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This Drum Beat is one of a series of commentary and analysis pieces. In this piece, communication for development consultant Peter Jere looks at what he considers to be a case of "false prophets", or hypocrites, leading HIV/AIDS prevention efforts across the globe. He draws on his experience working with the Centre for Development Management Consulting in Lilongwe, Malawi to identify some of the reasons why "walking the talk" by change agents is a key strategy for enhancing prospects for behaviour change in local communities.

We continue to feature a range of critical analysis commentaries of the communication for change field. These appear regularly on the first Monday of most months and are meant to inspire dialogue throughout the month. Though we cannot guarantee to feature your commentary, as we have a limited number of issues to be published each year, if you wish to contribute please contact Deborah Heimann dheimann@comminit.com Many thanks!

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FIGHTING HIV/AIDS: The Case of "False Prophets"

It is common knowledge that one does not dowse fire using a flammable fluid like petrol - people would consider you a lunatic. Applying petrol instead of water to fire will only lead to more fire and therefore more destruction. Similarly, an army that is not focused on a common goal - resolving the conflict - will most certainly lose any battle. A war is an emergency situation that requires the utmost diligence, discipline and commitment. In the course of pursuing the enemy, some soldiers may want to satisfy their various selfish desires in the battlefront. They might be preoccupied with looting, pillaging and other violent fantasies of varying natures. While they enter a country in a "saviour's" uniform with the supposed purpose of achieving peace, they busy themselves raping, stealing and looting from the very people they are meant to protect. Furthermore, as they engage in these pursuits, the enemy might remobilise and counter-attack causing serious casualties - not because of inferior weaponry, but because of hypocrisy.

Ever heard of False Prophets? People who preach what they can't practice? Wolves in sheep skins? They proclaim a message of hope and victory but they don't have any of their own testimony to give credibility to their message. They may believe the message but they want the message to minister "truth and change" to others when it hasn't yet achieved the same in their own lives. They continue to proclaim the message to people just because they are employed to do so - the case of "Zantchito mentality" [1]. What they don't realise is that messages that lack corresponding testimony in the speaker's life often do not carry power to cause genuine change in people's lives. People may be impressed by the articulate speaker but his information will not spark a conviction that leads to a decision for change. Remember the adage: "Until conception takes place, pregnancy cannot occur". In other words, empty words (words without corresponding testimony) do not lead to sustainable change in people's attitude, values, perceptions or behaviour.

It is not, therefore, too surprising that as nations of the world we are struggling miserably to contain the impact of HIV and AIDS, especially in the third world. We are attacking the enemy from all fronts, but with very minimal success. Governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations (CBOs), chiefs, local assemblies, faith-based organisations (FBOs), donors and local communities are all proclaiming messages of prevention and mitigation of the impact of HIV and AIDS. Billions of dollars from local and international sources have been diverted from addressing education and food security issues towards the HIV and AIDS fight. Despite all these efforts, the "enemy" remains hugely illusive as most third world nations slide deeper into the quagmire of poverty. Conferences costing millions have been held to assess progress in the fight, and different strategies have been mooted to help address the HIV and AIDS puzzle. I have attended many of these conferences and meetings and read many reports on the same. Not one of them confesses that we are experiencing little progress in the fight because we have too many False Prophets in our ranks. I feel that there are too many counterfeit stakeholders in the fight, and that it is impossible to make genuine progress until they are identified and rooted out. Hypocrisy has no place in this struggle. It is a noble fight that requires genuine soldiers, who have the heart and mind to battle using self-knowledge and experience - these are soldiers who are ready to live by example.

In July 2005, I attended an annual review conference of the Government of Malawi/UNICEF-funded prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) project being implemented in the Mwanza district in Southern Malawi intended to promote participation of men in PMTCT for HIV prevention and AIDS mitigation. It was a well-attended meeting with over 200 stakeholders participating, including chiefs, volunteers, youth, government personnel, and donor representatives, among others. Government officials preached a powerful message on the need for men to support their wives by escorting them to antenatal clinics, making decisions on HIV testing, using condoms during pregnancy if diagnosed HIV-positive, providing proper nutrition during pregnancy, and enhancing sex quality in marriage, etc. Married couples dubbed "role models" and drawn from parts of the district gave powerful testimonies of how they have embraced the ideologies being propagated by the project. In the course of the session, one junior chief posed a very interesting question that invited an unexpectedly deafening burst of applause from participants - he wanted to find out if, amongst the project promoters (mostly government health personnel), there were any who would give their own corresponding testimony regarding adoption of what they were preaching to participants so as to encourage them. You may be able to guess what answer was given to this probing, yet simple, enquiry - silence...and then one long, vague explanation that simply did not respond to the question...followed by an excuse that time was running out and there was a need to complete the remaining business of the day. The question sounded simple, but the response told a different story, and that is because, I am sure, they did not practice what they preached. Similarly, their presentations completely lacked personal and family-level testimonies to illustrate the messages they were preaching.

