Apprendre À Vivre: Learning About Living
Apprendre À Vivre: Learning About Living
Apprendre À Vivre: Learning About Living
I. Summary
After the success of Learning for Living in Nigeria, our partner One World UK now implements this program in Senegal.
It offers information for young people on sexual and reproductive health rights in an innovative fashion through ICT
and SMS text messaging. In the first six months after the start already 4,000 text messages with questions were send,
well above all expectations.
Context
Also in Senegal young people are becoming sexually active at a younger age. They need more and better information
about relationships, sex and HIV/Aids. However, talking about these subjects remains a taboo. As youth receive very
little answers to their questions about sexuality, they remain badly informed. Dominant norms and values, religious
tendencies, classical education systems and ageing learning methodologies but also ignorance of parents and teachers,
play a key role in the obstacles to proper awareness about sexual and reproductive health rights. The information that
is currently provided (formal and informal) is incomplete, contains half truths and affirms stereotypical norms.
The overall goal of Apprendre Vivre (Learning for Living) was to use ICT tools to develop and implement a project that
will provide information and life skills necessary to foster behavioural change among young people. The way to achieve
this is by encouraging a reduction in high-risk behaviour which may lead to HIV and other sexually transmitted
infections, unplanned pregnancy, complications from unsafe abortions and maternal mortality. By empowering young
people to get sexual and reproductive health information on their own terms, and by promoting alternatives to social
norms that accept violence against girls and women, the project seeks to address some of the important challenges
that young adolescents are facing. It uses innovative technologies that provide a safer space for learning and
interacting.
Results
Fitting in the Senegalese context, the program improves
the teaching and sexuality education as well as life skills,
to empower young people to make informed decisions.
The curriculum development and implementation is being
led by the Ministry of Education alongside key Senegalese
civil society organizations. Butterfly Works worked hand-
in-hand with RAES, a local Senegalese health and
education organization, to build the multi-lingual info-
cartoon e-curriculum. This includes scenarios voiced in
French and Wolof by local youngsters. A number of 143
teachers in 10 schools in the regions Dakar and Ziganchour
were trained by the end of 2010 to use the eLearning
platform. Of those 25 were trained as Master Trainers,
capable of stepping down the training to their colleagues.
A further 84 youth peer educators were trained, 20 of
whom also became master trainers. Lessons started in
January 2011.
The platform provides on-demand information and services through trained counselors. In 2010, the major
components (SMS and email question-and-answer service) were embedded within the structure of a major civil society
partner. Private sector companies including one of the largest telecom companies in the country have offered no or
low-cost support.
Since the public launch in February 2011, the BipInfoAdo has received well over 75,000 unique text questions, far
exceeding the expectations. In order to run the service, One World recruited and trained 5 counselors to provide
accurate information and counseling.
Using a participatory method developed by RAES, One World has created radio programming by and for young people
to develop their own effective communication tools. This must ensure that messages developed and distributed will be
suitable and understood by the local communities. Working with a trained group of 10 young people and 5 local radio
hosts, the radio programming was distributed throughout the country.
So far the Learning about Living has appeared to be a great success in Senegal. Oxfam Novib is currently discussing a
follow- up and scale-up project with One World. The scale up will be used to emphasize the needs for youth outside
the cities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD0UuPW5ifE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqCwQ7y4GCs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzwGWBf3kGI
http://www.infoado.org/2011/11/11/etude-de-faisibilit-learning-about-living-sngal/
http://oneworldgroup.org/mobile4good-lal-senegal
V. Colophon
Partner: OneWorld UK is one of the 13 centers of the OneWorld Network, a worldwide participatory media network.
The speciality of OneWorld UK is innovating e-media tools and platforms to support communities of civil society
organisations and global citizens. OneWorld UK is partner of Oxfam Novib since February 2007.
Project: ONs project number: A-100140-02, project period: 01/12/2009 - 30/11/2011, financial contribution Oxfam
Novib: 700,000 with an additional grant of 142,876
ONs bureau/field office dealing with the project: West Africa
Author: Felicia Hudig
Edited: Metha Spaans (Programme Resource Desk)
Source: annual report 2010, scale-up proposal 2012, email correspondence between One World UK and Oxfam Novib
Aim of the Case:
Selling: for fundraising
Telling (for sharing insights and trust) and Learning (for sharing and learning from experience)
Approval for publication: Bastiaan Kluft
This case was used for the public year report 2011