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Onelove Campaign - Swaziland

Country

Swaziland

Programme Summary

The national Onelove Campaign in Swaziland, led by National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA) and rolled out through Lusweti Institute of Health and Development, seeks to reduce HIV prevalence by decreasing the number of people engaging in multiple concurrent partnerships (MCP). In order to discourage MCPs, the campaign aims to highlight the dangers of MCP, promote positive dating patterns and good relationships, encourage single partner relationships, build self efficacy by showing life examples of good relationships and positive dating patterns, and counter negative relationship role modeling prevalent in Swaziland. The 5-year campaign, which forms part of a larger Southern African regional Onelove campaign, was launched in March 2009 and will run until 2012. The campaign activities include television and radio talkshows, public service announcements, outdoor media, public dialogues, a media competition, and a business sector component.

Communication Strategies

The campaign is intended for the population aged 15 to 49, with a particular focus on in-school youth, the business sector, the church, high school leavers, and socialites. For purposes of messaging, the target audience is further segmented according to age. Target audience and message are segmented as follows:
15-19 yrs: Abstinence
20-30 yrs: I’m open to the world, enjoying my freedom but with one partner
31-40 yrs: I’ve seen the world and ready to settle with one partner
41-49 yrs: I’ve built my empire, I now need to keep it together; protect and nurture it.

The campaign makes use of rolemodels as a strategy to influence people’s behaviour. This strategy is based on the belief that showcasing a desired behaviour by people they look up to will lead to people adopting that behaviour. Using this strategy, the campaign aims to showcase positive dating patterns and good relationships in order to encourage people to stop engaging in multiple concurrent sexual relationships.

In order to select the role models, Lusweti and its partners (other organisations working in the area of HIV prevention) drew up a list of possible candidates. The selection of candidates consisted of business icons, career people, in-school youth, people in the church, and public figures who are known to be of good moral standing and reputation. According to Lusweti, these are people who have one partner at a time (but not in a serial monogamy type of way) or people who are known to conduct their relationships in an exemplary manner. Candidates were screened and short-listed against set terms of reference by a panel selected by Lusweti. From the shortlist, eight people were selected - one male and one female role model for each of the four target groups.

The role models are being used as ambassadors for the campaign promoting the campaign messages. They are used as models in all media products and will be profiled in the media to showcase their successful monogamous relationships and good dating patterns.

Because different media reach different audiences, the campaign uses a mix of media. These include:
Radio and television talk shows: Three radio talk shows will be broadcast on SBS English and siSwati channels and VOC respectively, and one TV talk-show will be broadcast on Swazi TV.
Outdoor media: These include 5 billboards, which will be mounted in 5 strategic locations within the four regions of the country; posters, which will be distributed at bus stops, in schools, night clubs, and bars; coasters, which will be distributed in bars and night clubs; and 2 types of poster calendars, one for schools and one for the business sector. Outdoor media will also include 8 branded buses, and diaries for distribution to business people.
Public Service Announcements (PSAs): 16 radio PSAs (2 each per target audience segment) are being aired on siSwati channels and the English channel. The campaign is also broadcasting PSAs on television. Click here to view a Onelove television PSA on Youtube.
Print Advertisements: These will have the same information as the billboards and PSAs and will be featured on alternate days in newspapers.

In order to increase media coverage, the campaign is also running a media competition for journalists on the best coverage on MCPs and related social issues.

To facilitate public discussion on MCPs and related issues, mobile discussions will be conducted on buses. The discussions will be facilitated by popular radio personalities in ‘live radio call in talk show’ style. Facilitators will be furnished with discussion guides to ensure that the discussion is contained, focuses on topical issues, and advances campaign messages. The buses will be branded with the campaign messages and on the day of the mobile discussions these buses will go on one free trip.

Lusweti also aims to partner with MTN to get the “Please call me” tag message to incorporate OneLove messages. They also plan to partner with the National Premier Soccer League in order to use national soccer events to convey OneLove campaign messages. To reach the business sector, Lusweti is looking at partnering with the organisers of the Entrepreneur of the Year award to host a half-day seminar for the business sector.

A Onelove booklet entitled Healthy Relationships is scheduled to be launched at the end of November and will be distributed at health centres, libraries, community centres, youth centres, government offices, and a selection of shops and supermarkets. The booklet is a guide to healthy relationships with tips on how to have a fulfilling emotional and sexual relationship with one partner.

The Onelove radio drama series was launched in October 2009. The series addresses the complexity of relationships and seeks to illustrate how sexual dissatisfaction and lack of communication in relationships can lead to MCPs. It also draws attention to the serious consequences of engaging in intergenerational sex and transactional sex.

The campaign is in the process of completing the production of a short film called "Bloodlines". It tells the story of a man who cannot save his son whose life is at risk as a result of his philandering. The film seeks to change behaviour and attitudes towards infidelity, empower women to take a stand against infidelity, and also empower men and women to take pride in not engaging in MCPs.

The social mobilisation component of the project seeks to engage men and women, both youth and adults, in conversations to interrogate the practice of MCPs. While dialogues for the general community will be on MCP, dialogues for youth are tailored to a particular segment of youth. In-school youth dialogues focus mainly on intergenerational sex (IGS). This is addressed first in the context of teacher-learner relationships and secondly in a broader IGS context as a driver of MCPs. Dialogues for youth in tertiary institutions and for urban-based out-of-school at youth centres discuss issues around safer sex, condom use, MCPs, and Voluntary Counselling and Testing.

The campaign is working with community leaders and so far nine communities have been visited to sensitise local leadership on the campaign and to conduct community dialogues. According to the organisers, community leaders have embraced the campaign and the dialogues.

Development Issues

HIV/AIDS

Key Points

HIV and AIDS is a major challenge to the general Swazi population with an HIV prevalence rate of 26% among the 15 - 49 age group. The infection rate peaks at 49% in the 25 - 29 age group and 45% in the 35 - 39 age group for females and males respectively. Among the key drivers of HIV in the country is the common practice of multiple sexual partners as noted in the 2nd National Multi-sectoral HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan, 2006 - 2008. Many of these partnerships are multiple concurrent partnerships (MCP), where men have women/mistresses they have sex with regularly and frequently in addition to their official wives and regular girlfriends, a practice that has been fast adopted by women as well. Many forums have affirmed that MCPs fuel the spread of HIV especially given the fact that in most of these partnerships condom use is very low. According to research conducted by Lusweti, MCPs are perpetuated by dissatisfaction in relationships, especially sexual dissatisfaction; poverty and materialism; intergenerational sex; and culture and social norms.

Partners

National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), MTN, National Premier Soccer League

Contact

Lusweti Institute of Health and Development - Onelove Campaign

Office # 26B Gables
Ezulwini
Old Mbabane-Manzini Road

Manzini
Swaziland
Tel: +268 416 1082 / +268 416 1030
Fax: +268 416 1039

Source

Email received from Fortunate Twala on January 13 2009 and email received from Zanele Zwane on October 24 2009.


Placed on the Soul Beat Africa site February 16 2009
Last Updated November 10 2009



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