There are so many stakeholders in the HIV and AIDS fight today who preach use of condoms but who then themselves indulge in unsafe sex. Some may question my assertion on the basis that sex takes place in secret, but I can assure you that there are many HIV/AIDS activists who promoted safe sex practices for many years but have since died of the same or have since contracted the virus while on the battlefront. There are numerous youth NGOs and CBOs that promote sexual abstinence until marriage, but I can assure you very few of them would manage to give you a formula to which they themselves ascribe which might stimulate their listeners to join them in also adopting safer sex practices. I talked to youth group leaders who were attending a workshop on how to implement the National HIV/AIDS Policy early in 2006 at Joe's Motel in Mchinji district of Central Malawi, asking them what prescription they give to their clients to enable them to abstain from sex before marriage as an HIV prevention measure. They had no answer, and yet they have been preaching this message for years. I also had the opportunity to attend one of the National Youth Council annual conferences held at Natural Resources College in Lilongwe district of Central Malawi in 2002. The risky character and behaviour portrayed by leaders of the youth organisations attending the meeting made me wonder if the message of abstinence that came from their mouths in the conference deliberations was really worth promoting. Mind you, these were leaders, and leaders are expected to be role models to bring credibility to their guidance and counseling agenda. No wonder many parents in Malawi today wouldn't dare allow their children to join youth groups in the country for fear of contracting the highly contagious "character". It is a waste of donor resources to take such soldiers to the battlefront - they are hypocrites and will only expose the army to the enemy.

Today, workshops are held in many countries to discuss behaviour change strategies to address the impacts of HIV and AIDS. The people who preach in such workshops rarely have anything to show at a personal or family level to prove practicability of their solutions. It's all academic or sheer hullabaloo. At nightfall, the well-learned men and women get to the business of fetching prostitutes and "men of the night". Today, it is common to find divorcees or people with dysfunctional marriages preaching strategies to enhance marriage life for HIV prevention. Their audiences can't believe what they say because their messages carry no substance at all.

It is time that nations take an honest look at the kind of enemy we are fighting. It is time we realise that HIV and AIDS is creating hopelessness, quiet resignation, and despair in the lives of many, including my fellow Malawians. In Malawi, people are gripped by fear for their own and other people's lives. People cannot continue on this path. The main challenge in the fight today may no longer be HIV/AIDS itself. Rather it may be the False Prophets we are breeding in our midst who are, despite their messages, actually impeding efforts on the battlefront. It is high time we examined the quality of our soldiers on the battlefront. The financial resources available are adequate enough to register significant progress in the war, even in the third world. Knowledge about HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation has spread to most countries through various media outlets and strategies. The question is, how much impact or change has this achieved? It is now time that our efforts at coordination are directed at reforming the leadership base to uproot counterfeit soldiers so that genuine soldiers are able to continue the fight. Genuine leaders can no longer be identified only by examining their management capacity or technical capacity; it is high time that other leadership selection criteria/guidelines are deployed and that the leaders we choose practice what they preach. We will never manage to dowse the HIV/AIDS fire by using petrol.

Peter Jere
Malawi
pjjere@globemw.net

[1] Zantchito mentality = "I don't care; moreover I do it only for the sake of fulfilling my employment obligations."

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This issue of The Drum Beat is meant to inspire dialogue and conversation among the Drum Beat network.

The dialogue began November 9th; to read contributions, please click here.

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Please participate in a Pulse Poll related to this commentary.

It is crucial for promoters of behaviour change projects to be role models of the desired behaviour.

Do you agree or disagree?

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This issue of The Drum Beat is an opinion piece and has been written and signed by the individual writer. The views expressed herein are the perspective of the writer and are not necessarily reflective of the views or opinions of The Communication Initiative or any of The Communication Initiative Partners.

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RESULTS of recent poll:

Understanding the information and communication needs of people living in economic poverty is vital for development progress.

82.26% Agree

3.23% Disagree

4.84% Unsure

Total number of participants = 62

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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.


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