Report: THE IYD FINALE

IYD Finale

This report is about the culmination of activities conducted during the International Youth Day (IYD) campaign that was launched on the 12th of August. The 45-day-long campaign saw the whole of Mumbai come together and observe International Youth Drive like never before. Despite being a drive targeting the youth, the campaign generated response from the older generation too. It was encouraging to see people from all age groups participate so enthusiastically in the HIV awareness drive.

The activities of the campaign were:

• Colleges carried out various activities to raise awareness about the importance of condom usage in fighting HIV/AIDS

• Took part in a massive mobilization drive where each Red Ribbon Club group went to a slum community in Mumbai to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS

• At each slum they worked closely with the Ganpati Mandals and
initiated them into joining the cause

• A documentary competition was also held side by side that showcased all these efforts. The documentaries were made by students of BMM colleges in Mumbai

An Overview  

Condom Mera Dost

Condom Mera Dost

The youth, especially those living in Mumbai are quite open to the idea of sex. They do not shy away from talking about sex and also acting on it. The objective of this activity was to promote Safe Sex and hence Normalisation of Condoms.

Today’s youth is very attached to his/her friends. The relationship that they revere amongst everything is friendship. You can say that the key driving forces in their lives are their peers.

So you get the youth to involve their friends in Condom Promotion – a simple and effective strategy. Based on above thought process, a concept was created called “making a friend for life”. And that’s how CONDOM MERA DOST came about.

Ganpati Mandal Activity

MDACS made use of their partners – RRCs and NGOs to carry out the Youth activities at Ganpati Mandals. These mandals have key active groups during the season and these were educated and activated as strategic partners to RRCs so that the messages on HIV/AIDS were spread to both Ganpati Mandals and the slum community.

RRC members - the youth brigade

Youth celebrating FRIENDSHIP

Red Ribbon Clubs are youth groups at colleges who work for spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS among the youth. Since youth is a vulnerable population it becomes essential to communicate with them. Red Ribbon Clubs (RRCs), which work under the guidance and leadership of the Communication Department of MDACS, enable us to reach the objective of communicating to the youth.

Scrap Books made by students

We roped in 140 Red Ribbon Clubs (RRCs) of colleges and the students of 100 colleges to conduct this activity. Every college conducted the activity on August 12, 2011 outside their college campus, thereby reaching out the youth at large – even those in the locality, other than the students.

Every RRC documented the campaign that their college conducted. This documentation was in the form of a scrap book and was made colourful with pictures, experiences, case studies.

The Festival 

The Festival was held at MDACS where all the RRCs mobilized their respective colleges. There were over 3000 youth present on the 27th of September from 9.00 am to 7.00 pm. MDACS was bustling with enthusiasm and anxiety as the question of the day was 'Who would win the BEST COLLEGE AWARD?' It was no less than a college festival.

Competitions at the Festival

• The competitions were all on the theme of HIV AIDS
• All colleges to get the Grafitti Wall (used in college activity)
• All colleges carried the condom man that was given
• All colleges to submit their scrap book / case file for the on ground activities of 'Condom Mera Dost' and 'Ganpati Mandals'


Rally:

Rally

On the day of the finale, the students left their respective colleges in a rally to reach MDACS premises in the morning. They conducted street plays on HIV/AIDS on their way.

Stencil Painting Competition:

Stencil Painting Competition

The contestants were given cardboards on which they cut HIV slogans creating stencils. They used these to paint the slogans on the compound wall of MDACS.

Dance & Street-play:

Dance & Street Play

Groups of students performed dances and street-plays that spread knowledge of HIV/AIDS to the audiences. Correct messages about HIV were spread to the large number of people present.

Quiz Competition:

Quiz Competition

A lot of people were registered for the quiz. Everything was, of course, based on HIV. The first round was a written one and 16 colleges were shortlisted for the semi-final. The semi-final was conducted in 4 rounds with 4 colleges participating in each stage. One winner was selected from each round and the four winners went on to compete in the Quiz finals.

