Sexual Health Education in Rwanda
This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Changeshop: Sexual Health Education in Rwanda.
Ours is a realistic project to reduce unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. We can achieve this through education as many of the youth of Rwanda are unfortunately ignorant about their own bodies and spreading HIV/AIDS due to these topics being a social taboo.
We initiate discussions at schools, youth and womens centres and cooperative associations to win their confidence to tackle these subject. We also use two teaching aids. These are an innovative birth control necklace and a 3D model of the female uterus that we call "Little Mum". We adapt our presentation and message for groups from different religious, social backgrounds and age groups.
Ultimately, we want to eliminate children who get abandoned on the streets. And to improve the value and quality of family life through education.
Sobre ti
Sobre ti
Nombre
Nicolette
Apellido
Nsabimana
URL de Twitter
Sobre tu organización
Nombre de la organización
Association Centre Marembo
Sitio web de la organización
Teléfono de la organización
+25 0788505355
Dirección de la organización
Association Centre Marembo, Sector Remera, Gasabo district, Kigali, Rwanda
País de la organización
Rwanda, KV
Países en donde este proyecto está creando impacto social
Rwanda, KV
Tu organización es
OSC/ONG
¿Cuánto tiempo ha estado operando la organización?
Más de 5 años
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Innovación
Título del Formulario de Inscripción
Sexual Health Education in Rwanda
¿Qué cambios quieres traer al mundo?
Ours is a realistic project to reduce unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. We can achieve this through education as many of the youth of Rwanda are unfortunately ignorant about their own bodies and spreading HIV/AIDS due to these topics being a social taboo.
We initiate discussions at schools, youth and womens centres and cooperative associations to win their confidence to tackle these subject. We also use two teaching aids. These are an innovative birth control necklace and a 3D model of the female uterus that we call "Little Mum". We adapt our presentation and message for groups from different religious, social backgrounds and age groups.
Ultimately, we want to eliminate children who get abandoned on the streets. And to improve the value and quality of family life through education.
¿Cuáles son las actividades principales de tu proyecto?
The primary activities are to debate the message of sexual and reproductive health through orientation. A message that we want spread rather than teach. We encourage our specific audience to set the topics for discussions, so that the problems relate to that particular group we are addressing. We combine the discussions with the teaching aids: the necklace and "little mum" which are produced by the Centre Marembo youth using recycled paper from calenders. We also spread the message through promotional literature in the form of film, posters, leaflets, and books.
After the sixth session with a particular group we organise a mobile unit that comes to test for HIV/AIDS and provide councilling and support for those who test positive.
We change peoples attitudes towards sex and HIV, educate them about their own bodies and personal hygenine. The change is evident by the numbers of youth and people who keep coming back to our sessions and ultimately take the test for HIV.
¿Qué es innovador acerca de tu iniciativa? ¿Cómo es que es un nuevo aporte al campo?
We are the only organisation presenting this broad topic in an innovative new way. The main feature about our project is the use of the necklaces and other educational tools. The government and other NGO'S do not use our approach or methods.
We use simplified comparisons between the different periods of the female menstrual cycle and the natural world that the youth see and understand around them. For example, when the season of the year is dry, the land is infertile. The comparison with the "dry" infertile period of the female cycle is then easier to understand when presented as a metaphor of nature.
The necklaces have many funtions for the youth and all age groups. It's a tool for girls to understand their own menstruation. Secondly, it helps them to easily understand the internal and external functions of their bodies and the fertility cycle, e.g. the pain they experience in their breasts during menstration.
Also during the infertile and fertile periods she can connect the feelings of her body with what she can see on the necklace and make the connection with what she has learnt from the debates, necklace and literature. Women and girls can then understand the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy too from discussions. It's also a tool for the parents to communicate with their children and helps the family communicate and educate each other about a taboo subject.
The innovation of the necklace, when it is combined with the little mum and the promotional literature provides the tools for basic education and sensitisation for basic sexual health.
¿En qué fase está el proyecto?
Operando más de 5 años
Háblanos de la comunidad con la que estás trabajando, por ejemplo, sus condiciones económicas, las estructuras políticas, normas y valores, las tendencias demográficas, la historia y la experiencia con los esfuerzos de compromiso.
