The Materials section of the Soul Beat Africa website offers resources for communication practitioners that support the use of communication as a tool for development. These resources include manuals, guides and toolkits, books, CDs, CD ROMS, videos, posters, comics, reference materials, and directories from Africa or about Africa.
This issue of The Soul Beat focuses specifically on materials related to HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, and lifeskills, however the Soul Beat Africa website contains materials related to all areas of development. The Soul Beat Africa website has over 750 summaries of Africa-focused materials and more are being added every week.
Please note that many of these resource materials have further related materials, which are listed at the bottom of each page under "Related Summaries".
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1. Tools for Planning and Implementing a Successful HIV and AIDS Treatment Advocacy Campaign - A Toolkit Developed for Treatment Access Advocates and Activists
This toolkit, published by Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Services (SAfAIDS), aims to offer an understanding of what advocacy is and how it can support the work of networks or coalitions. Intended for treatment access advocates and activists acting as individuals or groups, the toolkit is meant to be used as both an information resource and as a training manual. The toolkit looks specifically at the advocacy that is required in planning and implementing an HIV and AIDS treatment access campaign It also offers a number of contacts and web resources.
2. Our World: AIDS and Childhood in Southern Africa
by Obinna Anyadike (ed.)
This photo book, produced by IRIN/PlusNews in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, charts the impact of AIDS on children in southern Africa. The aim of the book is to "document the perilous lives lived by so many young people, and to mobilise action to support local communities, national governments, and humanitarian agencies to better serve the needs of children made vulnerable by HIV". Fourteen children, whose lives have all been affected by the AIDS pandemic, contributed their words and photographs to the book.
3. Generic Training Guide on HIV and AIDS Mainstreaming
This guide, published by the Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD), aims to provide a first step in helping organisations to put in place policies/strategies for internal and external HIV and AIDS mainstreaming. It incorporates four concepts in HIV and AIDS mainstreaming: HIV and AIDS as a development issue, as a human rights issue, internal and external mainstreaming, and partnerships and community participation.
4. Survival is the First Freedom: Applying Democracy & Governance Approaches to HIV/AIDS Work
This toolkit, published by Pact Tanzania, aims to provide a collection of tools for use in applying democracy and governance approaches to HIV/AIDS work. It was produced to assist efforts to scale up responses to the pandemic and increase access to prevention and care services through collaboration at individual, community, and national levels. This tool kit is designed for use by donor organisations, civil society, government, and the private sector.
5. My Future Today - a Guide for Youth
This guide, published by Ditshwanelo - the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, is written specifically for high school leavers in Botswana and sets out the rights and responsibilities of young people as they leave school and enter the adult world. It aims to provide practical advice and includes sections on life skills, relationships, health and wellness, drugs and substance abuse, family, further education and university, training and work, leisure and entertainment, travel and transport, managing money, environmental matters, and governance.
6. Community Action on HIV and AIDS
by Nicta Lubaale
This book, published by Strategies for Hope Trust, is designed to help church leaders deal with social, cultural, and economic issues related to the AIDS epidemic at community level. It covers topics such as the sexual abuse of children, domestic violence, widow inheritance, and property-grabbing by relatives - issues the publication describes as having been exacerbated in many African countries by the AIDS epidemic.
7. Tuko Pamoja: Adolescent Reproductive Health and Life Skills Curriculum
This guide, published by PATH and the Population Council, is designed to help facilitate dialogue between adults and young people on issues related to adolescent reproductive health. It is intended for: teachers; community, religious, and youth group leaders; health care professionals; and anyone working with young people.
8. Kilaka Pictures for Prevention
by John Kilaka and Kurt Madoerin
This collection of pictures, published by Humuliza, aims to help prevent HIV/AIDS by stimulating dialogue and discussion on issues such as using a condom, negotiating safe sex, parent-child communication, harassment, and transactional sex. According to the publishers, pictures are a useful tool to motivate children and young people to discuss issues. However, pictures using human images can also reinforce (sometimes negative) stereotypes in HIV/AIDS prevention work, leading to stigma and discrimination. The Kilaka pictures use a style known as “Tingatinga” which is based on images of African wild animals. Each picture is accompanied by instructions on how to work with the individual drawings.