Poster Competition:

Poster Competition

Students created posters that brought forth messages on HIV and these were displayed during the festival. The best ones were awarded prizes.

Special Features at the Finale

Grand Finale with the many features

Condom Game Booth
Display of Grafitti Wall
Autograph on the Condom Man
IYD Campaign exhibition: Newspaper Article boards and scrap books

The Award Function

It was indeed essential to reward the Red Ribbon Clubs for their efforts. The finale was a platform where the efforts of the RRCs were acknowledged.

The winners & The Stars of My Friend Pinto - Kalki & Prateik

The awards were categorized as follows:

IYD-2011 program helped the RRC members become change agents and bring about awareness in the community.

College students (Red Ribbon Clubs) were awarded for:

1. Excellence in community program
2. Excellence in Red Ribbon club programs in 2010 – 11
3. Excellence in IYD finale

MDACS partnered with ‘My Friend Pinto’, an oncoming Bollywood movie. The stars ‘Prateik Babbar and Kalki Koechlin’ were present for the Grand Finale Awards Ceremony and extended their support to MDACS in their cause of condom promotion and blood donation.

Look out for the next blog to know how ‘Kalki and Prateik’ joined hands with the youth.

Report: GANPATI MANDALS JOIN HANDS WITH MDACS DURING INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY

Street Play at different venues

Objective:

• To raise awareness about HIV/AIDS
• To reach out to the community and cover as large a population as possible
• To celebrate International Youth Day in the true sense, by involving the youth community throughout Mumbai

Theme:

RRC Members to reach out to school community / slum population

Apni suraksha apnon ke liye


Goal:

• Cut across education , economic and social barriers
               1. All classes
               2. Educated and Uneducated
               3. Rich and Poor
• Empower and educate youth to become change agents

Strategy:

• Mobilize urban youth to influence slum youth and thus bring about true community upliftment
• To be most effective, MDACS will use the support of existing partners
               1. RRCs
               2. NGOs
• Ganpati Mandals – A key active youth group during this season, will be educated and activated as strategic partners to RRCs so that message can spread both:

Ganpati Pandals & Slum community

THE WORK THAT WENT BEHIND THE SCENES:


MDACS was instrumental in bringing together PPTCT NGOs, Ganpati Mandals and RRCs under one platform to promote awareness of safe sex and usage of condoms.






STEP 1


• To begin with, the NGOs were thoroughly briefed and they were mapped area-wise.
• The NGOs came up with lists of Ganpati Mandals in their areas.
• On approval by MDACS, the NGOs went and met the Mandal organizers.

STEP 2 

• The RRCs (Red Ribbon Clubs) were briefed on conducting the various activities at the Ganpati Mandals.
• NGOs and RRCs were brought together in a common meeting for a briefing session.
• 10 RRCs were allocated for every NGO to ensure that the activities were conducted smoothly.
• Contacts of the Mandal organisers were exchanged.

STEP 3

• RRCs met the Ganpati Mandal organizers and explained the 3-day fest to be conducted during the IYD Month.
• Community RRCs were formed with honorary members from the Ganpati Mandals. They were issued ID cards for the 3-day period of the activity.
• College RRCs & Community RRCs got together to organize the 3-day festival at the various Ganpati Mandals.
• A week prior to the activity, posters were put up at the Ganpati Mandals announcing the 3-day festival along with dates.

3-DAY FESTIVAL

The 3-day festival was planned in the following manner:

Day 1 - Education on HIV 

1. Street Play

• A group of volunteers brought together a number of people from the public by mobilizing them using the dhol
• Once people were mobilized, the Street Play was acted out
• At the end of the street play, the actors mixed in with the crowd and asked them five questions that related to the play. This was mainly interaction that brought about awareness on HIV/AIDS

2. Orientation through Card Game 

• Flashcards were used for playing a game. These cards had random questions and answers on HIV/AIDS. This was basically to test their knowledge and give the public the correct gyaan.

3. Competition - Stencil cutting

• All those who were interested in the competition were given cardboard stencils and were asked to cut their messages on HIV/AIDS on them. The best cut cardboard was to be given a prize.

