Communication for social change

STRAIGHT TALK
FOUNDATION
is a Ugandan NGO seeking to create safer and happier lives for
adolescents, mostly through JOURNALISM FOR SOCIAL
•

CHANGE – radio shows and newspapers for young people – but

also through face-to-face talk.

In its mass media work, STF practices NARRATIVE

JOURNALISM
JOURNALISM. Respecting the primacy of mother tongue
languages, STF broadcasts radio shows for adolescents in thirteen
languages and for parents in eight.

Its FACE-TO-FACE work reaches out to adolescents, parents,

teachers, health workers and leaders. Nationwide STF has over 1000
clubs. It has two youth centres in northern Uganda.

STF has 100 staff and volunteers and resources of about $2 million a
year primarily from European donors, Danida, Dfid, DCI and Sida,
and USAID.

IMPACT: girls who are exposed to

IMPACT: STF materials are more self-confident than

girls who are not exposed.
boys who have
been exposed to
STF materials are
only 40% as likely
to have started sex
as boys who have THERE IS A
NEW SEXUAL
not been exposed.

GENERATION
EVERY FIVE
YEARS.
Since its beginning as a newspaper,
Straight Talk, in 1993, STF has
worked with almost three sexual
generations.

Many of the teachers of today were

students reading Straight Talk in the
early 1990s.

STF follows a sexual health promotion

rather than a disease prevention
model. But much of its focus is HIV.
 IMPACT: girls and boys who are exposed to STF materials
Table of contents

HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

are more likely to talk to their parents about body changes
and growing up than those who are not exposed.
Adolescents: increasing the age of first sex 2
Message from the Director 3

NEWSPAPERS AND PRINT 4

Distribution 7
ST/YT at a glance in 2007 8-9
ST Sudan in 2007/Other Papers 10
Environment and Livelihood newspapers 11

RADIO 13
Interviews in the field 15
Tone and narrative: key to radio 17

STF MODEL (Centrespread) 18-19

RADIO (continued) 20
Radio topics in 2007 21
Radio consultancies/partnerships in 2007 22
Creating radio conversations with adults 22

OUTREACH AND TRAINING 23

Primary schools 23
Secondary schools 24
Clubs 25
Advocacy meetings and health fairs 25
Community dialogues 26
Scholarships 26

CONDOM EDUCATION 27

STF-STAKEHOLDER SYNERGY 28
Abbreviations
ABC Abstain, Be faithful, Condom use
NORTHERN YOUTH CENTRES 29 ABY Abstinence/Faithfulness for Youth
Gulu Youth Centre 29
Kitgum Youth Centre 31 ARVs Anti-Retrovirals
ASRH Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health
MONITORING & EVALUATION 33
CBO Community-based Organization
Pre-testing 34
CGS Cross-generational sex
FINANCE AND ADMIN 35 DDHS District Director of Health Services
DEO District Education Office
DIS District Inspector of Schools
FGD Focus group discussion
GBV Gender-based violence
IDI In-depth Interview
IDP Internally Displaced Person
LRA Lord’s Resistance Army
OVC Orphans and vulnerable children
PMTCT Prevention of mother-to-child transmission

4Rs Runyankole/Rukiga/Rutoro/Runyoro
SRH Sexual and Reproductive Health
STD Sexually Transmitted Disease
UDHS Uganda Demographic and Health Survey
VCT Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV
IMPACT: girls who are exposed to STF materials are three times
more likely to abstain if they have a boyfriend than girls who are WFP World Food Programme
not exposed.
STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I1I
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Adolescents: increasing the age of first sex

S ince 1993 Straight Talk (later

STF) has sought to contribute
to a rise in the age of first sex.
And indeed the proportion of
girls and boys who have sex
before the age of 15 has fallen,
according to the Demographic
and Health Survey (2006). In
1995, 24% of females and 20%
of males aged 15-24 had had
sex before the age of 15. In
2006 this had declined to 12%
for girls and 13% for boys.

Sex before the age of 18 has

also become less common. In
1995, 74% of females and 64%
of males aged 18-24 had had
sex before 18. In 2006 the attend secondary school start sex later: at 18.1 years compared to 16.9
figures were 58% and 42%. for those who attend only primary. The rise in girls’ age of first sex may
Schooling does not affect boys’ be partly due to increased girls’ enrolment. Fifteen years ago only 12% of
age of first sex. But girls who girls had exposure to secondary education. Today the figure is 29%.

Boys, aged 10-11, play soccer in Karamoja. Young adolescents are the hardest to reach and create conversations for.
Older adolescents are better catered for but may already be sexually active.

I2I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT


Message from the Director
I n 2007 STF implemented
a rich programme for
adolescents, teachers and
parents, acquired US 501
(c)(3) status, and moved
into its own building. We
were a thoroughly grown up
NGO, sitting at the table
with giants like TASO and
Soul City. It was a good
feeling.
But the best feeling came as
always from our work. A
junior reporter captures a
testimony and takes just the
right tone in her script. At
Gulu Youth Centre, a peer
educator talks earnestly;
adolescents listen. We start a
new radio show in Lufumbira,
and local people say: “There
was nothing for us before.” We
start a new youth centre in
Kitgum: our counselors meet
youth under a tree.
People thank us for working
tirelessly for youth. I joke: “If we
are working tirelessly, why are
we so tired?” The fact is we work
hard: it is our culture. “This
place feels prolific,” marveled a
visitor from the US. Looking
through his eyes, I see editors
hunched over Straight Talk,
designers on Teacher Talk. And
he didn’t see the radio, face-to-
face or research teams.
And there is much to work hard
for. Are the lives of adolescents
improving? Debatable. Do we
know the words that will move
them to safer places? We hope
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
so. Do we have the
model for HIV work with
primary teachers? We
might. Working at STF
means never taking
anything for granted.
All year our
“conversation” was
shaped by the drivers of
HIV, such as multiple
partners, genital herpes,
gender disparities and
alcohol, and the drivers
of early sex: curiosity,
force, sexual feelings,
marriage, poverty,
loneliness and others.
As ever, our point of departure was the stories of young people. After
years of retrofitting behaviour change theories to what we do, narrative
journalism suddenly seemed to be our model. Inspired by work from
Harvard’s Nieman Foundation, we started talking about credibility and
narrative arc. Seeking “true stories” also works for face-to-face work
and M&E. In fact, only lived experiences keep you real.
In 2007 we reached 85% of Uganda’s adolescents through mass media
and at least 100,000 face-to-face: our impact was positive. Exposed
adolescents have safer behaviours than non-exposed. Please read
about Population Council’s research on page 33.
For all the good things that happened 2007, we would like to thank our
board and donors; colleagues in health, education, the Uganda AIDS
Commission and districts; civil society partners; and our beloved
adolescents, teachers and parents.
Catharine Watson, Executive Director
Talking to
adolescent mothers
at Kitgum Youth
Centre in May
2007, with KYC
manager Janet
Akao.
STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I3I
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Newpapers and print

S TF has two flagship

newspapers for adolescents
on HIV and growing up safe:
Straight Talk and Young Talk.
These English newspapers are
supplemented by versions of
Straight Talk in local languages for
out-of-school youth.
In 2007, STF produced eight
issues each of Straight Talk and
Young Talk and one Luo and one
Ateso edition of Straight Talk with a cumulative print run of 5.5 million
copies, slightly less than one newspaper for each of Uganda’s seven
million 10 to 19 year olds. Excluding staff salaries, the cost per paper
was just 3US cents. As exposure to the papers is high -- over 90% of
secondary students read Straight Talk and over 50% of upper primary
pupils read Young Talk -- they are a highly cost-efficient intervention.
However, conceptualising the papers is an enormous task: obvious
“messaging” does not work. First, adolescents are an extremely diverse
group. Second, even rural adolescents suffer from HIV “overload” and
are sensitive to being talked down to. Third, there is intense age mixing
in schools which causes chaos for “age-appropriate” sex education.

