The Communication Initiative
Development action with informed and engaged societies
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Raising Community Awareness on Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS

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With funding support from the Department for International Development (DFID) Challenge Fund, the India HIV/AIDS Alliance (Alliance India) carried out a 13-month project to address the increasing feminisation of HIV/AIDS in India, with a specific focus on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV/AIDS integration. Theatre, film, and posters were used in an effort to develop and strengthen community-centred approaches to meet the SRH and HIV/AIDS-related needs of women in low-income settings. Alliance India further sought to focus on creating increased informed demand and enhancing awareness and knowledge of HIV/AIDS and SRH, with special emphasis on increasing access to health, social, and legal support services for women affected by HIV/AIDS or vulnerable to HIV. This project has also sought to create a body of knowledge that can be readily used by a range of stakeholders, including policy makers, donors, and civil society organisations (CSOs) such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the mass media, and academia. Alliance India worked to accomplish these goals through partnership with 19 NGOs in 17 districts across 6 Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Orissa, and Delhi.
Communication Strategies

In keeping with the mandate of the Alliance, this project was based on an understanding that locally-based sensitisation, mobilisation, and empowerment efforts can be effective in ensuring that women's needs and rights are brought to the forefront as part of the process of designing and implementing HIV/AIDS and SRH activities.

To that end, pursuing a new community-based approach, the India HIV/AIDS Alliance and its partners conducted theatre campaigns to build mass awareness on SRH and HIV/AIDS in Amritsar (Punjab State) and Bhubaneswar (Orissa State). The street plays and "talking-doll" shows were designed to connect with communities through "edutainment"-style public health education, especially among those with limited access to such information. The shows discussed issues around women's vulnerability and imparted information on SRH, HIV/AIDS, and related services for women, their partners, and their children. Alliance India sought to foster community participation - and to sustain the use of the medium of theatre to raise awareness - by training local people to perform as part of the theatre groups and by building the capacity of partnering NGOs' staff members in theatre techniques.

A post-campaign survey was conducted to understand the outreach and to measure change in terms of overall awareness levels. As part of this process, a 12-minute-long documentary film was produced in an effort to capture the experience; it is designed to serve as a resource for CSOs, community-based organisations (CBOs), and individuals working on or interested in the issues of SRH and HIV/AIDS integration at the community level. The film may be viewed online, by clicking here.

In addition, Alliance India is drawing on the use of printed materials in an effort to facilitate the work of those undertaking community-based work with women around issues of SRH and HIV/AIDS. For example, the organisation produced a poster highlighting the 12 SRH rights identified within the International Planned Parenthood Federation Charter on Sexual and Reproductive Rights; the goal here is to help partner NGOs learn about and remember the sexual and reproductive health rights in order to disseminate accurate information to the community. Two flipbooks for outreach workers and other health educators have also been created to spark discussions in women's group, support group, and self-help group settings. One focuses on SRH and HIV/AIDS (click here to access it), and the other explores the SRH needs of women living with HIV (click here to access it). Part of the strategy of fostering communication involves translation of these resources: the flip books are available in 6 languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, and Manipuri.

Development Issues

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, HIV/AIDS, Gender, Women.

Sources

Email from Priya Mohanty to The Communication Initiative on May 7 2007; and India HIV/AIDS Alliance website.

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