Takalani Sesame incorporates an educational curriculum created by South African educators and child development experts, and uses entertainment as a strategy for opening up learning and creativity to South African children. The curriculum is designed especially for preschoolers - presenting messages that encourage children to develop positive self-esteem and self-image, to respect and appreciate others, to celebrate South Africa's diverse culture, to develop basic skills with letters and numbers, and to encourage a lifelong love of learning.

To develop the HIV/AIDS component of the initiative, the project’s partners worked closely with South African specialists in HIV and AIDS education, international organisations (UNAIDS), and the Takalani Sesame educational content team to develop a curriculum for young children that addresses three interrelated aspects of HIV and AIDS education: knowledge, attitudes, and skills. With this curriculum came the need for a strategy for promoting the humanisation of individuals with HIV and AIDS. What emerged was Kami, a female puppet who is HIV-positive - but asymptomatic (to counter the common misperception that all individuals with HIV were sickly and underweight). She represents a 5-year-old girl who was orphaned after her mother died of an AIDS-related illness. Kami is designed to provide an engaging, positive role model to Takalani Sesame’s audience.

In conducting background studies with local researchers in South Africa, the Takalani Sesame team found that HIV/AIDS confronted parents and caregivers with a host of challenges, including stigma directed at individuals with the disease; a lack of access to information; and the pain of illness, death, and dying. The studies also highlighted the limited knowledge children had about the disease and reinforced the contention that HIV and AIDS education was appropriate for Takalani Sesame’s intended audience.

Children, HIV/AIDS, Education.