Newspaper/print material Issues Print run Copies/2007

Calendar 1 230,000 230,000
Straight Talk 8 190,000-260,000 2,309,800
Straight Talk in Luo and Ateso 2 80,000 160,000
Young Talk 8 250,000-330,000 2,992,930
Farm Talk 3 150,000-160,000 460,000
Tree Talk 1 180,000 180,000
Straight Talk Sudan 2 50,000 x 2 100,000
EHM English, Luganda, 4Rs 3 180,000: 100,000: 172,620 620,200
Teacher Talk 1 300,000 300,000
Money World Eng, Luo, Ateso, 4Rs, Luganda 5 200,000:50,000x2:80,000x2 460,000
Scouts Voice (Kenya) 3 60,000 180,000
Scouts Voice (Uganda) 1 50,000 50,000
10 newspaper titles 38 8,042,930

Journalists for a day: primary pupils in Mayuge in March 2007 work on the early marriage issue of Young Talk. “They
said things we did not expect,” says editor Edith Kimuli. Editing Young Talk and Straight Talk in the field with the “audience”
maintains freshness and relevance.

I4I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

 HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
Seeking true stories: Jacky Abongowath, 25, STF reporter, interviews a girl in a Kitgum IDP camp. “I discovered late that I
could write,” says Jacky. “Maybe I didn’t have the avenue or environment. In my village everyone thinks of becoming a nurse.”
In 2007 she conducted outstanding intimate immersion journalism. Boys in West Nile told her how they beat or tied their
penises to control sexual feelings. Girls told her of rape.

In theory Straight Talk is for 15-
19 year olds in secondary and
vocational schools: in reality it is
poured over by young people
aged 13 to 24. Young Talk is for
adolescents aged 10-14 in the
three upper primary classes,
P5-7. But few pupils reach P5 by
age 10: only 3% of letters to
Young Talk are from 10 year
olds: the average reader is 14-
15.
Primary classes with 13 and 17
year olds and secondary classes
with 15 and 22 year olds
characterise all but the most elite
schools in Africa and contribute
to the often disappointing results
of school HIV programmes.
A further complication is that
readers of the same age and in the correct class for their age vary
greatly in what HIV and sexuality conversation they need. A 15 year old
in S3 (10th grade) may not yet have menstruated, have little sexual
desire and be closely monitored by two parents who expect her to
complete high school. Another 15 year old may have menstruated since
age 11, have a serious suitor, and have parents who think school is
delaying her marrying for brideprice.
For Girl A, Straight Talk just needs to reinforce the explicit and implicit
messages she is receiving from family and school. But for Girl B, Straight
Talk’s task is harder. If she stays in school and puts off sex as a result of
Straight Talk, it is a quiet miracle. Fortunately, newspapers can be
constructed that address the diversity of adolescents. Abstinence-
focused Young Talk can cover condoms by answering readers’
questions. It can acknowledge sexuality in primary schools through boys’
stories of wet dreams and girls’ stories of love, gifts and coercion. A
carefully-crafted Straight Talk can have meaning for 15 year old virgins
and sexually-experienced 19 year olds.
So how is an STF paper assembled? The best paper is a delicate mix
that addresses the three domains of learning: the didactic (logical), the

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I5I

 affective (emotions) and the
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

psychomotor. Didactic might be

an article on genital herpes,
obstetric fistula, what is the
hymen or a normal vaginal
discharge. Affective might be a
personal account of rape or
“the day my mother breathed
her last”. Psychomotor could be
how to use a condom, maintain
penile hygiene, make a cloth
sanitary pad, where to go for
STD care or how to talk with a
health worker.

Most behaviour change models

lay heavy stress on selecting the
problem that needs to be
communicated about. But STF
has found that the “problem”
matters less than how it is
handled. Almost every core
conversation about HIV and
sexuality (e.g. wait, it’s your
body, sexual feelings are Total absorbtion: A girl in western Uganda loses herself in the local
normal, sex is in the brain, test language Straight Talk. However, “true stories” do not guarantee authenticity.
They can be selected with bias, for example, making it appear that all youth
together first) can be woven in,
who have had sex deeply regret it.
whatever the topic.

• Do not address all readers as though they are all the same: e.g. all
The lead theme can equally be a
virgins, all sexually active, all en route to university. Supply a variety of
driver of HIV (multiple partners)
material in small articles, boxes and side bars that recognises the
or early sex (peer pressure), a
diversity of their genders, life prospects and where they are on the
protective factor (staying in
continuum of sexual experience.
school), a life skill (assertiveness)
• If the newspaper belittles the feelings of adolescents or does not
or something that adolescents
involve adolescents, then it fails. Failure is quickly discernable; letters
struggle with (strong emotions).
decline.
• Include readers through: workshops to write the paper with them;
STF journalists take up to a
quizzes (what is good sex?); have them be “agony aunties” for other
month to achieve a satisfactory
readers’ dilemmas; a Q and A section for their love and sex
final product. The process has
questions; pre-testing in a Straight Talk club; and, above all, building
guidelines (field interviews,
the paper on their true stories.
review of adolescents’ letters,
• Tread lightly. After a story of a schoolgirl becoming pregnant, the
interviews with experts and so
editor does not need to write: “Readers, this can happen to you if you
on) but is also intuitive, with the
have sex.” Repeat key concepts, but do not labour points.
journalists and designers
“tweaking” until they feel they
Outstanding materials for adolescents cannot be read quickly. They have
have the balance right.
density, richness and can be re-visited. They are comforting, sustaining
and “good company” for the reader (see Telling True Stories). They
Over the years STF has learnt the
contain cautionary tales, inspiration and new facts. They help
following about writing for young
adolescents to envision alternative futures and explore with others
people.
multiple pathways to safety and a better life.

I6I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

Distribution delivered to 200 large NGOs. “We humbly request your

HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

In 2007 STF received hundreds papers”, wrote Bwijanga PS. “We
Almost every month STF sends
of requests for copies. “Kindly cannot afford missing what our
newspapers to 25,000 schools,
send Straight Talk,” wrote Father neighbours are getting.”
health units, CBOs, churches,
Sorgho of Missionaries of Africa. Nkawkaw SS requested a
mosques, prisons and police
“It will help our pupils to open “subscription”: “We are so
posts: most are far from the
their minds to the universal impressed by its content and
main tarmac roads. STF moved
world.” think it has all it takes to expose
about seven million newspapers
our students.” All STF papers are
by Posta Uganda in 2007.
“These papers fight AIDS,” wrote free.
Yakima Star Trust Foundation.
About 10% of each print run was
“Youth visit our library and
DISTRIBUTION LIST 2007
inserted into New Vision for NUMBER
promise to avoid behaviours that CATEGORY ON LIST
advocacy and the newspaper- 1 PRIMARY SCHOOLS 13,437
expose them to HIV and
reading elite:100,000 given out 2 SECONDARY SCHOOLS 3,308
narcotics. I shall send you their 3 HEALTH CENTERS 1,624
at health fairs; and 400,000
pictures to print if you please.” 4 CBOs 1,546
5 PRISONS 56
6 POLICE 126
7 CHURCH OF UGANDA 812
8 CATHOLICS 128
9 BAPTISTS 70
Many clinics and CBOs 10 STRAIGHT TALK CLUBS 666
display “Straight Talk 11 INDIVIDUALS 336
available here” signs. 12 ISLAMIC (MOSQUES) 63
13 INTERNATIONALS 305
14 NGOs 462
15 YOUNG TALK CLUBS 112
16 NAADS 32
17 EARLY CHILDHOOD DEV’T 74
18 MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT 304
19 CCTS/CORE PTCs 592
20 TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS 462
21 DEOs, DISs, DDHS 240
GULU YOUTH CENTER 1
25 FARM TALK INSTITUTIONS 180
26 KITGUM YOUTH CENTER 1
TOTAL 24,858

STF language & images

now part of the fabric of schools

Communication for social change can take on a life of its own, as happened in schools across Uganda.
Asked by the Ministry of Education to create “talking compounds,” teachers painted thousands of phrases
and drawings, almost all from Young Talk, on walls and signs. Teachers appropriated STF’s lexicon
because it resonates with lived experience. STF’s challenge is finding new phrases that capture the spirit of
2008-10, while keeping classics such as: “Menstruation is healthy” and “Say NO to bad touches”.

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I7I

HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Straight Talk at a glance in 2007

Straight Talk started in October 1993; for

adolescents aged 15-19 in secondary school. Funded
by Dfid, Dandida, Sida and Civil Society Fund in 2007.
February: July:
What is your goal in 2007? Multiple sexual partners

April: August:
Would you marry without testing? Violence in relationships

May: September:
What makes you feel cool? Would you have a sugar partner?

