dot-EDU Fact Sheet

Using Information and Communication Technology to Combat HIV/AIDS

Uganda Pilot Project

Start Date:

January 2002

Themes:

HIV/AIDS, youth development, ICT, educational exchange

Project Goal:

To test the potential of ICTs as a means of facilitating youth and community learning about HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

Overview:

Peer learning, social action and small business projects that integrate ICTs with information about HIV/AIDS enable youth to build IT skills and “get connected”. Youth build capacity in peer mentoring, entrepreneurship and communications. Such activities as website development, email, CD-Rom development and list-serves complement existing HIV/AIDS Information Education and Communication (IEC) campaigns designed to reach youth and their communities. In addition, establishment of school-based telecenters enable consistent access to ICTs and provide a local forum for dialogue. Social action plans developed in conjunction with ICT learning will allow students and teachers to interact with and educate their community. Plans include working with parent-teacher associations, income generation for youth and documenting testimonies of community members with HIV/AIDS.

Project activities include:

The Online Project – Online modules that encourage teachers and students explore myths and misunderstandings, conduct research and discuss how they can prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in their own lives and communities.
AIDSWEB Social Action Website Competition – Youth from 60 Ugandan schools participated in week-long AIDSWEB website design workshops. See www.aidsweb.org for the top ten sites.
HIV/AIDS Educational Resource Material – A CD-Rom with relevant HIV/AIDS websites for schools with slow or no Internet connections and assistance in development of high-quality and locally produced print-based HIV/AIDS educational material for electronic dissemination via CD-Rom and website.
Teacher Exchanges – Two exchange visit workshops (Cape Town and Washington D.C.) took place between Africa and US classroom teachers in order to share and review HIV/AIDS classroom materials and experiences.
HIV/AIDS and ICT Integrated Training Material – Training materials introduce basic computer and Internet literacy concepts to community NGOs working on HIV/AIDS.
HIV/AIDS and ICT Workshop in Uganda – This event explored ways in which school-based telecenters and ICTs in general could enhance and support HIV/AIDS awareness.
HIV/AIDS and IT Local Workshop for Online Guidance Counseling in School-based Telecenters – Students of three Ugandan schools will have access to online and guidance counseling services as well as adolescent-parent counseling in relation to HIV/AIDS.
HIV/AIDS and IT Local Workshop for AIDS Orphans and Livelihood Development – Young women, out-of-school youth and youth with family distress to due HIV/AIDS are trained in ICT and entrepreneurship skills contribute to their communities through income generation, capacity building and knowledge sharing.

For more information about this project, please contact:

EDC Project Director, William Wright, wwright@edc.org