Margaret Sheehan
CREATING CONNECTIONS CASE STUDY
TOWARDS ENDING THE SILENCE AROUND SEXULAITY IN VIENTAM
FULFILMENT OF ADVANCING SOCIAL NORMS SHORT COURSE JULY 2010
INTRODUCTION
A persistent and well documented social norm, highly evident in Asia, is “silence
around sexuality”. This might also be described as a deliberate lack of sharing of
information between adults and children about personal, sensitive issues including
reproductive health, sexuality and relationships. While many Asian parents believe
that this silence around sexuality is protective for adolescent girls it clearly denies
young women the right to information that can assist future decision making about
relationships, fertility, parenting and reproductive health. Of concern for UNICEF is
that this silence limits the value of prevention and public health interventions
targeting adolescent girls in schools, through local communities and mass media
efforts to decrease maternal mortality, prevent early pregnancy, reduce reproductive
health problems including prevention of HIV and gender based violence.
The contexts within which According to Bichheri
1
social norms occur are complex
and complicated. Further norms are not absolute commands and often rely on the
local context.
However documented examples demonstrate that social norms can
be changed as demonstrated by
African villages by Tostan
2
the abandonment of female genital cutting in
and Antanas Mockus changing the heart and minds of
Columbians towards violence and the value of life through “artistic creative strategies
that employed the power of individual and community disapproval. “ 3 This paper
discusses how a project in Vietnam called Creating Connections has attempted to
tackle the silence around sexuality. The paper employs a range of theoretical tools,
concepts and relevant comparison in making recommendation for improvements and
refinements for the Creating Connections project planned for late 2010.
1
Bicherri C Habits of the Mind Introduction Chapter
Melching Mollie “Abandoning Female Genital Cutting in Africa” in Eye to Eye 2001 and Lecture series at
Advancing social norms course UN Penn July 20101
3
Havard Gazette Archives Maria Cristina Caballero: Academic Turns city into a social experiment 2004
2
Background to Creating Connections (CC)
Creating Connections (CC), is an adolescent and parent programme implemented
and evaluated in selected provinces in Vietnam over the period 2005-2009. Creating
Connections aimed to improve the connection and relationship between young
people and their parents. Using both girls and mothers clubs the programme
provided information and practical skills around issues of puberty and growing up,
relationships,
dating,
rights,
sexuality
(including
homosexuality),
pregnancy,
harassment and alcohol use. A life skills approach informed the programme and
deliberately used tools of promote and develop the skills to allow discussion and
communication.
The intention of each session was to create a situation where
mothers could develop new language, skills and a group commitment to talk to their
adolescents about responsibilities and challenges of growing up.
The clubs met regularly (every 2 weeks) with facilitators delivering sessions (based
on a formal curriculum) that used a deliberate informal and relaxed method for
learning and practicing skills- especially communications skills. Games and humor
are included in sessions as one method to approach sensitive, serious and
sometimes embarrassing issues.
One theoretical framework offered by Biccheri4 is the need to acknowledge and affirm
that behaviors that have negative outcomes, like silence around sex, are often based
on rationale beliefs. She further suggests that demonstrating “another way to be” can
help bring about change. This is further discussed below.
Historically the silence around sexuality existed to protect young people, especially
young women, to keep them safe, protect their honor and to not “teach the deer the
way to run”. Knowledge is viewed as corruptive or as temptation and this strongly
held social norm prefers ignorance over information believing the former to be
protective. Vietnam society emphasizes traditional values and attitudes such as the
4
Bicherri C The Rules we Live By Chapter
-2-
importance of young women being “good girls” until they are married 5. In brief, this
means that a woman should be a virgin when she marries and is not to convey that
she knows anything about sex. One significant concern with this prevailing norm is
that it inhibits adolescent girls willingness to negotiate safe sex for fear of being
perceived as sexually active. Among many things, this can lead to increased risk for
HIV and unwanted pregnancies as well as social dishonor6. Not talking about sex
has been seen as protective of young women’s virginity a “valuable commodity” for
future brides.