June: October/November:
Sports for HIV prevention Fistula...what is it?

LOCAL LANGUAGE STRAIGHT TALKS IN 2007 (LUO AND ATESO)

I8I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

 HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
Young Talk at a glance in 2007

Young Talk started in February 1998; for adolescents

in primary school in classes P4-7 (age 10-14).
Funded by Dandia, Dfid and CSF in 2007.
February: July:
My goal this year Stay in school as long as you can

April: August:
We are too young to marry! Boys and menstruation

May: September:
Are you a good leader? Living happily with a guardian

June: October/November:
Is your body changing? You and the media

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I9I

 Other papers
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Straight Talk Sudan in 2007

Money World, started in 2006, to
improve financial literacy for
adults across Uganda. Funded by
Dfid in 2007. Produced in five
languages, with a total print run of
820,000. May: Make saving a
habit August: Customers’ rights
and responsibilities

Scouts Voice, started in 2005,

funded by Path-Kenya-USAID. STF
produces editions for Ugandan
and Kenyan scout troops.
March/April: Boys and girls can
do the same things
July/Aug: Jamboree edition (on
Straight Talk Sudan, started in
site newspaper production, three
2004, for youth in southern
in each country)
Sudan. With funds from the
September: Protect yourself from
American Refugee Committee,
HIV
STF produced two issues in
2007, each with a print run of
50,000.
May: Fight gender violence
September: Peer pressure

To collect testimonies and

photos, STF journalists travel
to southern Sudan.
Unfortunately, the lack of a
postal system means students
struggle to write in to STF.

Everyday Health Matters,

launched 2006, for adults, funded
by AFFORD/USAID and developed
with Ministry of Health and other
partners. In April 2007 STF
produced an EHM on using
insecticide-treated nets to “save
your child” from malaria in English,
4Rs, Luganda.

Girls at a secondary school in Rumbek: Many adolescents and Teacher Talk, started in 2004 for
teachers in southern Sudan are Straight Talk fans having read STF papers primary school teachers. Funded
as refugees in Uganda. Above: Sudanese youth in a refugee camp in by UNITY in 2007. September:
Moyo read ST Sudan.
Effective teaching and learning

I10I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

Environment and livelihood newspapers

HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

B esides its sexual health
newspapers, STF also
produces Tree Talk and Farm
Talk. Both were launched in
2002 when projects addressing
loss of forest cover, poor
nutrition and agriculture took
note of the work of Young Talk
and Straight Talk in HIV. Could
dedicated newspapers do the
same for treegrowing and
farming?

Tr e e Ta l k
Now in its sixth year, Tree Talk
in 2007 continued to be
Uganda’s main mobilising tool
for community and school
treegrowing.
Without a midday meal, pupils
struggle to learn. Purchasing fuel
wood to cook the midday
porridge is beyond the means of
most schools (up to $300/term).
Yet the majority have land on
which they could grow their own
wood supply. Tree Talk aims to
be a catalyst to support all
schools to become self sufficient
in wood, thereby improving
nutrition and learning, while
relieving pressure on natural
forest and bush.
As in 2005 and 2006, Tree Talk
was funded by the UN World
Food Programme in 2007. WFP
supports treegrowing because
for almost two decades it has
fed millions of people in
Northern Uganda and famine-
prone Karamoja. In 2007,
almost 20,000 schools and
institutions received a Tree Talk
on the value of protecting natural
forests, along with sachets of
seed for Markhamia lutea, a
fastgrowing indigenous tree,
Tree Talk/WFP nursery: (Above) Tree Talk field workers inspect the
nursery in Lira. (Insert) fuelwood at a school in Karamoja: expensive and
damaging to the environment.
good for poles and firewood.
Meanwhile, the benefits from trees grown from seed sent out with Tree
Talk in previous years are becoming apparent. A teacher at Nyamasiizi
PS, Kabale wrote: “Our woodlot helps the school get building materials,
firewood and study places.” Esther Nakhumitsa, 11, a pupil from the
same school wrote: “From Tree Talk we learnt how to collect local seeds
and make a seedbed and care for it.” In Yumbe district, near Sudan,
agriculture and environment teacher Abele Majid, who attended a Tree
Talk workshop at Nyabyeya Forestry College in 2006, has greened Bilijia
PS with trees grown from Tree Talk seed. “I have taught here for seven
years. Before I came, the compound was bare and dry,” says Majid.
In Tree Talk’s on-the-ground
work in the North and Karamoja,
its six field workers trained 174
teachers in treegrowing in Lira/
Dokolo, Apac, Gulu/Amuru, Pader,
Kotido/Abim, Kaboong, Moroto
and Nakapiripirit. Importantly,
they also raised and supplied
240,462 seedlings of Senna,
Neem, Markhamia and Mvule to
180 schools, creating 212 school
woodlots of an acre each. Tree
Talk foresters estimate that the
average school needs four acres
to be wood self-sufficient.

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I11I

 Ultimately Tree Talk would like all
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

schools to grow their own trees

and not rely on seedlings from
Tree Talk nurseries. But in the
short term, seedling distribution
gives quick results and generates
hope. Notes Simon Peter
Amunau, Tree Talk manager. “In
the north, where people have
been traumatized for 20 years,
you need to show them
something that is working. We
say: ‘We are giving you these
woodlots as a starter but you
know that you can do this by
yourself.’ By giving seed and
teaching people to grow their
own trees, there can be Bilijia PS, Yumbe: Greened by Tree Talk and teacher Majid Abele.
sustainability.”
100 schools and provided them with planting materials and technical
Fa r m Ta l k advice. Many schools say that harvests from their gardens now
Farm Talk aims to support the
supplement their feeding programmes and generate small amounts of
primary school agricultural
cash for extra school purchases. “We have achieved a lot from our Farm
syllabus, catalyse the creation of
Talk projects,” wrote teacher J Bizimaana of Mabaale PS, Kamwenge.
great school gardens as learning
“Our orphans can now buy books, pens and uniforms from the money
labs, and improve school
from our harvests.” At Orago PS in Tororo district, students sold their
feeding, especially for orphans
harvest from Farm Talk seeds to purchase goats. Urban schools with
and vulnerable children. In 2007,
little land grew cabbages in sacks.
with funds from Denmark’s
Agricultural Sector Programme
Although most people in Uganda rely on subsistence
Support, STF produced and
agriculture, farming is seen as low status work.
distributed three issues of Farm
This is an attitude challenge for Farm Talk,
Talk to 13,500 primary schools
which presents farming as part of a
with seeds for cabbages, green
prosperous rural future.
peppers, beans, sorghum,
upland rice and maize. In
on-the-ground work,
Farm Talk staff visited

Read Primary School in Kisoro: “From Farm Talk we have grown cabbages and
spinach for the pupils and teachers to eat,” wrote teacher Cosma Dusabimana.

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 HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
Radio

I n 2007, STF produced

different radio shows on 52
topics in 13 languages for youth,
million or $470,000 in 2007. Over 75% of this large sum goes to pay air
time, despite STF enjoying preferential air time rates due to its
purchasing power. The other major cost, about 10% of the total, is trips
a total of 676 shows. For upcountry to collect interviews. But is radio really expensive? The answer
parents, it produced shows on is no, because its reach is so vast: every study shows its penetration.
39 topics in eight languages,
about 310 in all. According to the UDHS 2006, each week among youth aged 15-19, 85%
of boys and 75% of girls listen to radio: in contrast, only 14% watch TV
To cover large geographical and 21% read a newspaper. As a media source of information, it is
areas, almost every radio show unrivalled. The UDHS found that of women who knew about ARVs, 54%
is broadcast on multiple FM had heard about them from radio, just 10% from newspapers and 5%
stations. For example, the from TV. Research by STF and Population Council found the following
English youth show is aired on listenership to Straight Talk radio shows among its sample of 2100
14 stations, the 4Rs language unmarried adolescents:
Ever Of whom
youth show on six, and the Lwo AUDIENCE listened listen 3-4 x
The key to high /month
youth show on five. Therefore, in
2007 STF broadcast on average listenership and thereby Male 60% 66%
67 shows a week, amounting to cost efficiency is local Female 50% 63%
over 3400 shows over the year. languages. In districts In school 57% 62%
with local language ST Primary 51% 61%
Radio is now STF’s biggest radio shows, 76% of 10- Secondary 82% 69%
department with a journalist for 19 year olds have ever Out of school 52% 74%
every language, several studio listened. In districts with Males 10-14 51% 60%
technicians, and a manager. only English shows, the Females 10-14 45% 62%
Excluding salaries, the youth figure is just 13%. The Males 15-19 69% 71%
radio shows cost three times Population Council/FHI Females 15-19 56% 64%
more than STF’s youth research in 2006 found Urban 67% 67%
newspapers, about UGX 800 that STF spent just 10 US Rural 51% 62%

Through radio, STF reaches the poor, the out-of-school and the rural adolescents:
such youth constitute the great majority of young people.
STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I13I
 cents a year per adolescent
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

reached by its shows: with 65%

of adolescents who are exposed
to ST radio shows listening to
about 40 shows a year, the final
cost per adolescent reached per
show is a fraction of one US cent.

