Twinning Center partners at the Kenya Episcopal
Conference-Catholic Secretariat (KEC-CS) Commission for Education and Religious Education in Nairobi and DePaul University in Chicago are collaborating on the implementation of a youth abstinence and behavior change program targeting children in Kenya’s Catholic Schools, as well as other educational institutions that request the programming.
The long-term goal of the partnership is to increase the capacity of KEC-CS to design, implement, sustain, and evaluate their faith-based prevention efforts.
Specific objectives include strengthening the Kenyan partner’s ability to:
- Train and support teachers in the implementation
of a school-based youth abstinence and behavior change program;
- Support diocesan leaders and teachers in the
implementation of a complementary Families
Matter! program that targets parents;
and
- Develop a monitoring and evaluation system to facilitate ongoing updating, improvement, and
expansion of these and related programs.
To that end, partners have adapted successful
abstinence and behavior change models targeting young people not only to Catholic doctrine and
teachings, but also to Kenya’s rich and unique cultural heritage. The program they designed together contains two main components: Making Life's Responsible Choices and Families Matter!
Making Life's Responsible Choices is a school-based abstinence and behavior change program for youth that builds on standard HIV prevention information and
activities included in the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology's National AIDS Education Syllabus. Partners incorporated these messages with traditional Catholic and African values, drawing on the rich and varied teachings of both to better arm children with the tools they need to safeguard their health.
Currently, the Making Life's Responsible Choices
program is being delivered in nearly 800 Catholic and public-sponsored primary schools within 24 of Kenya’s 25 Catholic dioceses, with expansion to 25th diocese expected by the end of 2009. Partners have trained more than 1,500 teachers and some 168,000 pupils have
participated in the school-based program since its launch in 2006.
By aiming to increase family involvement in abstinence and behavior change, the Families Matter! program
further addresses the unique HIV prevention needs
of Kenyan youth. Implementation of this program
commenced in 2008 among parents of children aged
11-14 in Machakos Diocese. The program will be
expanded to include other dioceses in 2009.
Partners are also working with Radio Waumini, a national Catholic radio station to deliver youth and
family-friendly radio messages that enhance both of these programs.
Updated June 5, 2009
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