Changing Social Norms: The big challenge
A culture that does not talk about sexuality, relationships and reproductive health
poses a relenting challenge for communication campaigns of public health
approaches that rely of provision of information and discussion and dialogue that
empowers young women to control their sexuality and fertility. The lack of sharing of
“vital information” perpetuated from mothers to daughter in Vietnam means that girls
learn not to ask about sensitive and private issues. Both mothers and girls report
“being shy and embarrassed to raise the topic.”7 Biccheri would probably see this
“not telling and not asking” by mothers and girls as part of the scripts and schema
that are played out in contexts that require the keeping of the silent of sexuality8.
Obstacles to attitude change include that much social practice in automatic rather
then calculated (including scripts)9: For example Mothers automatically avoid
speaking to their daughters or avoid the subject- saying they are too young to know
of such things or completely ignoring the issue. What is required then is new scripts
and schema but recognizing that old scripts are hard to change.
While these social norms remain strong increasingly examples of positive social
deviance within the Vietnam community became evidence during the late 1990’s
5
The Love Barrier: The Views of Young Vietnamese Women Regarding their Intentions to Remain Virgins until
Marriage Ida Neuman Karolinska Institute 2006
6
The Love Barrier: The Views of Young Vietnamese Women Regarding their Intentions to Remain Virgins
until Marriage Ida Neuman Karolinska Institute 2006
7
Quat Thu Hong: Master of Public Health Thesis: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
8
Cristina Bicchiere Social Norms: Lecture Notes 7/5/10
9
IBID
-3-
especially in urban areas where the social norm of silence could be challengedwhere some young singers became more overtly sexual and where some well known
women began to talk about women’s rights to talk about sexuality and for
adolescents to learn about their bodies so they could protect themselves10
This
challenge came from both “undesirable modern western women” but also some
educated, middle class women who suggested knowledge and information was more
progressive and more desirable and suggested a need to transgress the norms.
Government HIV documentation and school programmmes began to contained
rhetoric about the importance health of HIV prevention education and community
education focused on raising awareness and skills for the whole community including
young people. A study tour organized by United Nations partners for the Vietnam
Women’s Union including: Denmark, Philippines, Germany, Tanzania and Malaysia
can be seen as an impetus for the leaders to see “another way of being”. They saw a
range of Youth Friendly services and programmmes
parenting approaches and
reported many benefits for young people and their parents. Following this study visit
the VWU applied for the grant for Creating Connections. Mackie, and Torstan point
out that the external impetus can be very useful when norms are stuck.
Social Schema and social scripts
Bicchiere refers to “social schema” which includes the rules, traditions and the
process of normative behaviors for example when mothers and girls are faced with
possible discussion of sensitive or embarrassing issues. Creating connections
deliberately tried both metaphorically and practically to change the scripts for mothers
and adolescent girls. Sessions introduced “new scripts that allowed women (mothers)
and their daughters to behave in different ways to transgress the silence and replace
silence with information, discussion and dialogue.
norms as identified by Bicchieri
11
Transgressing previous social
was done through
a deliberate strategy that
implemented an informal curriculum of previously taboo subjects Through the
sessions mothers were provided with information and skills to help encourage
discussion with their adolescent girls. The session were designed in such a way that
10
11
Quat Thu Hong Op Cit
Cristina Bicchieri Social Norms: Advancing Social Norms Course Class notes 7/5/10
-4-
mothers were not only metaphorically changing their scripts but they were actually
creating and practicing new scripts- creating language and practicing questions to
start discussions or new scripts that previously did not exist.
Changing the script of the mothers meant that the scripts for the younger girls were
also changed. Younger women through their sessions were encouraged to seek the
wisdom from their mothers, an existing part of their normal script as a daughter but
encouraged to expand this to sensitive and personal areas, not previously part of the
script . Changing this script and schema will also change or be interdependent on
the context and setting. It will require changes in body language, changed spaces
and perhaps new rituals that provide adolescents permission to take an active
interest in issues that previously they were meant to ignore or not know about.
Knowing “how much to know” will also a challenge.
As Bicchieri says the replacement of the silence must be with a process that does not
challenge the underlying beliefs12. Bicchieri and Mackey13 suggest that strategies to
advance change may falter when the problem of interest is primarily rational. Above
we can see that mothers beliefs about keeping their girls uninformed is believed to be
protective and to prevent sexual temptation hence the belief is rational.
