SHAPE Departments

The Research Unit

The Research Unit has the task of monitoring of project activities in terms of implementation and impact through:

Carrying out studies to identify the needs of school going children in terms of sexual reproductive health, HIV and AIDS education
Dissemination of findings from studies to all stakeholders
Inform policy development within the Ministry of Education with regards to HIV and AIDS within the education sector
Observing that programme activities take place as planned
Identification of deviations in any form from the intended plan and recommend corrective action
Investigate if the activities are achieved according to the set goals and objectives.
Identification of the needs of the target group

Research Officers

Research activities to be conducted under the Schools HIV/AIDS Crisis Communication Strategy are as follows:

BASELINE SURVEY - to be done at the beginning of project (ongoing)
MIDTERM MONITORING SURVEY - to be done half way, next year
FINAL SURVEY - to be done at the end of the project

What the Unit has done so far

In order to be able to measure the impact of the activities of the programme, it is important to know the present HIV situation in schools. Therefore, a Baseline study was carried out to give a situational analysis of the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of school going children, their teachers and parents with regards to sexuality, HIV and AIDS. Findings of the study will guide the in-school HIV/AIDS prevention programme being implemented by SHAPE. The study will further provide a measure of the impact of the programme implemented in schools. A final report on the Baseline study will be ready in July 2003. The unit will soon be involved in monitoring the third phase of training teachers on HIV and AIDS and sexual reproductive health communication, and the classroom sessions that are due to take place according to the Schools HIV/AIDS Crisis Communication Strategy. This evaluation will establish whether or not the desired impact will be achieved through the strategy.

The Information Office

This is a sub-unit within the Research Unit. The Information Office is responsible for compiling and disseminating information on SHAPE plans, research activities and SHAPE activities, to the organisation's beneficiaries (the school going population), facilitators, gatekeepers and the general public in a timely targeted and well coordinated manner. The office plays a major role in marketing behaviour options offered to children under the Schools Strategy. This is being achieved through workshops and conferences, Internet, electronic and print media.

What the Office has achieved so far

The major success of the Information Unit has been the publication of 1st edition of the SHAPE newsletter, Esangweni ne Gumeni, which is a forum for discussing youth related sexual reproductive health, and HIV and AIDS issues and marketing favourable behaviour options. The newsletter therefore targets both the youth and their school Teachers. Esangweni neGumeni is a new SHAPE publication that will be produced once during each of the three school terms. The office has also succeeded in creating public awareness on the SHAPE project, the Schools HIV/AIDS Crisis Communication Strategy and kept stakeholders abreast on activities carried out under this project such as the training of Senior Trainers and Associate Trainers, and the Baseline Study data collection. This has been achieved through workshops, public events and the media. The Information Unit is currently developing new and exciting information packages for the project.

The IEC Unit

To ensure smooth implementation of the Regional Health Commuincation Programme, SHAPE has established an Information Education Communication (IEC) Unit. The Unit is responsible for the production of IEC materials, coordinating and implementing activities under the programme

What the Unit has achieved so far

To ensure the success of the SHAPE/Soul City Regional project, the office has conducted consultation meetings with stakeholders to solicit buy-in for the programme. Moreover, the office is currently establishing relationships with local media practitioners who can meaningfully input to the success of the programme.

The Unit has also successfully facilitated capacity building of SHAPE staff in Edutainment and the Media.

The Office is currently working on developing a brand name for the programme.

IEC NEWS - Sustaining the SHAPE/Soul City Partnership

SHAPE with seven other countries in the sub-Saharan region has embarked on a joint partnership with the Institute of Health and Development Communications (Soul City) through the Regional Health Communication Programme. The implementationof the programme began inJuly 2002.

The Regional Health and Communications Programme is a five-year project aimed at developing a Health and Communication Programme within SHAPE that will complement the IEC component of the Schools Crisis Communication Strategy and address health issues facing Swaziland in the next five years. The programme will also contribute towards capacity building for SHAPE’s self sustainance beyond the five-year period.

The key activities of the project involve the adaptation of the Soul City range of edutainment products for television, radio and the print media, which deal with HIV/AIDS and other health development issues, to suite the Swazi context, thus complimenting existing products used in the country. These products are primarily targeted at the youth, but are also suitable for adults.

The continued SHAPE/ Soul City partnership follows the successful working partnership during the Choose Life booklet project last year.

Training Department

The Schools Health And Population Education Training Unit is made up of five officers. There is the Head of training, two training officers and two interns.

The main duties of this unit is to organize and run training workshops, develop training materials (manuals and handbooks) and give lectures on Sexuality, HIV and AIDS for the school going populace.

What the Office has done

The training unit with the assistance of other units (Information and Research) engaged in a massive four-day teachers' training programme, which began on the 2nd April 2002.

SHAPE 's main goal is to train over 10 000 teachers who would in turn engage pupils in adolescent sexual development discussions in an open, non-judgemental and sensitive way to be able to establish responsible sexual behaviour change in an effort to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS pandemic.

To achieve the above goal, SHAPE adopted a cascading training model. As such the unit has successfully trained 54 Senior Trainers were trained. The Senior Trainers, under the supervision of the Unit, trained 605 out of the 720 teachers as Associate Trainers. These constituted teachers representing all schools in the country. The Associate Trainers will, in turn, train their work mates so that they are able to discuss sexuality issues with their students.

The Unit has also conducted sensitisation workshops on the programme for head teachers.

Administration Unit

The Administration Unit is mainly responsible for managing the affairs of the organization through the allocation and monitoring the use of resources within the organization. The Unit also provides support in secretariat activities, financial management and transportation to the other Units in the organisation.