Africa is a region of linguistic

fragmentation with an estimated
2000 languages. Academics at
Uganda’s Makerere University
say that Uganda has 36
languages. STF believes that no
youth should be excluded from
the ASRH conversation that he or
she needs because of language,
and STF is slowly but surely
adding languages to its arsenal.

On 28 July 2007 STF launched a

new Straight Talk radio show in
a language it had not worked in
before: Lufumbira, its thirteenth Tuvuge Rwatu journalist Bernard Sabiti interviews a girl in Kisoro. “I was a
sceptic,” he admits. “I doubted that Bafumbira could talk about intimate sexual
language. Almost identical to
topics. But now girls can talk about menses without covering their eyes.”
Kinyarwanda, across the border
in Rwanda, Lufumbira is spoken Radio shows for adolescents and youth
only in the cold hilly district of Language Launch B/casts
Kisoro. Funded by the Dutch English Straight Talk 1999 14
agency Cordaid, the show was Lwo: Lok atyer kamaleng 2000 5
called Tuvuge Rwatu (speak 4Rs: Tusheeshuure 2001 6
openly). Ateso: Einer Eitena 2002 3
Lugbara: Eyo eceza tra ri 2003 1
Lusamia: Embaha Ngololofu 2003 2
Because Kisoro is isolated Lumasaba: Khukanikha Lubuula 2004 2
lingustically and geographically, Luganda: Twogere Kaati 2004 5
Tuvuge Rwatu was a chance to Lukonzo: Erikania Okwenene 2004 2
look at a “before” and “after” Lusoga: Twogere Lwattu 2005 3
Kupsabiny: Ngalatep Maanta 2005 3
situation. In February 2008 STF
Karimojong: Erwor Ngolo Ediiriana 2006 4
researchers interviewed 323 Lufumbira: Tuvuge Rwatu 2007 2
youth: 60% aged 15-19, 37%
Sub-total 12 shows 51/wk
20-24, 4% 10-14; 79% single;
61% out-of-school. They found Radio shows for parents
that the introduction of Tuvugu
4Rs: Eriaka Ryomuzaire 2005 2
Rwatu had increased exposure Lugbara: Nzeta Tipikaniri 2005 2
to an STF radio show by a factor Lukonzo: Omukania owa’ babuthi 2005 2
of five. Whereas only 13.7% of Lusamia: Embaha ya bebusi 2005 1
Lumasaba: Inganikha iyi basaali 2006 2
15-19 year-olds in Kisoro
Luganda: Eddobozi lya muzadde 2006 2
reported listening to an STF
Lwo: Lok pa Lanyodo 2006 4
radio show in 2005, listenership Ateso: Einer Aurian 2007 2
had jumped to 70% by February Sub-total 8 shows 17 /wk
2008: 78% of in-school youth, TOTAL 19 shows 67/wk
68% of males and 60% of

I14I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

 HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
Interviews in the field

A good radio show starts

with the interview.
You spice it up from the field.
Production can edit it a little bit,
but can’t make the show. You
have to approach people in
their environment and take
them as they are. If you tell
them before that you are
coming, they will prepare and
even collect ST materials to
read. People might answer the
exact question that you
designed in the office, but it
won’t sound real.
was: “Fear not HIV but the LRA” because HIV takes a long time to
kill but the rebels kill fast. They were thinking: “Because I’m going to
die anyway, why not enjoy my life?” And they were having many
sexual relations. All our communication has to build hope and bring
about attitude change.
STF stands for real life ways of how things are in Ugandan culture.
Mobilizing youth on reproductive and sexual health
means dealing with the day-to-day problems.
What is inspiring is how these youths
eventually become the activists.
Victor Ochen: STF radio
journalist for northern
Uganda.

Telling your own life story

inspires listeners and helps
them believe in you. I tell them:
‘I also burned charcoal, I slept
in the bush, my brothers were
abducted.’ Telling your story is
a more sophisticated way to
find the truth in yourself and
others. Young people in the
north operate on desperation.
They look at life as temporary. I
remember a group of young
people in a camp. Their motto

females reported ever listening.
The most dedicated listeners
were in-school boys at 86%.
Southwest Uganda has the
highest age of first sex in
Uganda at 18.4 for girls and
19.4 for males (compared to
16.9 and 18.1 nationally): 54%
of respondents “self-professed”
that the message they took from
the show was to abstain. “I have
learnt to stop having sex with
whichever girl,” said one boy.
“The show has helped me know
why I should stop sex at my
young age and avoid HIV/AIDS,”
said a girl, 16.
Others perceived that the show was directing them to use condoms,
proof that abstinence and condom “conversations” can co-exist and that
listeners hear what is useful to them. “The show has made us feel free to
talk about problems and ways to solve them,” said one boy. “For
example, they teach people how to use condoms.”
After years of feeling left out because there was no programming in their
mother tongue, listeners acquired knowledge of basic HIV-related
behaviours that seemed new to them. “From listening I got to know the
importance of testing for HIV,” said one woman, 22, from Nyakabande.
“I decided to go to the health centre even though my husband refused to
come with me like they had told us in the program.”
STF wants its radio shows to help listeners reflect critically on their lives.
But listeners often talk about shows as though they issue edicts. Thirty-
five per cent of listeners formed clubs in 2007-8 as a result of the show.
“We use our club to listen to Sabiti (the radio journalist),” explained a boy
in Sagitwe. “He told us that we can discuss what we learn from the show,

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I15I

 and we do it here every local officials and religious leaders) wrap up each show, giving advice
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Saturday.” and context. By regularly featuring local health workers, STF shows
increase attendance at health units, particularly for VCT.
The success of Tuvuge Rwatu
was a relief for STF, which had The script is written first in English, reviewed, modified, then translated
not introduced a new language back into the local language. Every show contains a quiz question and
since Nga’Karimojong in 2006. four songs dedicated each to three listeners, creating over 8000 named
Overall, STF found that its three dedications for the 13 language streams a year. Listeners’ personal
shows -- Tuvugu Rwatu, questions are also answered on air, a few in each routine show and
Tusheeshuure (the 4Rs show about eight in each monthly “doctor” show: Thus about 1500 listeners
that “bleeds” from adjacent had the satisfaction of hearing their questions read on air and
districts) and the ST English show
-- were the three shows most
commonly cited by youth in
Kisoro, far ahead of other youth
RH shows mentioned by just
5.3% and 6.2% of youth. This
reinforced STF’s confidence in its
radio format, which has been
almost constant since the first ST
radio show was launched in
1998.
So what is the format? Each 30
minute show is pre-recorded
and built around interviews with
adolescents. Journalists collect
material for 13 shows on field
trips every four months.