Self
sustaining beliefs that girls who know about and talk about sex will become
promiscuous, disobedient, and pregnant can however be
challenged by media
images for example like Saleema the example of the uncut girl used in Sudan.
Bicchieri 14 uses the notion of existing scripts and the need to create new scripts as a
tool for analyzing social norms and normative expectation and behaviours.
Applying the theoretical framework of what governs norms we see what others have
done in the past, or empirical norms, influence what people do themselves- empirical
norms are predictive and can tell us what behaviors to expect in certain situations. In
Laos a neighboring country to Vietnam women have not generally talked to
12
Cristina Bicchieri Social Norms: Advancing Social Norms Course Class notes 7/5/10
Bicchieri and Mackey UNICEF Learning Programmme on Social Norms at University of Pennsylvania
Course Outline pp1
14
IBID
13
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adolescent girls about sex.15 It also seems that women do not expect that other
women talk openly or discuss sex with their daughters and they also believe that
others expect that they will not speak with their daughters- there is an expectation
that all will keep silent. This normative expectation strongly influences the following
of norms. Bicheirri writes of the consequences of breaking social norms and in the
case of FGC often the consequences of transgressing are great. With the silence
around sexuality the consequences for opening up the dialogue are not as clear, and
probably not as severe as for FGC, but none the less the consequence may include
that the daughter is seen as promiscuous, not a decent girl for not a future marriage
along with social shame on the family .
Creating Connections while encouraging discussion of issues previously uncharted,
still upheld the norm of looking after girls wellbeing and protecting their future
physical sexual health through provision of information. The provision of information
from mothers to daughters was therefore re positioned as a positive behaviors again
one provided by family for the protection of the girl. The message from the WU was
that communication and strong family relationships are good for families.
Furthermore parents especially mothers had a responsibility to provide this vital
information to their children. In a small way this new expected behavior can be seen
as the early seed of the new cultural expectation- which over time could become a
normative expectation by other mothers- eg Other mothers talk to their daughters
because they expect that others expect them to do so.
Comparisons between the Creating Connections Programmme and Torstans CEP
programmes on FGC can be drawn. There are similarities in the historic reasons for
the cutting of girls and denying girls access to sexuality education. Both communities
act to protect young women’s, virtue and virginity.
Evidence that “social scripts”
between mothers and adolescent daughters changed is born out in the evaluation
where 7 in 10 mothers reported to have initiated conversions with their daughters.
15
Personal communication with Laos Women’s Unions Leaders at creating Connections Workshop Hanoi 2009
-6-
Creating Connections does distinguish itself from other studied programmes like
Torstan, Stepping Stones 16 and Soul City because its social norms change relies not
just on wanting to abandon an existing behavior but on developing new skills and
knowledge to implement the new behavior. This distinction is one that should not be
underestimated because opening up the dialogue relies on mothers knowing what to
say and how to say it- abandoning the silence requires the uptake of dialogue.
Raising Awareness of Human Rights Principles:
Mollie Melching along with contemporary human rights activists suggest that shared
fundamental human rights can bind and bond people together and the inclusion of
human rights in community education programmmes are vital17.18. The recognition of
a prior injustice or putting a name to something previously not in the language ( a
right) was reported by Torstan to be extremely important. Mollie reported that when
men understood that women had a right to a voice and a right to inheritance attitudes
changed significantly. Mocchus used a common human value approach that “Every
Life Matters19” when trying to engage the Columbian community in decreasing deaths
through guns and indeed turned community education into rights based education20.
Knowing about ones body, developmental expectations and learning about where to
seek health and social services can be rationally argued a right for young women.
Encouraging parents that the basic right to education and social protection is
afforded most children in developed countries can be one way to reframe the issue.
While negative and the
big stick approach is well known not to be effective
highlighting the outcomes of .discrimination against girls including increasing HIV
rates, maternal mortality, early pregnancy, forced early marriage and gender based
violence is an important lens that projects like Torstan have shown to be effective.
