printable version

Telling True Stories

by Valerie Uccellani (valerie@globalearning.com)
Partner and CDET, Global Learning Partners

Global Learning Partners, Inc. (GLP) has worked for the last couple of years with the Health Communication Partnership (HCP) to help reduce the continuing risk of HIV infection faced by people in Ethiopia. Our first project focused on working with women in the sex industry to lower their risk of HIV infections. We began with an intense exploration of similar efforts worldwide – we visited programs in our own home cities, and studied materials created by and for sex workers everywhere in the world. We discovered that, despite differences in culture, sex workers in Ethiopia could learn an enormous amount from women with a similar lifestyle in Asia, the U.S. and Latin America. We discovered that HIV risk had to be addressed in the context of a number of other risks to their safety, their sense-of-self, and overall wellness. We discovered that to make a difference, programs which focused on sex workers must also reach establishment owners and clients. We learned that to support change, programs must ensure not only an adequate and inexpensive supply of condoms, but must also ensure quality healthcare for women at nearby clinics. Finally, we learned that the only way a program could be effective would be to cease to think of itself as “a program” and, instead, to be part of “a movement” – a movement which supported the natural networking of women and their natural interest to protect themselves and their loved ones.

HCP began this work in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa, connecting with women through established associations of sex workers. As of November 2009, over 250 women have been certified as peer leaders. Over 1500 commercial sex workers – within and beyond the associations - have been reached and aims to reach thousands more. Peer leaders are carefully selected, trained, compensated, and celebrated; they serve not only as role models but as real models - open in their own imperfections and struggles, and supportive of the struggles faced by others. About 980 establishments have been reached up to June 2010 in Addis and Adama. After the pilot phase, the project was expanded to more sites in Addis Ababa and Adama, to slum areas where there are many Sex Workers.

HCP has also collaborated with owners and managers of hundreds of venues (bars, hotels, etc.) to encourage them to collectively support safe sex as well as the safety of the women. Partner organization, PSI, has been instrumental in ensuring condom supply, and the public health clinics, FGAE , have been extremely supportive in accepting referrals for testing, and treatment of illnesses.

With HCP, GLP designed, field-tested, and revised a dialogue-based peer learning guide with which women lead weekly sessions to explore issues relevant for them, and other women at the venues in which they work. We used all of the fundamental principles of Dialogue Education™ in designing the materials, balancing safety and challenge to help the women get beyond the informational conversations about HIV which have been happening for years – and into the real feelings and difficulties they face. Each session of the guide is built around true stories told by women and collected by HCP as they have built relationships with the women over time.

With HCP, GLP also created, revised, and expanded a six-month training course for peer leaders through which they gather on a monthly basis to build their skills, name their insights, and celebrate the work they have done at their venues. In response to a very positive reaction by the women, as well as partner organizations, we have now completed a second Peer Learning Guide through which women address a range of issues directly and indirectly associated with HIV risk. By March of 2010, HCP expects that over 500 commercial sex workers, and 800 establishments, across two cities, will be involved in this effort.

“Smart Journeys” is the name which the women have recently given to this work. You can find out more - the challenges faced, the strategies employed, and the formal evaluation to done in 2010 - by contacting HCP’s Coordinator, Firewhot Woldemichael (fwoldemichael@aed.org).

To dialogue with GLP about our approach to this work, and all that we have learned from it, please contact Valerie Uccellani (valerie@globalearning.com) or Jeanette Romkema (jeanette@globalearning.com).

---

ⁱ HCP is led by the Academy for Educational Development with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

| More

<<back