We engage with different groups within the community for example, groups of prostitutes require a different approach and understanding than a group of teenagers at school or a group of Muslim or Christian women. Each month there are community days where all the members come together for the collective benefit of their community and if the topic of reproductive or sexual health arrises i will teach to this disparate group of rich and poor, young and old. I travel into rural areas to reach the uneducated, poorer sections of society as well as teaching in the main towns and cities.
Compartir la historia del fundador y lo que inspiró al fundador para iniciar este proyecto
My inspiration came from the doctors and gynaecologists: Dr. Maria Hengstberger and Dr. Jutta Reisenger who I met at a hotel function and they were interested in the products we were making at the Centre Marembo. They then organised training in family planning and sexual health education at the centre Marembo. After this we had many discussions and adapted the teaching method for our demographic. I understood and saw that the problem of unwanted pregnancies and abandoned children was a huge problem in Rwanda because of the poverty brought about by family sizes of 8 or more children through lack of education relating to family planning, birth control and sexual health. I care passionately about individuals and the character of the Rwandan Nation as a whole.
Impacto social
Esta presentación se trata de
Describa cómo tu proyecto ha tenido éxito y la forma en que éste mide.
The success of the project is partly measured in the interest at the end of the debating sessions where the audience take the the decision to be tested for HIV because of their new concern for their health and some buy the necklaces with their own money if they can afford it.
Also i afterwards I receive many inquiries about purchasing condoms or contraceptive pills.
I get many people coming long after the sessions with questions about their bodies and sexual health that proves to me the success of reaching out and educating people in the first place
¿Cuántas personas han sido afectadas por el proyecto?
1.001- 10.000
¿Cuántas personas podrían verse afectadas por el proyecto en los próximos tres años?
Más de 10,000
Las iniciativas ganadoras presentan un plan sólido sobre cómo lograrán el crecimiento. Identifica tus objetivos a seis meses para hacer crecer tu impacto.
We can evaluate the programme with individual questionaires and interviews that reveal the effectiveness of the activities. And monitor the pick-up rates for HIV testing.
Tarea 1
Train staff in councilling skills and family planning. Research the areas and groups that would benefit the most from the programme to ensure that those most in need are approached and engaged.
Tarea 2
Produce the necklaces and other tools and print the promotional literature.
Tarea 3
Implemant the programme and evaluate the effectiveness and success of the project
Identifica tus objetivos a doce meses.
Approach the government of Rwanda for help in implenting the programme into the national curriculumn as a preventative lesson.
Use the local media to create radio and television advertisements.
Tarea 1
Arrange meetings with ministers from the Ministry of Education and Youth. Demonstrate the success of our current programme and reccommend national implementaion in all schools in Rwanda.
Tarea 2
Enquire if any government departments can help fund national advertising campaigns on the radio, television and billboards.
Tarea 3
To cover the whole of Rwanda through the schools, Associations, cooperatives, religious and social groups so that the nation can be aware of their reproductive and sexual health from an early age.
¿Cómo va a evolucionar tu proyecto durante los próximos tres años?
Begin training and implementing the programme in neighbouring countries such as Burundi, DRC, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The format will have evolved over this period into a successful programme making the training of councillors and other necessary staff more efficent and less time consuming.
We would create a network of councillors in each of these countries that could report and be accountable for their respective regions or countries.
Ultimately we want to reach out to the East African community in general, as the problem of over population through lack of education is endemic within the region.
Sostenibilidad
¿Qué barreras pueden dificultar el éxito de tu proyecto y cómo piensa resolverlas?
Funding the project in order to sustain the momentum will be the biggest challenge. However, from our present experience of running the programme we believe that we can demonstrate to the government of Rwanda the effectiveness of our programme in reducing the HIV/AIDS rate amoungst the population, halt the rapid population growth, improve personal and sexual health, which in turn increases the life expectence and productiveness of the general population. We believe we can convince the government to invest in the programme and work in conjunction with us to implement it as a preventative programme of national health in Rwanda.
