Sing Out! Stop SIDA!
Print this Page- By Amy Patanasinth
- Country: Togo
- Dates of Service: 2006-2008
When it came time for my host organization, the Association of Volunteers in the Fight against AIDS (AVLS), a local nongovernmental organization that works with people living with HIV/AIDS, to plan the annual World AIDS Day activity, we found that we were stuck. Not planning a World AIDS Day event was not an option. The number of people who are HIV-positive in my town continues to rise, with AVLS seeing new cases every week. The result of the needs assessment was obvious: we had to seize any opportunity to increase AIDS awareness. The first problem we faced was lack of funding. The second was the repetitiveness and poor efficacy of the standard AIDS Day awareness-raising campaigns. We needed to do something cheap and innovative, while still touching as many people as possible with our message.
Since World AIDS Day fell on a Saturday, which is market day, we knew that no one would come to an event in town. We came up with the idea to use radio, since no matter what time of day it is or what people are doing, people always listen to the radio. Even as you walk through the streets of my town in northwest Togo on the quietest of days, there is always some background noise—the local radio. People listen to and depend on the radio for their news and entertainment, so we were guaranteed a large audience. Using the radio meant that we had to find a new way to get our message of AIDS prevention across, other than using the usual speeches and skits. AVLS welcomed the opportunity to work with radio because it is the most advanced form of technology that the majority of our community has, and it offered a learning opportunity for the members of the organization.
We needed something short and catchy—something that people would really hear and remember. An AIDS song competition was the answer. AVLS always tries to build bridges in the community and hopes that greater collaboration can solve larger problems. Since all of the middle schools and high schools already have trained peer educators or anti-AIDS clubs, we decided to capitalize on their knowledge and work with them. Students made great participants because they were incredibly motivated and eager to teach for once, not just learn. The AIDS Song Competition really benefited students because it gave them opportunities to show their creative sides, something that appeared to be much less common and appreciated in Togo's schools. In the schools where I worked, art and music classes were not regularly offered.
Radio Dawul, the prefecture's community radio station, really liked the Sing Out! Stop SIDA! AIDS song competition idea and gave us an hour of live radio time at a greatly reduced cost, since they believed in our cause and saw the potential benefits for the community. The excited students provided great free advertising prior to the competition because they told all of their friends and family to listen. On the day of the competition, the students arrived at the studio nervous, never having had an "on-air" experience of this magnitude. The songs were judged by local artists and members of the medical profession based on creativity and the message conveyed. The song competition came off without a glitch. The radio staff helped with all of the technical aspects. The songs were performed perfectly and covered a wide range of topics including the ABCs of AIDS prevention (abstinence, be faithful, and use condoms), anti-discrimination, and care of people living with HIV/AIDS, all while covering the main theme of "AIDS and Youth." All of the participants left happy, knowing that their voices were heard by thousands of listeners and proud that they helped broadcast a message about the importance of AIDS prevention.
The competition taught the participants how to work as part of a team and to tap into their creative sides. It also fostered their confidence to speak up in front of large groups about important subjects, which many Togolese youth do not often have the opportunity to do, but which is an important life skill. Since the audience for Sing Out! Stop SIDA! was so large, many of the students that participated in the event have been approached by community members wanting to know more about HIV/AIDS and their work as peer educators. The experience showed these students that even they, at their young age, could make a difference and change their communities for the better.
It is estimated that the Sing Out! Stop SIDA! AIDS Day song competition reached roughly 80,000 listeners throughout my town and several neighbouring prefectures. We reached 40 times more people than we could have optimistically estimated as a typical presentation audience. Following the radio show, AVLS and Radio Dawul received congratulatory and encouraging calls from a range of listeners, from small isolated villages to associations in the second largest city in Togo. Although AVLS had not used much technology before, they now clearly understood the advantages of using the radio as a means of dispensing information to the population and are well equipped to repeat any such activity since we collaborated throughout the planning, organizing, and execution of the event. Similar activities could be done wherever there is a radio station and individuals who are willing to participate.
With the success of the Sing Out! Stop SIDA! competition, AVLS has decided to produce a series of health radio shows this year. The winning song from the competition will be recorded and used as the introductory jingle for the radio show. The songs from the competition have since been replayed on the radio, and now as you walk through the streets of town, you can hear two things: the radio and children singing one of the AIDS songs!
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