Day 1 concluded with an announcement on what could be expected on Day 2 and the time for assembling.

Day 2 - Competition on the HIV/AIDS Theme

The contestants are busy during the Stencil Cutting Competition

1. Poster Competition

The Poster Competition was conducted between 2 pm & 4 pm. The theme was ‘Apni Suraksha Apnon Ke Liye’.

2. Stencil Painting

The best of the stencil cardboards that were cut on Day 1 were used for stencil painting, thus bringing the slogans on HIV/AIDS to the attention of the public that came to visit the Ganpati Mandals.

3. Placards 

Placards were made between 5 pm & 7 pm as part of the activities on Day 2.

Day 3 - Finale 

1. Poster Exhibition 

• A specific area was selected for the prize distribution ceremony on Day 3 – Finale.
• The posters that were created the earlier day were displayed prominently in the area so as to catch the eye of the public.

Youth posing with Condom Poster with the message 'Mujhse Dosti Karoge?'

2. Rally

• A rally was conducted on this day after mobilizing a large crowd.
• The 2-hour rally culminated at the area where the closing ceremony was to be conducted.
• The placards that were created the earlier day were used during the rally with crowds carrying them prominently for all the people to see.

3. Graffiti wall 

• A Graffiti wall was created at the prize distribution venue.
• The participants were invited to write what they learned during the festival in just one line.

Prize Distribution

4. Prize Distribution

• RRC members hosted this event
• An important VIP was invited to give a speech at Ganpati Mandal
• A Street Play was put up by college students
• Certificate and chocolates were given to 3 winners for each competition

The whole programme was completed with a Vote of Thanks to everyone who participated.

The following is a list of some of the Ganpati Mandals that participated in the event:

Impact:

1. Mandals were very cooperative. Even though the festival is quite religious, the mandals were quite open to tie up with MDACS for such an activity.
2. The RRCs students were enthusiastic and went in large groups to take part in the activities.
3. On the basis of the guidelines that were presented, they innovated quite a lot.

There was a Monitoring and Evaluation exercise that was conducted through which we have captured the impact. Below are details for how we went about it

Objectives of M&E:

• Assess if the event was conducted as per plan
• Assess the event organization & performance value
• Assess reach and impact of event on the masses

METHODS:

Two methods including structured observation and post-street play interviews were employed for monitoring and evaluating community events.

Street plays were the only sub event after which interviews were conducted as this was the core information dissemination event and had maximum number of audience. Respondents selected were a heterogeneous mix of men, women, adults & youth who watched the play.

STUDY SETTING:

FINDINGS
                                         
Each community event had a different outcome due to various contributing factors like RRC youth team’s organizational & performance skills, NGO & Mandal cooperation and community participation, because of which the findings cannot be generalized.

The overall impact and conclusion that can be drawn from the 3-day HIV/AIDS festival at the mandal were as follows:

• Actors delivered HIV/AIDS related dialogues/messages effectively, because of which majority of respondents recalled key messages about transmission, prevention and ICTC.

• Message that was recalled and understood the most was that of ‘Using a Condom to prevent contracting HIV/AIDS’.

• When interviewed about the most effective element of this 3-day fest, RRC volunteers reported Day 1 with the street play to be most effective as there was a wide group of audience and more scope for disseminating information.

• Good selection of location for street play and perseverance of RRC volunteers even under harsh weather conditions.

• RRC students performed the play effectively with good use of posters and an even better approach of addressing the crowd to solve any queries after the play was over. Most respondents recalled key messages about transmission, prevention and myths.

• Students were forthright & confident in addressing questions and queries from the audience.

• A positive highlight of the event was the distribution of the Card with Helpline number on Day 1 after the street play.

• Street play performers tried to add humour and Bollywood songs to get the attention of the crowds which worked in their favour.

• The RRC students were motivated to spread awareness in the community and this was evident from their performance, even though it was inhibited, as they were amateurs, they gave it their best shot.

Newspaper Articles:

CLICK HERE to read what Saamna has to say about this event...