As signatories to the CRC Laos and Vietnam governments could be encouraged,
through groups like the Women’s Union to take steps to ensure them as duty bearers
16
Paine, K et al Before we were sleeping
Gruskin S, International Human Rights Vienna 18 July 2010, Harvard School Public Health International
Rights
18
Mollie Melching op Cit
19
Gruskin S, International Human Rights Vienna 18 July 2010, Harvard School Public Health International
Rights
20
IBID
17
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deliver on young people’s rights.21 Creating Connections did have a session on
rights especially looking at the right to live free from violence and respect for different
sexual choices.
This was highlighted through the sessions of homosexuality.
Interestingly, and similar to Tostan’s CEP prgrammme where women were
empowered through a rights approach- the Vietnamese women in Creating
Connections
requested more work on rights,
homosexuality- and a session on
abortion. While there is room in CC for a strengthened rights based approach in a
number of sessions it is important that CC reinforces the awareness of human rights
principles at community level and support the community to link these principles with
their own values.
Unexpected human rights outcomes or positive relationships
While the initial focus of the lifting of the silence was to ensure the rights of
adolescent girls (or children according to the CRC) there are a number of positive
human rights benefits evident from CC including: improved relationships between
women and their husbands and creating the space to discuss possible issues around
HIV, fidelity, better group structures and stronger sisterhood within the communities,
men having permission to speak to their wives about sex; women learning about their
own physiology and decreasing their anxiety about the own physical and sexual
health, and in a few cases even improved sex life. While creating connections does
have a topic on human rights further exploration of how fundamental human rights
values might be used to strengthen the argument for the rights for young women to
information and to protect themselves from STI.
Caution on transferability of transformative human rights
In Vietnam the international human rights discourse is increasingly being realized
locally concerning gender practices and gender inequalities- in past 5 years gender
inequality law and domestic violence law have been ratified and men increasingly
understand that women have the right to the same things men.
21
The CRC children under 18 should be provided opportunities to reach their full potential, have their basic
education and health needs met, ensured the right to survival and to participate in decisions that affect their lives
in inline with their developing capacities’
-8-
The curriculum devised for the mothers and girls clubs in Vietnam does have a
human rights element with a session on gender, homosexuality and fundamental
rights like compassion, understanding and tolerance however rights were not
conceived as a major feature of the sessions22. The cultural context of Vietnam is
one, such that the notion of rights and responsibility are seen as intimately
connected, with significant sensitivity by the Vietnamese government from outside
interference around human rights. Transferring models from one cultural context to
another faces challenges especially where sensitive issues are championed under
the banner of human rights. While the notion of universality can strike a cord as with
Torstan it can also have the opposite effect of having the issue targeted as “culturally
sensitive” and not for foreign involvement. Issues including domestic violence have
faced such challenges in the past and more recent conservative legislation including
provinces of Indonesia imposing dress codes on women as one example. Solutions
to back lash against rights approaches have been presented above in this paper and
include: identify the right partners, the timing and how the rights issue is framed and
keeping rights linked to community responsibility can be helpful
Gender Issues within social norms change theory
The strategies undertaken in CC did not include the men and the whole social norms
change was seen as “women’s business”. Bicchieri and others suggest that social
norms must be considered within the context of the whole society23. In this regards
Vietnam is still traditionally a Confucian society holding many patriarchal beliefs and
a strong girl child preference, so much so, that recently figures show a birth ratio
imbalance of 100 girls to every 106 boys as an outcome of sex selective abortion24.
Community women speaking openly about sexuality and sensitive issues may solicit
negative reactions from men- either as fathers, husbands or decision makers in the
community.
Seeking partnerships and co-operating with men in the community
including explaining the reasons for speaking with adolescent girls can avoid
22
Creating Connections Brochure; UNICEF, APSSC 2010 In Draft
Chapter 1 Biccherei
24
WHO Vietnam Facts Sheets 2007 Vietnam
23
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backlash that results in greater routine silence around sexuality. Tostan in the early
stages of their human rights programming noted that non involvement of males
threatened the continuation of the programmme.
25.
The Creating Connections
project will seek greater inclusivity of men plus will need to a incorporate a broader
cross section of the community especially community consultation that includes
influential males. Back slide can occur as seen in some of the work in FGC in Sudan.
If the whole group does not commit to the change and if there is any mistrust that
others will not move to the change then progress can be threatened.