“I usually interview two girls and

one boy for each show,” explains
Susan Babirye, STF Lusoga radio Carol Karungi (left) began work at STF at age 19. In 2007 she co-hosted
the youth show in 4Rs, a large language group covering 16 districts in Western
journalist. “If the girls’ stories are
Uganda.
long, I use the best one. I
interview more girls than boys Language Districts Villages IDIs FGDs
because they face more program visited visited held held
problems yet take part less in Lukonzo 2 33 160 254
the show. Their stories can Ngakarimojong 3 11 64 391
inspire other girls.” Luganda 10 30 160 1028
Tusheeshuure 14 43 160 1021
“Fieldwork is the biggest Lusoga 7 21 160 913
challenge,” says head of
Urufumbira 2 8 42 212
department Annet Kyosiimire.
Ateso 7 29 160 1150
“Maybe you’ve come to interview
Lugubara 4 25 160 820
girls but they tell you, ‘the girls
Lumasaba 3 28 160 803
are in the garden, you can only
get boys’. Yet you have to get Lusamia 2 20 160 720
girls at all cost, for balance and Kupsabiny 2 39 160 894
gender sensitization.” Luo 5 30 180 1260
English 11 12 160 1176
Interviews with adults (parents, TOTAL:
elders, health workers, teachers, 13 languages 75 328 1887 11,230

I16I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

responded to in 2007. were able to cover 75 out of Uganda’s 80 districts. They sat in hundreds

HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

When ready, the show is voiced
in STF’s studio, mixed, burned
onto a CD, and sent by bus to
upcountry station. STF has 41
monitors, mostly students,
around the country who listen to
every show to make sure it is
aired on time, in full, without
interruptions.
By carefully planning field trips,
in 2007 STF radio journalists
of villages and spoke with over 11,000 young people in small groups
and focus group discussions. They interviewed almost 2000 youth one-
on-one.
Thus, although radio is a mass media intervention, it can be done in such
a way that it has a large face-to-face, interpersonal, component.
The quality of this interpersonal interaction is substantial, with the
journalist dropping his or her role of interviewer-collector-of-material
and becoming an HIV educator, relationship counsellor, community
animator, condom demonstrator and much more.
Read more about radio on pg20

Tone and narrative: key to radio

I f a radio show is too bright

and breezy - safer sex is
easy! - listeners do not believe
it. If it is too ominous - sex
leads to death! - listeners turn
off.
Susan Babirye broadcasts to
Busoga where there are no
quick routes to safer
behaviours: 34% of men are
polygamous; almost half had
sex with a non-marital partner
in the past year.
“If lack of care forces men to have sex outside marriage, let’s care for
our partners. Men, if you are not happy, discuss with your spouse
instead of doing adultery, which causes HIV to enter marriages.”
An elder wraps wraps up, saying: “Let us marry only one wife. Several
is disadvantageous. You get many children, each with a different
mother, and they grow up not having love for each other.”
The show refers listeners to five different health centres and plugs
family planning, STD treatment and HCT. Susan’s skillful narrative is
lightly but firmly critical of infidelity. The show celebrates quiet
triumphs of rural life. The young man’s “goats have multiplied to five”
and he has bought a cow. The adolescent girl with the co-wife grows
greens and hopes to rethatch her house.

Susan’s script of 2 June 2007 The show the previous week was on adolescents living positively, the
features a married girl with a following show on STDs. Each show is therefore part of a longer
co-wife. She tells Susan that, continuing narrative.
besides their several wives,
men have “sex with school girls
who come for holidays. They
have no intention of marrying
them”. It also features a young
man with one wife. He says
men “are forced into extra
marital affairs because their
wives do not give them the
care they deserve.”

“What happens to these casual

girls?” asks Susan. “Time
comes and they get their own
marriage partners,” explains
the man. Susan then suggests: STF Lusoga radio journalist Susan Babirye talks with a Twogere Lwatu
club, one of 25 that have formed around her show.

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I17I

HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

STF model

S TF follows an “ecological model,” addressing the individual in

his or her environment with interventions at all the layers of
influence around the individual.

The individual adolescent is at the core of the model,

under the first arch of the rainbow, benefitting
from youth newspapers and radio shows and
from taking part in clubs linked to STF.

At the next layer of the rainbow, STF

addresses parents and teachers: the
most important adults in the lives
of adolescents. Adolescents
struggle to stay safe if, for
example, their parents
make them leave school to
marry or if their teacher
believes girls are less
intelligent than boys.
So for this layer, STF
produces Parent
Talk radio and
Teacher Talk
newspaper. It
also conducts
face-to-
face work
in schools

I18I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

 HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
and communities (parent dialogues). Finally, to have impact on the
larger community and political context, STF holds community
fairs and advocacy meetings and sends its papers to MPs,
district leaders and other opinionmakers. This outer
layer is also exposed to STF radio shows. Health
units, faith groups and CBOs operate at this
level and are influenced by and are key
outlets for STF materials.

Finally, STF is not “messaging” to

change people. Instead it practices
communication for social
change: it encourages critical
thinking and dialogue to
help people define who
they are, what they
need and how to move
forward to a safer
future.

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I19I

 Radio continued
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Coverage of radio by language

STF broadcasts for

adolescents in 13 languages.
The entire country receives
the English Straight Talk radio
show. Twelve ethnic groups
receive broadcasts in their
languages. The above map
shows the linguistic areas --
from Nga’karimojong in the
east to Lufumbira in the far
southwest. As of 2007, the
Alur, Madi and Kakwa in the
northwest and Japadhola in
the east had no youth
reproductive health show in
their local language. The red
circles show the 34 radio
stations STF used in 2007 to
broadcast its shows.

The English ST radio show

and the shows in Lwo and
4Rs attracted the most
letters. As in previous years,
only about 30% of letters
were written by females: girls
have less money and mobility
than boys and prefer “human”
to media sources of
information. ST radio shows received 14,504 letters in 2007. Over two
thirds of letters were written by youths aged 16 to 20.

I20I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

 Topics of 52 Straight Talk radio shows 2007

HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Work- Genital Herpes -
Vocational training - Safer sex -
Parents’ influence in the
marriage of their children -
Courting for marriage - Caring
for people with HIV/AIDS -
Young positives -Syphilis -
Defilement - Condoms - Goal
setting - Sources of income -
Early pregnancy - Disabilities -
Abstinence - Unfaithfulness -
Festive season messages -
PMTCT - Fistula - Family
planning - Infertility - Early
marriage - Appropriate dressing
- Violence in relationships -
Living in harmony - HIV
counseling and testing - New
Year’s resolutions - Life after
dropping out of school - Sex and
marriage - Communication with
your parents- How to find a
marriage partner (males) - How
to find a marriage partner
(females) - Children and
marriage - Body changes - Sex
and Marriage - What have you
done to fight HIV? -
Assertiveness - Gonorrhea -
Abstinence - Epilepsy - Malaria
- Multiple partners - Candida -
Doctor shows x 10

Topics of the 39 Parent Talk radio shows 2007 (Unicef, UNITY, PSI, CSF)

Voluntary counseling and testing
- Making a will - Water guard -
Pain, symptom management -
Back to school/stay in school
campaign - Community
involvement in early learning of
children - Family planning -
Child labour - Young Positives -
Medicine companion - Positive
living - Prevention with positives
- Genital Herpes - Hygiene -
Fighting stigma - Child protection
- Feeding habits/nutrition -
Insecticide-treated nets - Septrin
- Disclosure - Behaviour change
- Condoms - Basic care package
- Equality of children - Dealing
with orphans - Supporting
disabled children - Counseling
the terminally ill - Teaching in
mother tongue - Assessing a
child’s abilities - Addressing
school needs - Parent-child
communication - Child mortality
- Sports for children - Culture
and girl child education - Doctor
show x 5

Creating radio conversations for adults

C reating great radio for

adults follows the same
rules as for youth: listen, record
and work with true stories. But
adults have more
lived experienced,
and this must be
recognised. In 2007
STF worked in eight
languages for
parents.
In a Parent Talk on
alcohol, a driver of
the HIV epidemic,
Biira Gedi captured
this testimony.
Biira: Tell us about your
drinking?
Vox: When I drank I would sleep
in women’s rooms in town. I
made three women pregnant in
a month. They all aborted
because I told them I would not cater for their children. One year I
harvested a lot of money from coffee. I opened up a small shop and
just drank the money from there. I never thought of building a house.
My wife was humiliated.
Biira: Tell us how
you behaved
when you came
home drunk?
Vox: I used to
shout my wife’s
name when I was
still 500m away.
She is a simple
woman. She would
open and sit in the
living room. I would
order food and make her wake my child. Luckily she is not
quarrelsome, or we would have fought.
Biira: Why did you stop drinking?
Vox: Five years ago I lost my shop. My friends abandoned me. With
the help of my wife I said no to alcohol. Now I am settled. I built a
permanent house. My children are in school. We went and tested for
HIV and found we were still safe. Now I am faithful.

