Community Outreaches
After a community meeting about the services of RuWCED's counselling centers
Community learning and exchange
Community exchange and learning with women from indigenous communities
GBV during COVID-19
Reflecting on girls' right to education and their VAWG related challenges in times of COVID-19 and conflicts
Discussing girls' right to education
Community exchange on girls' right to education
We Are Making a Difference
RuWCED's youths during National Youth Day 2015
Reproductive Health Talk
Sensitizing secondary school students on HIV/AIDS
Trained peer educators ready for HIV/AIDS Sensitization and prevention
We are determined to make the zero new infection target a reality. If it happens, please know that being HIV+ is not a dead sentence. Call our help l...
Celebrating 2016 National youth day in Ndop-Cameroon
Youths are the strength of our rural communities. RuWCED's team made the difference
Sexual and Reproductive Health Education
Reaching out to secondary school students during an HIV/AID-sexual and reproductive health education outreach
Mama Rural
A task she carries, a responsibility she bears a wife to a husband, and a mother to children, the hidden treasure from despised eyes!
Getting the community involved
Community leaders, parents, teachers and primary school pupils during our Education talks campaign
Sport, a healthy lifestyle!
Doing sport helps our women stay in shape!
Girl Child Education
Presenting school materials to some of our rural girls
Engaging Communities
Connecting Youths
Women's Day 2015
Reaching Out to the Youths
RuWCED's Sport for Health Session
Staff and pupils exercising after health talks
RuWCED's 2014/2015 IT graduating students
We are happy to have young dynamic girls graduating with computer diplomas from our training center
Our Youths performing for the community
Craft-work, drama, singing , as well as dancing is part of our recreational activities
Serving our Communities through Creative Sewing
RuWCED's Community Computer Training Center
Encouraging girls to get involved in Information Tecnology
Adolescent SRH
Reaching out to young boys and girls in our community
Empowering Young Girls
Equiping girls with SRHR knowledge, Human Rights and Leadership skils.

Participatory Action Research for Strengthening Adolescent-led engagement in HIV/AIDS prevention education, testing, treatment and anti-stigma behaviors in Ngoketunjia Division, North West Region- Cameroon. Acronym: (PARSAEH)

 

Research Summary

This Participatory Action Research (PAR) sought to understand factors that motivate or demotivate adolescents to engage in or abstain from HIV preventive behaviors, testing and treatment revealing of HIV status to their partners and or parents/guardians. We trained 26 adolescent community leaders on HIV/AIDS (two from each of the 13 villages that make up Ngoketunjia Division, with one being a nurse working at the local village clinic) to act as change agents and information contacts providing HIV/AIDS prevention education, testing, care, treatment and anti-stigma behaviors to their peers in villages. These adolescent community leaders were to further engage into a participatory action research to understand and document the factors that motivate or demotivate adolescents to engage in or abstain from HIV preventive behavior, testing and treatment, revealing of HIV status to their partners and or parents/guardians. The outcome of this participatory action research was to be a policy brief addressed to relevant policy makers in the country.

Amidst the escalating conflict (increased insecurity) in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, our very committed and passionate adolescent peer educators continue with their group facilitation activities going as far as holding sessions in their homes, in churches, with people hiding in bushes among others. From this commitment, we have learned that engaging adolescents is very vital in combating the spread of HIV/AIDs in our communities.

Adolescents after group discussions in some villages. Peer educator in (a blue T-shirt) with the RuWCED logo on it (picture on the left). Peer educator holding pads -male in blue (picture on the right)

Adolescent peer educators, coordinator of the Ngoketunjia Divisional HIV/AIDS treatment center, Head of government Regional Technical Group on HIV/AIDS, Heads of HIV/AIDS treatment centers, Representative of the Regional delegate of Secondary education, school counsellors and teachers, Church youth leaders, nurses and others after the project findings dissemination and advocacy meeting.

 

Key quotes that marked our learning on the relationship between soft power and unsafe sex

Prove to me that you love me
Prove to me that you are seeing only me
Prove to me that you trust me too by giving it [sexual intercourse] to me without preconditions and asking me to wear socks [condoms].
How can I eat food that I consider to be my own in papers [condoms]-this whole thing is about trusting one another, right?
You are keeping it [her female sex organ] for who? Is there a meter [like that for electricity or water] there? If you do not use it now and it happens that you die, termites will enjoy it- and you do not use enjoy it- by going with plastics?
Only those with multiple sexual partners carry condoms. If you are insisting it means you know your movements and there are many other girls out there who will give it to me without any conditions.
That is how you lose your chances of getting a good husband in the future. Do you know my plans for you?
I[an inter-generational predator] will teach you the gentle way-those young boys are rough and all they offer is rough sex.
I [an inter-generational predator] will teach you very well so that when you marry and handle your husband, he will always beg for it.
Let me [an inter-generational predator] tell you, no man likes a naïve or inexperienced girl.

The statements in the quote above are a selection from different narrations by our female participants demonstrating some soft power statements used by boys/elderly men to urge adolescent girls to engage into unsafe sexual acts. Most of the girls acknowledged that- such statements played a role in influencing them on giving in. This made us to begin combining our project activities with extensive self-esteem, rights assertion and how to identify an abusive relationship education programs for young adolescent girls. Learning these soft power strategies, RuWCED also worked with some of our youth educators from different religious backgrounds to use music in challenging intergenerational lies told by old men to adolescents. If you are a Christian youth leader trying to challenge these lies, click here for the Christian piece. Otherwise, take a listen to this piece on HIV by one of our young leaders!