The Creating Connection Evaluation in Vietnam identified the need and desire for a
young men’s programmme so that young men could explore and better understand
issues of sexuality. Interestingly this programme again is seen as the work of the
Women’s Union however this does lend itself to great opportunity for community
forums and broader discussion open meetings where young men, mothers father and
possibly young girls can share the space and the dialogue?
Cultural acceptability
The methods of engaging people in social change must be acceptable and
meaningful to the culture. Moodie refers to the “art and science” of transferring
messages26. Creating Connections and Torstan’s Community Education Programme
are similar in their efforts to tap into the talents and preferences for learning and self
expression of the target communities. Torstan’s
27
curriculum uses poetry, song
and dance as methods of expression and discussion. Creating Connections Asian
flavor uses games, creative arts, stories and jokes, role play technology and talk. .
The political context within Vietnam and Laos must be considered especially as they
remain communist countries. The notion of the individual is not well developed
however the notion of the collective is extremely strong- or at least as far as
government rhetoric and programmmes go. There is a good and strong motivation
for conformity- not losing face,
25
Torstan Community Led Development: CEP Programme Description
Rob Moodie, Vic Health NewsLetter The Art and Science of health Promotion, 2006, VicHealth
27
Torstan Community Led Development: CEP Programme Description
26
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Social Networks
Muldoon argues the importance of knowing who you might need to partner with and
selecting the right partner as highly significant in changing any social norm. 28 The
partnerships in Creative Connections with the Women’s Union of Vietnam (women’s
arm of the communist party) has been a strength of the intervention. The WU are an
influential gate keeper who can permit or deny conversations around sexuality. At a
structural and policy level, the senior officers of the Vietnam Women’s Union
undertook advocacy work with party leaders to legitimize the importance of the
sexuality and HIV prevention initiative and allow the establishment of the clubs and
took some action in the diffusion of the message. This advocacy was an important
element in altering social norms and taking action to allow the dialogue and
conversation necessary to normalize talking about relationships including sex. The
role of the WU in disseminating the information can be analyzed using the
disseminations framework.
On reflection, the Vietnam Women’s Union was a very appropriate partner for a
social norms change project because they have the authority (potential) to permit
change to previous behaviors’ and provide guidance on how to deal with sensitive
family issues. Their status and credibility allowed them to lead the transgression of
“silence” and the previously strongly held empirical social expectation that mothers
should not provide detailed information to adolescent girls could be broken through
their modeling. Indeed the WU through training and activity demonstrated not only
that discussion about these issues could be informative and good for women’s health
but that dialogue was an enjoyable and social aspect of the groups.
Other
successful features of the WU “network” was the WU ability to organize groups of
women from specific provinces and communities because this network is well known,
well respected and they are the gate keepers. Therefore they are legitimate decision
makers in terms of cultural and social norms particularly in relation to younger
women’s health. The WU is an existing well understood structure that all Vietnamese
people understand. In this regard CC is similar to Torstan in its inclusion of those
28
Lecture Ryan Muldoon 13.7.2010
- 11 -
who already hold influence and power in the community but Creative connection is
not focused enough on those who have been traditionally marginalized. 29 The next
Creating Connections Programmed would benefit from a greater focus on
marginalized women and girls groups.
Diffusion and Network Theory
Mackie’s framework and model for diffusion of information is a useful one when
applied to CC project. 30 To transfer the message or create a large enough change
there is an expectation that the “central nodes” take the message and spread it
further to others . Some people or nodes are more central than others- this means
their distance to other members is shorter. The head of the WU in each province and
the key trainers are core central nodes- and can be likened to gossip networks.
However given the WU political and historical role they are most likely to represent
the prevailing norms of the community therefore hardest to shift. This could be seen
as a double bind eg- the diffusers of new information are the protectors of old social
norms.
Network theory helps us uncover the relevant populations whose expectation drive
particular social norms. The network concept applied to the WU especially in relation
to the built on nodes (individuals) and edges (ties) The strength of the ties will be
relevant for the amount of influence that ties have on influencing the network
constituents. High degree nodes are important for trust or respect and they may be
crucial in changing expectations
Mackie suggests that some nodes have special features and therefore we use those
nodes.
For example the young women will have their own network (some for
communication, some for trust, some the authority.
