Our Work
2. Educational Outreach
This programme aims to provide education about HIV/AIDS and other STIs to pupils in Junior Secondary Schools (age 12 – 16) as well as Senior Secondary School students and school leavers studying at vocational institutions; there are currently ten schools involved with the project, and LIFOC plans to expand this number in the near future.
The goals of the outreach programme are to reinforce and supplement the information students already have about HIV/AIDS, and, through the application of this knowledge, to encourage them to adopt the best practices for reducing the risk of STI transmission and teenage pregnancy. Particular emphasis is placed on abstinence, along with faithfulness and correct/consistent condom use. Presentations are given using a range of materials and learning methods that can be tailored to individual schools’ resources and time-table requirements, with each of the various elements in a session being assigned to a particular volunteer or member of the LIFOC field staff. One of the aims is to make these presentations as interactive as possible so that students are encouraged to make positive choices about their behaviour patterns rather than simply being told what course of action to take.
After being involved in a presentation, pupils are asked to produce poems, stories or pieces of artwork which illustrate key points in their own understanding of the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. The LIFOC team then use these contributions to produce a display which can be put up in classroom, and the children who have submitted the best work are awarded prizes such as books or stationery.