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I21I

 STF Lukonzo journalist Biira Gedi interviews an adolescent in Bundibugyo. In 2007 the district suffered
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

an Ebola outbreak, which killed the only Mukonzo doctor. Though Bundibugyo is adjacent to Congo and almost
unreachable in the rains, STF visits often. Young people have organised 13 out-of-school and eight in-school Straight
Talk clubs.

Radio consultancies/partnerships in 2007

Microfinance- Dfid
Six half-hour radio shows each
in nine languages on financial
literacy; 13 spots each in nine
languages on, among other
topics, when to borrow, how to
save, and consumers’ rights
and responsibilities.
Basic Care - PSI/CDC
Eight different spots each in
eight languages, 12 spots/
week/12 months, aired on 32
stations, promoting positive
living (e.g. Septrin, disclosure,
bed nets) and including
testimonies of PLWHA. Parent
Talk in Luganda, Lumasaba,
4Rs, Luo and Lugbara on living
positively.
and Lugbara. (Unicef funded Luo Vocational Ed - GTZ
from January to June 2008). Four spots to improve attitudes
towards vocational education
Rock Point 256 - USAID
each in eight languages; five
Youth soap opera recorded in
live talk shows in English. A
Luo and Ateso and post-
print component included
produced in Luganda. Luo and
comic strips in four languages.
Ateso: 156 half-hour episodes.
Fistula - Engenderhealth
Six spots in 14 languages for six
months on obstetric fistula/FP.

UNITY - MOES/USAID
Parent Talk shows on education
In 2007 STF commissioned its its own studios. (left) Hassan Sekajoolo, chief
in Ateso, Luo, 4Rs, Luganda
technician. (right) Hassan and actors recording Rock Point.

I22I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

 HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
Outreach and Training

S TF reinforces its mass media

conversation with face-to-
face work. In 2007 STF’s
HIV prevalence is low (2.8% of 15-49 year olds infected) but increasing.
There are “mushrooming discos, video halls, alcohol drinking and cross-
border sex trade with southern Sudan,” says district population officer
outreach and training team were John Janiago. Gender disparities are also stark: “The majority of the
rarely in Kampala. In the field males are polygamous with strong gender inequality views including
they worked face-to-face with violence,” notes the STF field report. “The females are shy: what helped
almost 30,000 youth, parents them to share their views was the STF method of separating them from
and teachers. males so they could discuss freely.” In Uganda, it is unwomanly to speak
in public.
STF goes where need is greatest.
In 2007 it worked intensively in Primary schools
Yumbe, a small, poor, strongly In Kitgum, Yumbe, Moyo and Mayuge, STF conducted 31 two day
Muslim district with some of sensitisations on ASRH for 1328 primary teachers from 476 schools; 37
Uganda’s worst educational health workers; and 64 parent representatives. Besides working
indicators: only 0.3% of pupils separately with male and female teachers, these sensitisations differ
and no girls passed the primary
leaving exam in 2007 in division Primary School Sensitisations in 2007
one (the national rate is 7.6%, District Schools Female Male District Health Parents
Teachers Teachers officials workers
Kampala’s rate 24%). Just ten
Mayuge 134 100 242 2 2 13
girls sat A levels in Yumbe in
Kitgum 148 171 305 11 15 34
2007: early marriage for girls is
Yumbe/Moyo 194 163 347 20 17
the norm.
Total 476 434 894 13 37 64

Working in single sex groups: Female teachers in Kitgum discuss an assignment in an STF primary teachers workshop
on sex and reproductive health at Palabek-Gem in June 2007. Many rural schools, especially in northern Uganda, have no
female teachers: this creates challenges for girl pupils.

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I23I

 from many school interventions in her”. But by the end of the workshop, “both sexes agreed that living with
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

their interactiveness and attention
to the sexual lives of teachers
themselves as well as gender in
marriage and the classroom.
“Our messages used to focus on
sexuality in young people. We
would say, ‘Boys and girls can be
friends without having sex,’ says
Jerolam Omach, head of outreach
and training (OTD). “Now we
emphasise gender and the role it
plays in HIV for adults. Before,
we were not talking about the
deeper end of it. Now we ask,
‘How can a couple’s marriage be
happy? What does love mean and
how does gender play a part?’”
In Kitgum female teachers listed
“love, care, communication” as
keys to a healthy marriage. These
did not appear on the lists of
male teachers: men, notes the
field report, “feel it is not good to
show a lot of affection to a
woman or share problems with
a partner requires good communication. Men were encouraged to show
more love and avoid multiple sexual partners.”
Secondary schools
STF worked with over 120 secondary schools in 2007. In Yumbe STF
sensitised eight health workers and 56 teachers (12 females) from 16
secondary schools to boost discussion of sexuality, gender and HIV, use
of STF materials, and the formation of ST clubs: 60% of teachers did not
know the HIV status of their last sexual partner.
A two year PSI project to prevent cross-generational sex (CGS) between
girls (15-19) and older men brought STF into intense contact with 50
secondary schools in Mpigi, Mukono, Luweero, Masaka and Wakiso. CGS
is sex where there is at least a ten year age gap: such relationships are
bridges across which HIV moves from older infected males to younger
females. HIV prevalence for men aged 30-34 is 8.1%, rising to 9.3% in
those aged 40-44; girls aged 15-19 have an HIV prevalence of 2.6%.
CGS involves material support to the girl and often triggers violence, such
as acid throwing, when the man’s wife becomes aware of the affair. It
can end with the girl trapped as a second or third wife.
STF led CGS advocacy workshops in the five districts, attended by 199
district and CBO/NGO officials; 85 teacher mentors from 44 schools
were also sensitised. In Mukono, STF trained 80 girl peer educators. “I
have learnt why married men get involved in CGS,” wrote one girl after
the training. In 2008 this CGS peer education training will roll out to the

People reached through STF

Face-to-face work in 2007
Primary school work 1429
Secondary school work
•Yumbe sensitisations 64
•CGS work 364
•Int’l volunteers Masaka 8261
•On call visits 3930
•Kisoro clubs 182
•Counseling in office 122
•Mvule Trust 477

District advocacy mts

•Kitgum and Katakwi 120

Community dialogues
•Kitgum 844
•CORE 1952

Health fairs 10,500

A teacher performs the Larakaraka dance at an STF
primary teacher workshop at Layamo TDMS centre, Kitgum, April TOTAL 28,245
2007.

I24I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

other four districts. STF will also

HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

work with parents as they often
condone or even encourage
daughters to get involved with
older financially-stable men.

In contrast to northern districts

like Yumbe and Kitgum, in the
south, teachers profess positive
atitudes, but there are yawning
gaps in their behaviour. “Head
teachers sometimes have
relationships with female
students,” notes a field report.

Through its “on call” scheme

under which STF responds to
invitations, STF visited a further
24 secondary schools (and 10
primary and one tertiary
institution), reaching 3930
learners. Some visits were in STF club mobiliser Moses Ssebaale, 25, with students in Masaka. His
conjunction with Feed the job is to stay in touch with the 400-500 ST clubs in secondary schools. “You find
Children. Most of the schools that a school has had a club for over ten years yet we have never visited them,”
says Ssebbaale. “They deserve that eye contact.”
were in or around Kampala. STF
came away with an impression of
secondary schools in Kisoro and 15 schools in Kitgum. STF also led a
much drug use and sex. The
team of Birmingham University students on a month-long sensitisation of
UDHS 2006 found that 15-24
20 schools with ST clubs in Masaka and Mpigi, reaching over 8000
year olds in Kampala are twice
youth. The team observed: “Some students are still having sexual
as sexually active as youth
relationships, more so with no protective measures like use of condoms.
nationwide. The field report
A significant number of boys think it is good to have multiple partners”.
notes “mutual masturbation,
homosexuality, marijuana use
and cultural issues like pulling
the labia minora.” Immaculate Kajumba, 16 and in
S3 at Gulu High School, leads a
Clubs Straight Talk Club of almost 200
members. She says: “Belonging to
Clubs are a central STF
the club has helped me to counsel
approach. In 2007 international
my peers and even talk to parents.
volunteer Anna Dick analysed all
We have many activities like drama,
STF databases and found 600
volleball and debate.” Immaculate
in- and 574 out-of-school clubs. lives with her mother and uncle. Her
STF then surveyed all 3500 father was killed by the LRA.
secondary schools and
confirmed the existence of 450
clubs. In total STF seems to have
Advocacy meetings and health fairs
about 1000 clubs, in and out of
Prior to STF starting a wave of activities in the district, such as teacher
school, countrywide. As always
sensitisations or health fairs, it carries out advocacy meetings to garner
the challenge is reaching them.
support for adolescent sexual and reproductive health. In 2007 STF held
advocacy meetings in Kitgum and Katakwi, assembling in total 44 CBO/
In 2007 STF’s outreach team
NGOs, 40 district officials, 35 youth and subcounty chiefs and 11 health
supported ST clubs in seven