Muldoon suggests that by
thinking about relationships instead of just individuals and groups we can better
understand the communities we wish to help. The relationships including the power
29
Torstan Community Led Development: CEP Programme Description pp 6
30
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dynamics within the Women’s Union and the hierarchy between the WU and other
women in the society needs to be further explored in the proposed Laos project31.
Use of community meetings, public commitment and public pledges were very
successful in Torstan examples from Africa and Mochus also used public
commitment (mass counseling) and various other forms of public commitment.
Forms of public commitment and public reward are generally value in Asia and so
opportunities to build positive rewards in Creating Connections could be further
explored.
Reaching a critical mass and the tipping point
A special bond between club members developed with activities well attended and a
camaraderie and commitment to making the changes as part of a group. The club
sessions were held in local venues with high visibility so other women could see the
games, condom demonstrations and hear the dialogue directed at adolescent girls.
This visibility and common commitment is what Mackie describes as a necessary
element of diffusion to reach a critical mass and move towards the tipping point. The
exclusivity and homogeneity of the women’s union groups, on one hand provides
social acceptance, but does not guarantee diffusion. Women were not requested to
share information or messages from sessions so the diffusion effect was largely
missing. Diffusing the message only via clubs will be long and resource intensive.
However for full community or province and eventually national change this process
maybe too slow.
Social Network Analysis
The Vietnam Women’s Union VWU exist in every province, every district and every
commune across Vietnam with a high degree of reach and “respect”. These social
networks are sustained by political mechanisms and can command commitment
similar to religious groups. Therefore they have power to reach every mother with
credible message (local communication, loud speakers, mass media, and clubs, door
to door). The VWU have been the leaders in this case study of positive deviance and
31
Lecture Ryan Muldoon 13.7.2010
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positive recognition through publicity, public radio, coverage in newspaper and
through publicizing their work with VWU leaders at national level for the expansion
of their project The Women’s Union were initially funded as a pilot in 3 provinces and
after evaluation allocated their own funds to scale up to five new provinces and the
expansion of a young men’s programme. .
Each women’s group had between 35-40 members. The role of the women’s group
was not as diffusers but more to encourage discussion- or just talking about the
importance on ensuring girls have information to keep them safe, protect them and
prepare them for their future roles.
Each group of girls may have diffused to family
and friends but this was informal rather than formal. According to Mackie’s model
this could be a weakness because the potential of the girls and women as diffusers is
not optimized or at worst the opportunity is lost. Young women and mothers should
be pods with tasks to share the message. However important work has been done
but the WU publicizing the work occurring in the community. These people were core
trainers who were central decision makers and their role was to diffuse materials and
messages through reporting to communist party meetings, women’s union annual
workshop and got approval for expansion to 5 new provinces and recommendation
so the evaluation suggested a young men’s programmme- currently being piloted.
Next Steps
In Laos, one of the countries that CC will be piloted in 2010-2011 a number of
challenges are foreseeable. While the elders require moral and practical support of
the young, the latter also seek the guidance and wisdom of the former so that both
can fulfill their physical and spiritual needs, thus enabling each group to perform
functions (social norms) expected of them. Sexuality is not discussed openly by the
print media due to government restrictions, particularly those imposed by the Ministry
of Communications. Coverage of sex workers and issues regarding the sex trade do
- 14 -
not appear in Laos or English newspapers.32The reason media cannot write directly
about sexuality is rooted mainly in the country’s traditions. Though the country has
developed socially and economically elders still reject publication on sexuality since
they believe it would entice people to try sex. Many similarities exist between Laos
and Vietnam and it is therefore exciting that the Laos Women’s Union have showed
an interest in this project.
A formal evaluation of Creating Connections 33 showed increases in both information
and skill levels for adolescent girls and mothers but highly significant for the social
norms change was the finding that many mothers (7 of 10) reported communication
and conversation about puberty including sex and contraception that was self
initiated, with their daughters. While such behavior change was not verified with
daughters these promising results will be further explored in the evaluation of
subsequent programmmes34.
Creating Connections is seen as a positive and very
promising model for adolescent sexuality education (and much more) and sees the
importance of social norms change as an element in the programme success.
