PSI Let’s Talk Events
Exp in partnership with PSI Kenya, organized ‘C’ Date youth events aimed at getting the target audience into a forum where they can openly discuss Reproductive Health issues and get information on the various contraceptive options in a way that would not be clinical or boring but engaging, interactive and fun. The events targeted youth aged between 18 and 24 Years in low income, peri-urban areas of Kenya. This audience is at a time in their lives when they are making decisions that will affect their future in one way or another. They are concerned about their well being and want to make informed decisions. Reproductive Health is considered a ‘private’ topic and so in order to interest ladies in our events we needed to engage them in forums where they were relaxed and receptive.
Our strategy therefore, was to get the audience into sessions where they had an opportunity to put their lives into perspective with contraceptives being the focal point. We created a roving experiential zone with different tents where the audience sat through exciting interactive discussions on issues of interest to them. Focus was on different areas of their lives such as finance, careers, beauty, Weight and nutrition as well as Reproductive health. We wanted the audience to see that all these elements are part of their well being and are interlinked in one way or the other. Consultation services were made available for those who wanted contraceptives. HIV counseling and testing (VCT) was available at each event.
At the end of each event, we thanked the ladies for attending the sessions by treating them to a performance by one of their favorite artistes.
RESULTS:
10 Youth events in selected Peri-urban centres in Kenya
Reach 28,400 youth in 10 peri-uban towns across Kenya
2,496 Youth educated on reproductive Health
719 Youth tested for HIV
WSP Rural Sanitation Programe
An estimated11,000 rural households in Tanzania have gained access to improved sanitation in two and a half months under a ‘supply and demand strengthening exercise’ under WSP’s Scaling up Rural Sanitation business. WSP, along with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and 10 local government authorities began carrying out the exercise with Exp Tanzania in mid April, 2011. Exp introduced various incentives to strengthen supply and demand, including recruitment of local hardware suppliers, branding support, and provision of moulds to produce latrine slabs.
Exp also worked with local authorities to lay the foundation for introduction of Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) facilitator payments, which would be initiated once triggering takes place. From mid April to late June, approximately 5,000 latrine slabs, or sanplats, were sold, and around 7,000 households had initiated their own latrine improvements. Individual interpretations of the incentives and community performance have varied among the 10 participating districts, which represent a variety of social, economic, and geographical settings. WSP and partner agencies are now deriving lessons – such as how the factors of sanplat production traveled closer to dispersed rural costumers - to support the Government of Tanzania’s planned National Sanitation Campaign.