Twinning Center partners at the Kenya Episcopal Conference-Catholic Secretariat (KEC-CS) Commission for Education and Religious Education in Nairobi and DePaul University in Chicago are collaborating in the implementation of a comprehensive youth abstinence and behavior change (ABY) program.
The long-term goal of the partnership is to increase the capacity of KEC-CS to design, implement, sustain, and evaluate their faith-based
prevention efforts. Specific partnership objectives include:
- strengthening the Kenyan partner’s ability to train and support teachers in the implementation of a school-based youth abstinence and behavior change program;
- supporting Diocesan leaders and teachers in the implementation of a complementary Families Matter! program that targets
parents; and
- developing a monitoring and evaluation system to facilitate ongoing updating, improvement, and expansion of these and related programs.
To that end, partners have adapted successful abstinence and behavior change models targeting young people. These models incorporate not only Catholic doctrines and teachings, but also Kenya’s rich and unique cultural heritage.
Their ABY efforts target children in Kenya’s Catholic private and public sponsored schools, as well as other educational institutions that request the program. The program they designed together contains two main components: Making Life's Responsible Choices and Families Matter!
Launched in 2006, Making Life's Responsible Choices is a school-based abstinence and behavior change program for youth that builds on standard HIV prevention information and activities included in the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology's National AIDS Education Syllabus. Partners integrated these messages with Catholic and African values, drawing on the rich and varied teachings of both to better arm children with the tools they need to safeguard their health and wellbeing.
Since its launch some five years ago, the Making Life's Responsible Choices program has enjoyed the strong support of pupils, teachers, parents, and policymakers alike.
The program is currently being delivered in more than 1,600 Catholic and public-sponsored primary schools within 25 of Kenya’s 26 Catholic dioceses. As of October 2011, partners have trained 3,387 teachers to deliver the program and 423,634 pupils have participated in the school-based program.
Prior to implementation, partners conduct sensitization meetings to share information about the program with local stakeholders and achieve community support and buy-in. Raising awareness about the programs will also be a priority for partners in the coming year.
The complementary Families Matter! Program — which was piloted in Machakos Diocese in 2009 and in Meru Diocese in 2010 — aims to increase family involvement in promoting abstinence and behavior change by training parents how to talk with their children about human sexuality, STIs, and HIV/AIDS.
Adapted from the US-based “Parents Matter!” program developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Families Matter! equips adult caregivers with the communication and parenting skills they need to successfully support behavior change for children and young adults. To date, the partners have delivered the program to more than 712 parents and guardians through the efforts of some 24 trained program facilitators.
Partners work closely with Radio Waumini, a national Catholic radio station, to deliver youth and family-friendly radio messages that enhance and reinforce both the Making Life's Responsible Choices and Families Matter! programs and plan to expand these efforts in the coming year.
In 2011, they received approval to conduct targeted evaluation of 48 schools that will allow them to assess the impact of Making Life's Responsible Choices and inform future programming.
Future plans also include increasing implementation of their programs for youth and parents,
design and implement a communications and development strategy to facilitate dissemination of information and best practices, and participate in the Kenya National AIDS and STI Control Program (NASCOP) Evidence-Informed Behavioral Intervention Technical Working Group.
Partners will showcase their collaboration at ICASA 2011 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where they will make an oral presentation on the topic: "Training and Supporting Kenyan Teachers as HIV Prevention Intervention Facilitators: Collaborating to Combat HIV/AIDS while Working to Achieve and Sustain Education for All."
Updated November 14, 2011
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