The
UNICEF regional office, Asia Pacific Shared Services Centre is sharing this model for
social norms change and for development of practical communication and life skills
and HIV prevention and general health and sexual health with a rights focus.
Through applying the tools and models presented through the Advancing Social
Norms Course, July 2010, the Creating Connections Project will hopefully benefit in
a number of ways. This will be shared at a workshop in Laos, September 1-3rd 2010
with countries including
Laos , Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh and
Myanmar
Observers would be welcome!
32
"Lao PDR," Fighting a Rising Tide: The Response to AIDS in East Asia; (eds. Tadashi Yamamoto and Satoko Itoh). Tokyo:
Japan Center for International Exchange, 2006, pp. 172-194
33
34
CIHP CC Evaluation
Groups of mothers and young women were not matched therefore specific evaluation is not so easy
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Reflective Analysis on Creating Connections
Positive implementation
Ares for change or new strategies
• Culturally relevant and
comprehensive programme
• Positive incentives through
‘status and belonging to the club”
• WU provided strong social
network as the core for social
change
• publicity, public radio, coverage in
newspaper and from WU leaders
at national level
• Elements of transformative
human rights education linked:
with CC- gender equality and
compassion homosexuality-HIV
and women as victims
 Needs to be more systematic in
its diffusion- “network nodes”
share with others- how to access
non WU members?
 Challenge ensuring all must see
that all see OR all must see that
all talk
 question the tipping point
 Talking home private behaviour
 Need for male involvement in
community consensus or
father/husbands may object
 Consider inclusion of culturally
appropriate collective pledge:
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Girls’ Program
Mothers’ Program
1. Exploring gender issues – positives and negatives
of gendered roles
1. Exploring gender issues – positives and negatives of gendered
roles, discussing hopes and fears for our children’s futures
2. Changes at puberty – understanding pubertal
change for girls, and a focus on positive
friendships
2. Changes at puberty – understanding changes for boys and girls,
exercises in explaining puberty to children
3. Changes at puberty – learning about boys’ bodies,
and a focus on emotions
4. The menstrual cycle – learning about menstruation,
and developing confidence to talk about
menstruation and personal care
5. Reproduction – learning about sexual reproduction,
a focus on responsibility
6. Decision-making and sexual relationships –
exploring choices and decisions about sex,
discussing values, pressures and consequences
7. Contraception – learning about contraception,
practical exercises in talking about condoms,
assertiveness exercises
8. Problem-solving in relation to sexual
relationships – learning about the Morning After
Pill & Abortion, practical approaches to peer
support and problem-solving
9. Safety and sexual health – learning about STIs and
HIV, problem solving around key scenarios
10. Alcohol and safety – learning about effects of
alcohol and associations with risky behaviour,
risk assessment exercises and personal safety
strategies
11. Gender and rights – a focus on rights, coercion,
harassment and abuse, and a focus on helpseeking skills
3. Reproduction – learning about sexual reproduction, scenarios to
practice explaining reproduction to children
4. The menstrual cycle – learning about menstruation, and
developing confidence to talk about menstruation and personal
care
5. Decision-making and sexual relationships – exploring
decisions about sex, discussing values, pressures and
consequences, raising these topics with partners and children
6. Contraception – learning about contraception, practical
exercises in talking about condoms with partners and children
7. Problem-solving after sexual mishaps – learning about the
Morning After Pill & Abortion, problem-solving with young
people who have had unprotected sex
8. Safety and sexual health – learning about STIs and HIV, talking
about condom use with children, peers and partners
9. Alcohol and safety – learning about effects of alcohol and
associations with risky behaviour, helping children engage in
risk assessment and planning for personal safety
10. Gender and rights – learning about gender rights, coercion,
harassment and abuse, and a focus teaching children about
help-seeking and assertiveness
11. Communication skills – practical exercises in setting
boundaries and communicating positively with children
12. Problem-solving skills - using communication and assertion
skills to communicate about sensitive issues with partners,
peers and family members
12. Problem-solving skills – using communication
and assertion skills to negotiate challenging
situations in peer and family relationships
13. Talking together session for women and girls
Women and Girls clubs join to participate together in a range of activities in which they discuss pressures, choices and safety
strategies in relation to gender, sex and relationships
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