Problem Statement & Context
Disco funerals mostly known as disco matangas are a phenomenon whereby community members including adolescents congregate at the home of the deceased for several days. Rather than being a somber occasion, it is a space where joy and fun have no limits, where you find people dancing and chatting, sharing food, drinking chang’aa (a locally brewed, illegal, strong spirit), smoking bhang (marijuana), and having unprotected, transactional, or coerced sex. They are an important place for young people to hang out however, they increase the opportunities to meet and engage in (risky) sexual activities.
The indulgence of risky sexual behaviour by youth at these disco funeral parties has led to unplanned teenage pregnancies and an increase in sexually transmitted diseases including HIV infection. For those youth who get pregnant, this results in dropping out of school which then leads to low literacy levels and increased poverty within urban slums areas.
Design Opportunity Question: How might we enable young adolescents to socialize and have fun in a safe and responsible way while promoting positive social and sexual behaviour?
Our Solution
Our solution provides a talent development training curriculum that can be effectively layered with SRH education and an SRH kit in order to enable 10-19 year old adolescents and young adults living in urban slums in Nairobi to socialise and have fun in a safe and responsible way.
We believe incorporating SRH talks in the talent development training curriculum will enable the youth to develop a high risk perception of the dangers of indulging in sexual behaviours without protection.
The target audience for the solution.
10-14 year - our objective is to delay their age for sexual debut
15-19 year - our objective is to enable them to avoid risky sexual behavior
How will we ensure that our solution is fit for the target audience?
We will conduct interviews and focus group discussions with our target audience in order to identify and understand the scope of hobbies and interests they have so that we can incorporate them into our talent development training curriculum
We also intend to have a participatory design workshop where we will invite our target audience
to co-design the activities that should take place during the talent development show event as well as the contents of the SRH kit
Value proposition.
Our solution provides a talent development training curriculum that can be effectively layered with SRH education and an SRH kit in order to enable 10-19 year old adolescents and young adults living in urban slums in Nairobi to socialise and have fun in a safe and responsible way.
The talent development training curriculum gives youths an opportunity to showcase their hobbies and interests and even sell their own products (e.g. painting, bead work, etc)
The SRH talks will enable the youth to develop a high risk perception of the dangers of indulging in sexual behaviours without protection.
The SRH kit will have SRH products that are specifically tailored to the target audience age (eg 10-14 and 15-19)
We will also incorporate a booklet that guides parents on how to speak to their kids about SRH issues
How new/unique an approach is your solution?
Our solution provides a talent development & training curriculum that can be effectively layered with SRH education in order to enable the youth to socialize and have fun in a safe and responsible way.
This unique approach will enable us to effectively engage and bond with our teens at several touchpoints.
As far as we know, no other organization or company has offered youths an SRH kit for home use within the Kenyan context. In addition, we know youth centers exist but are under-utilized and we believe that a Talent Development Show Event will lure the youth to attend the event and in the process they will be educated on SRH issues.
Feasibility
Recruitment Strategy: We will recruit youth community volunteers who will mobilize and sensitize youths within urban slums in Nairobi, Kenya
SRH talks Our approach is to engage people who have living experiences and get them to share their story. A testimonial has a more authentic view realities of the subject and hence more relatable.
We will also invite SRH experts to demystify myths and misconceptions that the youths have about any SRH topic
Event Venue Youth friendly centres already exist but are under-utilized and therefore we can use these centres to host the event instead of hiring an expensive venue
SRH Kit Contents We will partner with other organizations to provide SRH kit contents
Funding At the initial stages we'll pitch for funding from donors and look to partner with companies involved in CSR. And then we'll structure a subscription model that is supported by a consistent outreach campaign.
Sustainability Will shall adopt the Big Brother/ Sister model where we will reach out to the alumni and other beneficiary of the program and keep them involved in the program activities.
The right team to realize this solution
As much as our team is passionate about holistic youth development, much experience has allowed us to have a vast knowledge base in the field of SRH that can be integrated with our professional backgrounds in user experience research, product design, and behavioral economics.
Kind of resources do you need in order to realize your solution?
We need sponsorship/partnership with organizations that make and sell SRH products eg pregnancy test kits, HIV test kits, etc We also need software developers to assist us with creating an application software to track SRH kit usage and refills.
Built With
- miro
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