Africare HIV/AIDS Initiative

In May 2002, Africare field officers organised community events including radio listening clubs around broadcasts of the ALC. For 3 hours every week, hundreds of people at 10 programme sites in each country gathered to listen to the ALC.

Listening sessions were preceded by hour-long cultural events and are followed by facilitated discussions during which community members discuss programme content, and its applicability to their particular circumstances.

HIV/AIDS.

The pilot phase of the project ended in September 2003. A final evaluation of the project indicated that more than 50,000 people participated directly, and millions more were reached by community radio stations. “There was a significant increase in the number of youth aged 15-24 requesting condoms from hospitals and clinics among project participants. In some project sites, there was an increase of between 30 and 100% in use of [voluntary counseling and testing] VCT sites.

Organisers claim that several community initiatives arose as a direct result of people's participation in listening clubs. For example, a youth initiative following an ALC broadcast about wife inheritance and HIV/AIDS has resulted in the banning of the practice in Mwase village in Zambia. “Project participants felt better equipped to deal with some of the psychosocial aspects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic because of the programmes.”