Raising Voices – Uganda (UN Trust Fund grantee)

 

SASA! 

(Start, Awareness, Support, Action)

 

 

SASA! (Start, Awareness, Support, Action) is a ground-breaking, internationally-recognized model of community-mobilization to stop violence against women and the spread of HIV. Engaging all actors in the community — women, men, cultural and religious leaders, local officials, police, health-care providers — SASA! fosters critical reflection on gender and power and instigates local-level activism.

Raising Voices replicates SASA! to advance the implementation of laws and policies in Uganda and up to six other locations in the region to address the twin pandemics.

SASA! is a methodology and approach designed by the Uganda-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Raising Voices, which works with women and children to explore the gender aspects of power and to address the link between violence against women (VAW) and HIV/AIDS. Sasa is a Kiswahili word for “now!” and also serves as an acronym for the key components of the programme: Start, Awareness, Support, and Action. The programme seeks to prevent VAW and HIV by changing the attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate power imbalances in relationships between men and women. The programme provides organisations with practical materials and information that they can incorporate into their existing HIV and VAW programmes. In January 2008, Raising Voices, in partnership with the Center for Domestic Violence Prevention, started using SASA! in four communities in Kampala, Uganda.

 

 

Communication Strategies

 

 According to the organisers, SASA! is an exploration of power – what it is, who has it, how it is used, how it is abused, and how power dynamics between women and men can change for the better. SASA! aims to demonstrate how understanding power and its effects can help prevent VAW and HIV/AIDS and provides organisations with the skills and tools to do this.

 

Raising Voices outlines the four SASA! strategies as follows:

• Local Activism – Encouraging others to become activists in the local community is at the core of the SASA! movement. Community dramas, quick chats, community conversations, and public events are ways to involve the broader community in organisations’ work.
• Media and Advocacy – Reaching out to everyone in the community through media and advocacy to increase impact. Some available materials include: radio programmes, listening guides, fact sheets, persuasion sheets, an advocacy film, and postcards.
• Communication Materials – Materials include a pamphlet, posters, comic sheets, and games. These communication materials are designed to encourage individuals and organisations in the community to begin talking and thinking about violence and HIV/AIDS.
• Training Modules – designed for stakeholders in the community who would benefit from training on violence against women and HIV/AIDS, such as police officers, health care workers, teachers, local leaders, religious leaders, counsellors, non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers, etc.

 

There are four major phases of the programme outlined in the Activists Toolkit:

• Start – This part of the Activist Kit describes the linkages between violence and HIV/AIDS. Based on global and regional research, it is designed to provide essential information to enable organisations to work on violence and HIV/AIDS. This introductory section gives background information on VAW and HIV/AIDS. This section also includes a SASA! Activist pocket guide with key talking points, organising tips, and ideas staff can take with them to the community. Finally, this section has organising materials such as a SASA! map to help users learn about what is in the activist kit and where they can find it.
• Awareness – The materials in the Awareness section of SASA! are designed to provoke a new and more political analysis of the linkage between violence and HIV/AIDS. It aims to challenge staff and stakeholders to go beyond the rhetoric and lip service to examining why these problems are happening. All the materials in this section emphasise that male power over women and girls is a violation of their fundamental human rights and encourages a new level of awareness and internalisation of the issues.
• Support – The materials in the Support section of SASA! are designed to motivate women and men to support women experiencing violence and HIV/AIDS, men who use violence, and community members speaking out on these issues in both their personal and professional capacities. Recognising the importance of secondary prevention, activities are designed to help mitigate the consequences of violence and HIV on individuals. This section emphasises that power with others is life affirming and life saving.
• Action – The materials in the Action section of SASA! are designed to inspire and move women and men to create change. Recognising the importance of primary prevention, activities are designed to facilitate longer-term attitude and behaviour change. This section emphasises that we all have the power to prevent violence and HIV. 

According to the organisers, a major component of the SASA! intervention is a rigorous, scientific study to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the programme. This study is designed to provide evidence about the potential role and impact of the SASA! approach to address gender inequality, VAW, and HIV/AIDS. 

 

Development Issues

 

 HIV/AIDS, Women, Gender, Rights.

Key PointsThrough work with communities in East and Southern Africa, Raising Voices learned that reproductive health education and the ABC (Abstinence, Be faithful, Condomise) approach are insufficient to prevent HIV infection among women. In order to effectively prevent HIV, there is a need to recognise and work to prevent the violence that many women experience in their intimate relationships. The organisers state that in East and Southern Africa, VAW is fuelling the epidemic. It is both a cause and a consequence of HIV infection.

 

 

Partners

Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP), the Gender Violence and Health Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Makerere University, and PATH.

 

 

Video Online Only

  

SAY NO TO VIOLENCE: http://www.saynotoviolence.org/around-world/news/un-trust-fund

BERKSHIRE WOMEN:

Un Trust Fund Meeting, Uganda ‘pdf’:  http://berkshirewomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/UN-Trust-Fund-meeting-report1.pdf

PAST GRANTS – UNIFEM: http://www.unifemuk.org/news-2010-01-new-grants-from-unifem-trust-fund.php  

A Celebration of Women

Contact

Raising Voices

P.O. Box 6770

KampalaUgandaTel: +256 41 4531186
Fax: +256 41 4531249