Twinning Center partners at the Kenya Episcopal
Conference-Catholic Secretariat (KEC-CS) 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 to facilitate ongoing updating, improvement, and expansion of these and related programs.
To that end, partners worked to adapt 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 300 Catholic primary schools within 15 of the 26 Catholic dioceses in Kenya, with expansion to all 26 by the end of 2008.
The Families Matter! program further addresses the unique HIV prevention needs of Kenyan youth by
aiming to increase family involvement in abstinence
and behavior change. Implementation of this program commenced in 2008 among parents of children aged
11-14 in Murang'a, Machakos, Nakuru and Kitale
dioceses.
Partners are working with Radio Waumini, a Nairobi-based Catholic radio station, to deliver youth and family-friendly radio messages to enhance both the Making Life's Responsible Choices and the Families Matter!
programs.
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