Case study
HIV and AIDS are a huge problem in Mozambique, with an estimated 20% of young people infected. At the University of Beira, Mozambique, students got together and formed a HIV/AIDS peer education team, which they named Youth Alert. The group is voluntary and the students have two main target groups for their work teenagers at secondary schools and university students. The groups aim is to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and challenge behaviour, encouraging boys and girls to be alert to the danger and protect themselves by avoiding unsafe sex (sex without a condom).
The group are trained in a number of techniques and work to improve skills that they already have for example acting, singing, debating or giving speeches. One particular style of education is that of Forum Theatre, where a simple play is shown to a group of workshop participants who are then invited to change it. They do this by swapping roles with someone in the play and running the play again, acting the role differently and making different decisions. Through discussion around these changes the group can explore what the possible consequences are of different responses to the situation, and so rehearse for real life.
The groups approach is to try to meet any participants at their level of experience and understanding, and to address in a non-judgemental way, a whole range of sexual, personal, cultural and social issues that relate to the issue of HIV/AIDS, not just to give people the facts.
Through working with schools, the group has been able to encourage them to take up the issue more seriously. In the last few years more and more people have recognised how important it is to tackle the problem of HIV/AIDS and the ignorance and prejudice that can go alongside it.