Connect To Retain Trained 18 facilitators on Shuga. This training was conducted by Nascop Trainer of trainers. Shuga is a mass multimedia behavior change communication initiative targeting youth ages 18 to 24 with HIV&AIDS prevention messages and linking them to vital services.
Shuga is a television drama series designed as a public health intervention that follows the lives and loves of a group of young students living in Nairobi, Kenya. Shuga boldly addresses sexual health topics head-on, bravely confronting topics such as intergenerational sex, rape, and sex-for gifts, told through the lives of realistic characters and emotional situations drawn from real life. Shuga’s compelling storylines expose the complex nature of relationships and sexual decision making. Shuga Campaign requires that HIV Testing and Counseling (HTC) and other services be made available to youth either on site or through referral.
Shuga is screened to small groups of 20 youth followed by facilitated discussions designed to draw out the key messages in the series. The facilitation is conducted by trained facilitators deliver the 10 session curriculum focusing on key HIV prevention messages, including reducing multiple concurrent partnerships, the need to use condoms consistently and correctly, and reducing stigma and discrimination towards People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA). Additional themes around parent/child communication, living positively with HIV, sexual assault, and gender based violence, Prevention with Positives (PwP), and inability of girls to negotiate safer sex are also discussed. Youth are offered an opportunity to be mentored by entrepreneurs, enabling them to develop marketable skills which will position them for potential income-generating opportunities.
Connect To Retain has conducted Shuga sessions in Kilifi South Sub County reaching 505 youth. The sessions have been conducted in all the 5 wards of Kilifi South namely Mwarakaya, Chasimba, Junju, Mtepeni and Shimo La Tewa.