9. HIV Peer Education Picture Codes
Produced in Botswana for Pact, a United States-based international non-governmental organisation, this set of picture codes was developed as material to be used in group outreach sessions to stimulate discussion around behaviours which put people at risk of HIV infection. The situations and related behaviours include sexual violence, alcohol abuse, concurrent sexual partners, and sex for money or gifts. The picture codes feature photographs of real people in situations which provide choices for specific behaviours. Accompanying each photograph is a list of questions for the outreach worker to ask group participants in order to stimulate discussion. These are followed by a list of "talking points" or information the outreach worker can share with participants.
10. "Life 101, The Journey" Photo Comic Book
This photo comic series forms part of the Addis Ababa University (AAU)'s Modeling and Reinforcement to Combat HIV/AIDS (MARCH) Project. Written in Amharic, the comic series follows the lives of students at AAU as they deal with issues such as transactional sex, condom use, relationships, testing for HIV, and gender equity.
11. My Mum has HIV
by Melissa Hein
This book, published by Treatment Advocacy & Literacy Campaign (TALC), is intended for parents living with HIV and their children. It aims to support parents to disclose their status to their children, thereby hoping to increase levels of community treatment literacy and to improve adherence to HIV drugs. The book tells the story of a family affected by HIV, showing how the infected family members disclose their status to their family, seek treatment, and live positively with HIV.
12. Sexual and Reproductive Health Training Manual for Young People
Published by the German Foundation for World Population (DSW), this manual is designed to be a tool for intensive peer learning and training activities conducted as part of the "Youth-to-Youth" (Y2Y) programme initiated by DSW. The training material focuses on participatory facilitation methods and techniques that can be employed for training situations dealing with sexual and reproductive health issues.
13. Our Future: Sexuality and Life Skills Education for Young People
This book, published by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, is designed for children in grades 4-5 and aims to provide information about puberty, friendship, gender, sexuality, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, and drug use. It contains learning activities and illustrations which aim to engage young people and promote an understanding of themselves and their world. According to the publishers, the book allows readers to reflect on values and improve on skills needed to develop caring and loving relationships,3make good decisions, solve problems, and seek help.
14. Stepping Stones: A Training Package on HIV/AIDS, Gender Issues, Communication and Relationship Skills
by Alice Welbourn
This training manual, published by the Strategies for Hope Trust, offers instructions on how to run Stepping Stones workshops which aim to enable individuals, their peers, and their communities to change their behaviour - individually and together - in relation to HIV/AIDS, gender, and relationships. It is accompanied by a workshop video of 15 five-minute clips, although, according to the publishers, the manual can be used without the video.
15. Ndizvo Zvandiri
This 30-minute film, produced by the ElizaSoul beth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), aims to promote advocacy in prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), and encourage disclosure of HIV status and male participation in reproductive health issues. "Ndizvo Zvandiri", which means "This is What I Am", tells the story of Miriam, who discovers that she is HIV positive when she goes for antenatal care. Intended to be representative of the challenges that many women in Zimbabwe face, the film chronicles the gender challenges she faces in disclosing her status to her husband, as well as how the couple eventually join hands to protect the future of their unborn child.
16. Hope Kit
This is a package of resources designed to facilitate discussion about HIV prevention issues among community groups in Malawi. Assembled by the BRIDGE Project, the Hope Kit is a collaborative effort that includes materials produced by many organisations. It consists of locally developed posters, information cards, booklets, and sample materials to support community facilitators in their HIV/AIDS prevention work.
17. Standing Up for HIV Prevention [DVD]
This is a 10-minute film from director Staffan Hildebrand which was launched at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto in August 2006. Shot in Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Bangkok, Lusaka, Cape Town, Gabarone, Kiev, Phnom Penh, New Delhi, Geneva, Stockholm, and Washington DC, the film shows adolescents and peer educators spreading prevention messages through activities like street plays and group meetings. It focuses on gender relations, sex education for youth, and issues related to sexual and reproductive health and sexual rights from a prevention perspective.
18. HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Advocacy Resource Manual
by Kitty Grant, Michelle Lewis, and Ann Strode
This manual, published by the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), is intended for a wide range of people, such as paralegals, lawyers, social workers, counsellors, people working in AIDS service organisations (ASOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), educators, and trade union members. It aims to give readers practical information on how law and policy can protect and promote human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS, and how the laws and policies in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries have met this challenge. It also looks at ways to strengthen a rights-based response to HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa.
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