Introduction
AfroAIDSinfo contributed to World AIDS Day celebrations during November 2007 by participating in the activities at the Intshayelelo Primary School in Khayelitsha, South Africa. This particular event formed part of our commitment to actively impart knowledge on HIV/AIDS to township communities. The diffusion of knowledge is based on a model developed by the AfroAIDSinfo team, known as the peer to peer diffusion knowledge model (PPDKM).

Principles of the PPDKM
Below are the principles and a demonstration of how they were applied:

• Knowing the audience: Prior to this event meetings were held with the educators of the school. It was decided at this meeting that activities would be developed where they could practice their skills as peer educators.
• Events involving the target audience: The activities that were planned for World AIDS Day was aimed at imparting accurate knowledge on HIV/AIDS. These activities included energisers, quizes and role play exercises.
• Improved learning through multimedia: Apart from these activities the learners were also exposed to other forms of multimedia. They received colourful brochures compiled and printed by the AfroAIDSinfo team. The significance of these brochures lies in the fact that the learners could read it for further knowledge and take it home to be read by their parents.

Another novel idea to involve the community was the presence of Radio Zibonele, a local community radio station. Planning of the event included two major highlights.  The first consisted of a radio broadcast the day before the event in which two Xhosa-speaking scientists from the South African Medical Research Council participated in a panel discussion at the Radio Zibonele studio. This approach was followed as part of the PPKDM to disseminate information for better knowledge uptake.  Before the panel discussion, a number of advertisements about the upcoming discussion were broadcast. The motivation of the discussions was to impart knowledge about HIV and invite community members to phone the studio with their questions.  An overwhelming response came from the community.

The second highlight was the group activities at the school and the live broadcast by Radio Zibonele conducted from a classroom.  The focus was to impart knowledge on HIV and learners then tested their knowledge in a quiz.  This live broadcast also enabled further learning by the community.

• Monitoring and evaluation: The AfroAIDSinfo team attended the meeting and handed out pre- and post questionnaires to grade seven learners to monitor if there was an increase of knowledge through the activities. Educators also wrote a report of the day.

Learners responding to question-and-answer session during a live broadcast

Grade seven learners participating in group activities

Lessons learned

1. During the phone-in session it became clear that:
   • Women are still the vulnerable group, even in townships. Women related sad stories of male dominance and their lack of power to be assertive.
   • There is a huge lack of knowledge in the communities. This means that the next step should be to train more peer educators to become involved in the community to share their knowledge based on accurate information.
   • There is a great need for support groups in communities to help and assist HIV-positive women.
   • Women are afraid of stigma that still exists within the community.
2. Radio Zibonele made an immense contribution and it proved to be an excellent way of reaching the community with much-needed knowledge.
3. The interaction with the learners consisted of group activities although these activities would have worked better if the groups were smaller, since they consists of up to 250 learners per group.

Conclusion
The complete format of the event was based on a different approach consisting of activities in which all the learners participated in stead of passively listening to speeches.  To conduct these activities fitted well with the opportunity for peer educators to practice their skills in responding to HIV in their school.  Because learners actively participated in all activities, there was an atmosphere of excitement that was conducive for learning. 

The PPKDM puts emphasis on optimizing on the African tradition of entertainment through storytelling, drama, singing etc. to transfer knowledge.  For that reason the activities were very successful in creating an enabling environment that contributed to overall learning.

Author: Pieter Visser
Reviewed by: Hendra van Zyl
Contact: afroaidsinfo@mrc.ac.za
Date: December 2007

Last updated: 3 December 2007