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In Bo, Sierra Leone, trained groups of young peer educators are currently working hard to inform and educate their peers about HIV.  In some ways, it stretches credulity that such a programme could even exist.  A few short years ago, the country was in the middle of a civil war: child soldiers were fighting a conflict fuelled by diamonds, and the horror stories were making it as far as the UK press –forced amputations; massacres of whole families; the drugging of twelve-years to make them aggressive enough to kill. 

The war, thankfully, came to an end.  Sierra Leone is now a relatively peaceful country anticipating democratic elections in August – though still one of the world’s poorest nations, and one with some of the worst health statistics on the planet.  HIV prevalence, in particular, is increasing.  In some countries in Africa, because of HIV, life expectancy is less than 40; without good prevention programmes, there is no reason why Sierra Leone will not soon become like Botswana, for example, where 38% of the population is infected with HIV.

Peer education by trained young people is a key aspect of raising awareness about HIV.  If people’s ideas about HIV are incorrect or fear-based, there can be increased stigma and discrimination towards people who are infected with the virus – and as a result, people don’t get tested or treated, and many of those with HIV are scared to tell anyone. Then the virus spreads faster.

There’s a lot of evidence to show that young people in Sierra Leone will listen to messages from other young people – but that messages created by adults for young people are often ignored.  Some peer education events, such as football matches, can generate large crowds of youth, which are great awareness-raising opportunities.  In the case of football matches, for instance, HIV work can take place either before the match, or at half-time.  But educative material for this kind of work is lacking, and the people watching the football matches aren’t always that receptive.

If more appropriate materials were available – such as, for instance, culturally sensitive songs and music videos about HIV, with non-stigmatising lyrics – then this would allow a greater impact on target audiences. 

Under this proposal, the production of the music and the videos would be completed using out-of-school peer educators, and would be accompanied by training on use of the animation computer programmes and the recording equipment.  The aim of the training would be to empower the youth, and to allow for income-generating activity in the future.  Some of the relevant software will be left behind in Sierra Leone after the recording and video work are complete, and recording techniques will be taught that can be duplicated using equipment already in place.  In this way the benefits of the project will be as sustainable as possible.

Unless those who donate the equipment specify otherwise, most of the recording studio will be taken back to the UK after the project, where it will – we hope – be used again for similar projects in other poor environments. If the Sierra Leone project is successful, we are already examining the feasibility of replicating the work in Ethiopia.

Youth, music and HIV prevention in post-war Sierra Leone

In mid-September, three Christian Aid (CA) affiliates will travel to Sierra Leone to visit a number of the partner organisations that do HIV work in that country alongside CA.  They will be there to assist in a pretty unusual project.

A mobile recording studio will be set up in Bo, Sierra Leone, with the goal of helping local musicians and HIV peer educators to produce an album of locally written anti-HIV songs.  Alongside the recording, a computer animation expert will be teaching local young people techniques that will allow them to create music videos to accompany the songs.  Using their new materials, trained young Sierra Leonean peer educators will then be able to spread public health messages to the region's youth, teaching them about HIV and how to protect themselves, and helping to remove the dangerous stigma that surrounds it.  Once the CD is completed, through a sister project in the country's capital, Freetown, the music will be broadcast on national
radio and the videos aired on SLTV, a national TV channel.  In this way, HIV messages will be spread as widely as possible throughout the country in a form that young people will – it is hoped – listen to. 

Music is a good way of delivering important information: many young people in Sierra Leone missed out years of formal education because of the recent civil war, and can't read or write.  Adult literacy is only 29.6%; amongst the youth, it's 38.2%.

The three instigators of the project do not have the budget to purchase all of the equipment necessary to do the best job they can, and are unwilling to ask Christian Aid for further contributions, as CA are already paying for flights and accommodation (not to mention the salary of one of the workers, who is a CA employee who has kindly been allowed to take the necessary month-and-a-half out of his working schedule to do the project).

Although they will use as much of their own equipment as possible or necessary, funds are still needed to purchase further equipment and materials.  It is impossible therefore to say precisely how much is required – the more money that is raised, the better (and tougher) the equipment it will be possible to buy, and the easier and more productive the project ought to become.  With £5000 a reasonably good quality, rugged mobile studio could be assembled from scratch; but even a donation of £500 would ease some of the budgetary pressure.  A ‘wish list’ of equipment is attached for your perusal, and to give you an idea of how much money might be required, and for what.  The team is resourceful, and is confident that it can do a good job with whatever it is able to raise; but more money would certainly increase the chances of a higher-quality product at the end of it.

Some of the equipment will certainly be left in Bo; but if successful, there is a chance that this project could be replicated in other settings – Ethiopia has already been mentioned as a potential project – and some equipment may be retained.

Despite an horrific civil war that took up the earliest years of the century, Sierra Leone is now a relatively peaceful country anticipating democratic elections in August – though still one of the world's poorest nations, and one with some of the worst health statistics on the planet.  HIV prevalence, in particular, is increasing.  In some countries in Africa, because of HIV, life expectancy is less than 40; without good prevention programmes, there is no reason why Sierra Leone will not soon become like Botswana, where 38% of the population is infected with HIV.

There is a lot of evidence to show that young people in Sierra Leone will listen to messages from other young people – but that messages created by adults for young people are often ignored.  Some peer education events, such as football matches, can generate large crowds of youth, which are great awareness-raising opportunities.  In the case of football matches, for instance, HIV work can take place either before the match, or at half-time.  But educative material for this kind of work is lacking, and the people watching the football matches aren't always that receptive.

If more appropriate materials were available – such as, for instance, culturally sensitive songs and music videos about HIV, with non-stigmatising lyrics – then this would allow a greater impact on target audiences.

Under this proposal, the production of the music and the videos would be completed using out-of-school peer educators, and would be accompanied by training on use of the animation computer programmes and the recording equipment.  

Peer education by trained young people is a key aspect of raising awareness about HIV.  If people's ideas about HIV are incorrect or fear-based, there can be increased stigma and discrimination towards people who are infected with the virus – and as a result, people don't get tested or treated, and many of those with HIV are scared to tell
anyone. Then the virus spreads faster. The moralising and misinformation that accompany HIV mean that social stigma and injustice greatly exacerbate its effects.

The aim of the music and video training would be to empower the youth, and to allow for income-generating activity in the future.  Some of the relevant software will be left behind in Sierra Leone after the recording and video work are complete, and recording techniques will be taught that can be duplicated using equipment already in place.  In this way the benefits of the project will be as sustainable as possible.