We would also invite private investment. For example approach the telecommunications company Tigo, to advertise their logo on our promotional literature in return for staggered, finacial investment in the project, thus insuring it's longevity.
We would foster relationships with and work in conjunction with international NGO such as UNICEF to help fund and coordinate the project in order to sustain it on an international level.
Cuéntanos sobre tus alianzas.
Our main donar since the Associations conception in 2005 has been ryico, a registered U.K charity that provides approximately 90% of our funding.
Our major partnership in terms of this programme of birth control and sexual education is aktion regen in Austria who supplied the initial concepts of teaching and orientaion and medical knowledge and support.
AVSI is a partnership organisation that offers us training in job creation and personal growth for the youth at Centre Marembo
AMI is a Candian NGO that operates a cultural exchange programme for students between Canada and Centre Maremb,
Global fund for children supports us through funding for the former street children who we now house and educate at secondary school.
Actual presupuesto anual en dólares americanos.
$10,001‐50,000
Explica tu selección.
Friends and family have supported the project over the years and given their experience, time and dedication since the present programme's inception.
We have had many volunteers working with us to help implement and expand the programme and to act as regional and local councillors.
The Aktion Regen Foundation continue to provide medical advice and general support for the project
Ryico a UK based NGO has continued to support us both financially and with UK volunteers
¿Cómo se va a fortalecer tu proyecto durante los próximos tres años?
By collaborating with Rwandan government departments and sympathetic NGO's
By building links with neighbouring countries. And training many councillors for these countries and train teachers in schools, representatives from associations and prominant members of local cells.
Desafíos
¿Qué barreras a la salud y el bienestar aborda la innovación?
Por favor, seleccione un máximo de tres por orden de relevancia para el proyecto (de mayor relevancia se recibe un "1" y menor, un "3").
PRIMARIO
Normas culturales restrictivas
SECUNDARIA
La falta de acceso a la información específica de la salud y la educación
TERCIARIA
Acceso limitado a herramientas o recursos de prevención
Por favor, describe cómo la innovación específicamente aborda las barreras mencionadas anteriormente.
Debating and discussing such a taboo subject in Rwanda has proved to be a liberating experience for ourselves and our audiences but we have seen that it can easily be done by orientation according to the specific group we are working with. By providing access to educational literature we are overcoming lack of relevant information on sexual health. And by providing access to condoms and contraceptive pills and a HIV/AIDS test at the end of the sessions
¿Cómo estás haciendo crecer el impacto de tu organización o iniciativa?
Por favor, selecciona un máximo de tres posibilidades en orden de relevancia para ti (la más alta relevancia recibiría un "1" y la más baja, un "3").
PRIMARIO
Hacer crecer el alcance geográfico: Dentro de los países de acogida
SECUNDARIA
Hacer crecer el alcance geográfico: Multipaíses
TERCIARIA
Influencia de otras organizaciones e instituciones a través de la difusión de mejores prácticas
Por favor, describe cuál de las actividades para crecer están en curso o previstas para el futuro inmediato.
From the first presentation at Centre Marembo, that was filmed and broadcast by RwandaTV we subsequently had many invitations from health centres, associations, schools and cooperatives. We were then invited bto the Democratic Republic of Congo by Caritas Goma to initiate the programme there. Other organisations and institutions have adopted our model of presentation on sexual and reproductive health.
Colaboras con algunos de los siguientes organismos: (Indica todos los que corrrespondan)
Entidad del gobierno, ONGs/organizaciones sin fines de lucro, Academia/Universidades.
De ser así, ¿estas colaboraciones han ayudado a que tu innovación tenga éxito?
The Rwandan Government have provided advice and facilities free of charge from which tro teach in. Aktion Regen continue to supply support and technical assistance. Universities have provided us with students and the facilities to administer the HIV/AIDS test at the end of our group sessions
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 | 86 weeks ago nicolette nsabimana updated this Competition Entry. |
| 87 weeks ago nicolette nsabimana updated this Competition Entry. |
| 87 weeks ago nicolette nsabimana updated this Competition Entry. |
| 87 weeks ago nicolette nsabimana submitted this idea. |