to each other freely and without inhibition.
• To give young people information and advice that will help them to change their behaviour and make more informed decisions in their lives.
• To encourage young people to express their own problems and questions, and to guide them towards further sources of information and help where they need this.
• To provide support and extra resources for schools and youth organisations.

Both the print and website versions use the question and reply format of problem page letters written to agony aunts in magazines, a popular source of information for young people. The basic method is for a question letter to be read and the problem discussed, usually in small single-sex groups, or by individuals reflecting on their own. They then turn to Auntie Stella's reply for expert information and suggestions about how to apply any new knowledge in real life, followed by discussion on ways to change their behaviour.

TARSC developed the content of the letters after review and research in several pilot schools. The questions were modeled to the real information needs identified by students. The project employed a participatory (PRA) methodology that encourages all students to learn through discussion, interaction with each other, and through reflection on their own actions. The material has been widely used in schools in Zimbabwe, as well as in AIDS support organisations, youth centres, sports clubs, child abuse support centres, family planning centres, and church and debating clubs. The website provides a glossary of terms so that youth are better equipped to discuss the issues that are brought up by the questions. The electronic version also utilizes a web-based bulletin board that allows participants to engage in a much larger dialogue with other youth in different regions of the country, a feature that facilitates cross-cultural communication because of the different tribal groups in Zimbabwe and the variety of marital and courtship practices that are observed, many of which become the topics of Auntie Stella questions.

Observations

Two evaluations of the project were conducted in 1999 that produced extensive findings and several lessons. (Click here for the Internal and External evaluations).Observers noted the following changes in some of the student groups who had been working with the activity-pack:

• An increase in communication with their peers, parents and community members.
• Greater confidence and ability to make informed decisions and take initiative.
• An increased ability to advise their peers on a range of reproductive health issues.

There was a general feeling from boys, girls and teachers that the ‘Auntie Stella' pack has had a positive impact on reproductive health behaviour. In addition the following lessons relating to the pack and the PRA method were also noted.

• PRA is an excellent approach to working with young people. It breaks down barriers between adults and youth, between boys and girls.
• Students and teachers acknowledged that the letters reflected real problems faced by the students. The success of the PRA pilot process emphasizes the importance of designing educational materials only after serious dialogue with the end-users themselves.
• Involvement of representatives from government, non-governmental and community groups from the health, education and gender sectors in the production of the ‘Auntie Stella' pack deepened the work of this programme.
• The role of the teacher, as defined in the ‘Auntie Stella' pack, deepened the debate on how to implement a successful reproductive health education programme in the schools.

Partners: Zimbabwean Ministry of Education, Sports, and Culture and the Ministry of Health, World Links Organization, Insiza/Umzingwane ASOs, SAfAIDS

Source:TARSC website.

For More Information Contact:

Barbara Kaim

Adolescent Reproductive Health Project (ARHEP)

Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC)

47 Van Praagh Avenue, Milton Park

Harare, Zimbabwe

Tel: 263 - 4 - 705108

Fax: 263 - 4 – 737220