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I25I

 workers. Many “hot” issues
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
arose such as communities
resisting condoms in the belief
that they have expired and
police failing to prosecute
men who defile minors.
After these advocacy
meetings, health fairs
reaching 10,500 people were
held in Kitgum at Palabek Kal,
Obia Mucwini and Lamoyo and
in Katakwi at Magoro,
Ongonoja and Katakwi town.
These are grassroots events:
long gone are the days when
STF had MPs make speeches.
In 2007 31 drama groups took
part; positive people testified
and health workers provided
family planning and VCT; 281
males and 542 females tested.
Community dialogues
In 2007 STF held at least 22
community dialogues. Smaller
than health fairs, these gather
100-150 people for intimate
conversation on managing their
sexuality.
Ten dialogues held with CORE/
USAID funding reached 1952
youth aged 15-24 in Busoga and
Kapchorwa. The focus was on
knowing and understanding
sero-status, abstinence,
faithfulness, antenatal care and
family planning. Notes the field
report: “Among the Basoga,
polygamy, unfaithfulness, fear of
VCT, and lack of spousal
communication affect pre-
marital and marital
relationships.” In hilly
Kapchorwa and Bukwo, distance
to VCT centres is a problem. In
all areas people over 24
clamoured to join the meetings.
Always looking for new and more
effective models, STF with KYC
I26I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT
held another form of “community dialogue” in the Kitgum villages of Obia
Mucwini, Ngom Oromo, Aweno Olwii and Lokungo. To lower the cost per
person reached, “there were no tents and and no transporting of cultural
groups,” says Jerolam Omach, head of OTD. “Locals who wanted to sit on
chairs carried them from their homes.”
Each fair had sub-components: parent dialogues, youth dialogues and
adolescent mother dialogues. By separating audiences, “all those who
attended talked freely with excitement,” says Omach. Small children were
distracted and kept busy with sports. STF/KYC provided VCT and
distributed Luo Straight Talks. In 2008 STF will assess its different
community approaches.
Scholarships
With $24,158 from sister NGO Mvule Trust, STF continued sponsoring 62
needy students in secondary and vocational schools. At the end of 2007,
seven girls at St. Monica Vocational School in Gulu graduated with
diplomas or certificates in tailoring or catering. Three were pregnant
when they enrolled, but still completed their courses. All were given start
up equipment such as sewing machines. In the two years of Mvule-STF
collaboration, no new pregnancies have occurred; only two students
have dropped out. Donations from MLK
(Sudbury HS, Massachusetts, US) and
Bottletop UK funded a further seven girls
and five boy students in secondary
school.
STF counselors assemble and counsel all
students each term. “When we first took
them on, they were so shy that they could
not look at us. They were just eating their
fingers,” says STF counselor Godfrey
Walakira. “They all have the potential to
excel, no matter their background. But
we need to guide them.”

Condom Education
I n 2007 STF re-dedicated itself
to condom education.
Condoms are stigmatised in
Uganda.
STF recognises the complexities
of condoms. Chen and Hearst
(2003) established that
even with perfect use,
they are only 80-90%
effective in preventing
pregnancy and
infections. STF knows
that if it were to talk of
condoms as easy to use
and extremely effective,
it might tip some youth who are
delaying sex into starting.
Thus STF always presents sexual
debut as a major life decision
and urges youth to make sex
with condoms safer by seeking
VCT as a couple and using
additional contraception.
Young mothers demonstrate condoms to each other:: at an STF dialogue in Westland, Kitgum town council, July
2007. Top photo: STF counselor Beatrice Bainomugisha demonstrates condoms in Kisoro.
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
But the problem is not that some youth have sex with a condom. It is that
the vast majority of youth who are having sex are not using protection. Of
15-24 year olds who have ever had sex, over 70% did not use a
condom at first intercourse. Of girls aged 15-17 who had sex with a
non-marital partner in the last 12 months, 65% did not use a condom.
(UDHS, 2006) The result is not HIV/STD infection, pregnancy, abortion,
death, loss of schooling, imprisonment and more.
The Guttmacher Institute report, Protecting the
Next Generation in Uganda (2007), notes that
“exposure to a condom use demonstration is the
most important determinant of knowledge of
correct condom use”. In Uganda 42% of girls aged
15-19 and 48% of boys that age have seen a
demonstration of how to put on a male condom.
STF conducts condom demonstrations on almost
all school visits, radio outreaches and village fairs. “Even if you do not
feel like doing one, the young people ask so many questions about
condoms that in the end you are forced to,” says STF Lumasaba radio
journalist Irene Kityui. “They say condoms are not 100% so why should
they use them? We always ask for a youth to volunteer to do the
demonstration: we come in to fill in the gaps. Mostly boys volunteer. If
girls volunteer, there is that murmuring. At the end of the demonstration,
the youth look satisfied as though there was something they really
needed to know. I do not think condom demonstrations make them rush
to start sex.”
STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I27I
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

STF-stakeholder collaboration
around the papers. Health centres exploit the
increased youth attendance to offer VCT or health
talks.

The synergy grows further if STF radio staff put the

reverend, youth worker or nurse on air. Now youth
associate a friendly voice and a name with a local
facility and are even more likely to go there. All over
Uganda, STF has increased youth attendance at
health services and other venues.

The “win” for STF is that it effectively has thousands

of local agents in the community: nurses, sheiks,
pastors and youth workers who give out its
publications. Even more importantly, these partners
give face-to-face support to adolescents on a scale
that STF alone can never manage.

S TF sends its newspapers to over 2000 CBO/

NGOs, 1000 churches and mosques and 1600
health units. It is a win-win partnership in which STF
provides IEC/BCC materials to groups that cannot
produce them for themselves and often a “Straight
Talk available here” sign.

This sign brands the group as youth-friendly. But

with or without the sign, the availability of STF
newspapers soon becomes known to youth. More
start visiting the CBO, church or health centre to read
the papers. Many CBOs organise a club or event

I28I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

 HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
Northern Youth Centres

Gulu Youth Centre

A s peace spread across the

north in 2007, GYC
provided services to thousands
of youth at no charge.

STF started GYC in late 2003, at

the height of the night commuter
crisis, when 40,000 children and
youth were sleeping rough in
town to escape the rebels. Since
then GYC has grown in size,
capability and sophistication.

With over 20 staff, in 2007 GYC

100% of them after counselling. STF/GYC will review this softly-softly
provided VCT to 8090 youth, a
approach to condoms in 2008.
slight increase on the 7631 who
underwent VCT in 2006. Of the
In 2007 GYC had 60-100 young people coming for counseling daily.
8090 clients, 4.8% tested HIV
“Sometimes you find yourself talking so fast,” says lead counselor Dennis
positive. About 6000 were
Akena. “You think that the time you have with the young person could be
tested at the GYC static site in
the only opportunity to change their behaviour. By the time you go
Gulu town: the balance on
through every person’s problems in your head, you find yourself not
outreaches to seven IDP camps:
thinking properly. I arrive at GYC at 7:30 and already people are seated
Pabbo, Kalalii, Teegot, Awach,
there. Before you sit down, they are coming to you. Many are keeping
Acet, Bobbi and Pagak.
appointments from the day before. Tuesdays and Thursdays are VCT
days, so they are very busy. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are for
Throughout 2007, GYC ran a
follow-ups. ”
weekly call-in radio show. It also
reached over 10,500 youth,
At the foremost of GYC’s thinking in 2007 was how to reach the most at
mostly the in-school, through
risk, such as girls and the out-of-school. In Uganda, girls are 18 times
peer education. Over 4000
more likely to have HIV by the age of 18 than their male age mates.
students used the GYC library.
Medical services were
In 2006 GYC had tested more males than
provided to almost
females and had had a reputation as a
5000 youth, and
boys’ hang out. In 2007 GYC took steps to
family planning to
reverse this: it put female greeters on the
over 300 females.
gate and limited volleyball, which was
Condom distribution
attracting intimidating numbers of males. It
was modest: just 797
also started to offer “girl talk” and “boy talk”
cllients received
sessions to all clients, rather than the mixed
condoms, 94% of
sex “health talks” offered before.
them boys, 72% of
them in school, and
To increase “talk” opportunities generally, it

STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I29I

 turned off the video deck. Efforts
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
were made too to attract more
out-of-school youth.
All this bore fruit: by the end of
2007, 57% of clients were
female up from 47% in 2006
and out-of-school
attendees were up to 46%
from 23%.
In 2007 GYC also
addressed another related
problem: what to do with
the 95% of clients who test
Hungry for
negative? Clients who test
knowledge, out-
positive areof-school
offered follow-up
youth devour the newandmagazine-
format
(including daily Straight
Septrin), Talk at a health
referral
and the opportunity to join a
young positives group.
In contrast, the 7600 clients who
tested negative had no special
program beyond the “talks” and
possibly a re-test. Research
shows that individuals who know
that they are HIV-negative are
no less likely to remain negative
than negative individuals who
GYC’s Jennifer Lalam provides VCT to a youth in Pabbo IDP camp. Above: two GYC peer educators register youth for testing.
I30I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT
have not tested: the implication is that testing negative does not lead to
safer behaviours. GYC therefore decided to differentiate between low,
medium and high risk negatives and offer different packages that might
lead to behaviour change. It developed a scale of risk factors, such as
client is female; OVC; has a positive partner; is married, divorced,
separated; has STD; has experienced violence.
The plan was to offer intensive counselling to high
risk youth at imminent risk of infection. Low risk
clients were to be offered the chance to become
blood donors. All clients, including the medium
risks, would be offered the boy or girl talks.
This, it was hoped, would allow GYC to concentrate
on the adolescents who are most vulnerable to HIV -
- such as the illiterate housegirl, with no parents
a baby by a violent boyfriend -- rather than be distracted by and
fair in Kumi.
over-invest resources in low risk youth, such as a high school student
who had sex once in S3 (10th grade) and lives with both his parents.
But putting such a scheme into practice is hard. The blood bank can only
come infrequently. Many clients cannot return for in-depth counselling.
Even worse, the effort to differentiate low, medium and high risk youth
led some counselors to over-concentrate on ticking the risk list and to
listen and talk less.
As 2007 drew to a close, GYC was working to improve the flow of clients
around the centre and find simple ways of identifying and investing most
in the most-at-risk-of-HIV.
Kitgum Youth
Centre
After four years of work in
Gulu, STF felt compelled to
open a similar youth centre in
the adjacent district of
Kitgum. As severely affected
by war as Gulu but poorer
and less developed, Kitgum
offers patchy and meagre
sexual health services to
young people.
In April 2007 with funds from
Unicef, Kitgum Youth Centre
opened its doors, headed by
Janet Akao, an STF veteran at
24 who used to present STF’s
Luo radio shows. Despite the
successful model of GYC next
door, KYC has its own style and
way of working: every district
and staff team is different.
Starting a youth centre is a huge
exercise in capacity building.
Staff were recruited locally, then
trained in sexual and
reproductive health and how to
run youth-friendly services. They
were also trained to be VCT
counselors by TASO/SCOT. In
addition, with support from
Kampala STF staff, KYC
identified and
trained 75 peer
educators from all
the 15 secondary
schools in Kitgum.
KYC did not begin
to offer VCT until
October 2007 – it
took time to equip
the lab and
assemble the
team. This gave
KYC the chance to prioritise “talk”
work. Boy and girl talks were
started immediately, reaching
2124 adolescents in year one.
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
KYC counselor Celine Auma has a quiet one-on-one with a girl.
All in all in 2007 KYC made 41 secondary school visits, reaching almost
2000 youth face to face. It also worked in 23 primary schools, reaching
1526 pupils. “We hold really open discussion - something people were
not doing before,” says Akao. “We also manage to do a lot of one-on-
one counseling.”
Staff worked with 25 adolescent mothers groups – a total of 776 girls. “A
group of young mothers in Aweno Olwi, Lokung, received wool and
knitting needles to generate income,” notes a KYC report. Out-of-school
youth dialogues captured another 2076 young people, 1079 of them
male.
When VCT started in October, the centre was able to reach 919 clients
before the year ended, of whom 78 were positive. These young people
were referred for Septrin and other positive living support to Kitgum
Government Hospital and Lokung Health Centre 3, as KYC is not yet
functioning fully as a health unit.
Other KYC activites included
ten radio talk shows, a
seminar for 157 girls on
skills to stay safe, a holiday
seminar for 287 students
from 45 schools, and seven
health fairs at Palabek Kal,
Mucwini, Lyamo,
Ngomoromo, Pangira,
Aweno Olwi and near the
Young mothers sing at KYC. ginnery in Kitgum town.
“I think the most unusual and excellent work we did in 2007 was with
young mothers,” says centre manager Akao. “We had a core of 225 in
town and in IDP camps. We linked them up to educational support and at
least 39 went back to school, eight under FAWE, five under Mvule and 15
STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I31I
 under Windle Trust. spousal communication
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

We got 30 on family earlier, communities

planning, although would not have many of
some are pregnant the problems they have
again.” today.”

KYC’s work with Said a woman after one

parents was also a
new area that has
been relatively
unexplored by GYC.
KYC parent dialogues
reached 937 people,
733 of them mothers,
in 2007.
KYC clinical officer Liz Adongo provides
VCT to a boy in an IDP camp.
Says Jerolam Omach,
who supervises KYC from
Kampala: “By working with
parents we contribute to the
good environment on sexual
health for both parents and
youth. Parents are important,
especially given that most new
infections are in married people.
We divide parents into men and
women, to allow the women to
express themselves freely. If we
had been promoting family and
meeting: “You people
have talked many good
things. We liked what you
shared with us. Many of
us women never knew
that gender roles have a
relationship to our
health. We used to think
that we do not have a
say on what our
husbands do, that our
work is to listen and respect them. Now we know that women should
develop good communication with their husbands.”
Unicef funding ended in April 2008 as the division of labour on HIV/AIDS
between UN bodies “gave” PMTCT to Unicef: KYC no longer fell under its
mandate. Constrained to seek any funding it could to stay open, KYC
agreed to an arduous HIV testing and counseling drive funded by
UPHOLD-USAID. This greatly boosted KYC’s VCT skills: by June 2008
KYC had tested almost 7000 people. However, STF is now seeking
funding for KYC that will allow it to work more holistically for adolescents.

KYC counselor Joyce Martha Adong: “The centre is the only place that is like a free flow for young people. There is no
other place to welcome them and make them feel at home. I enjoy counseling because there is that two-way learning, where
you give someone information and they share their life experience with you. When somebody comes out and shares, they can
realise their problems are not so deep. As a counselor, when you help someone, you find yourself so relieved.”

I32I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT


Monitoring and evaluation
C onstant monitoring and
evaluation is essential to
keep STF relevant and on target
with its own strategic plan and
national frameworks such as
Uganda’s HIV prevention
strategy. In 2007 STF
researchers undertook
considerable research, some of
which was presented at
meetings, including the HIV
Implementers’ Conference,
Kigali, June 2007.
Population Council
After two years of research,
analysis and writing, on 17
October 2007, at a well-
attended seminar, STF and
Population Council released their
joint study on the impact of STF.
Much of the data has been used
in previous STF annual reports.
However, the final synthesis of
the community survey of 2100
unmarried adolescents showed
unambiguously that there is an
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
(Above) STF researchers
in Kisoro in February
2008, interviewing youth
about the Lufumbira radio
association between exposure to STF mass
media materials and safer and healthier
behaviours and attitudes. After controlling for
show.
schooling, residence, exposure to media, and
other variables, the study found that:
•For both male and female adolescents,
exposure was associated with increased
knowledge of sexual and reproductive health, a
greater likelihood of communicating with
parents about these issues, and more positive
attitudes towards condoms.
•Females exposed to the materials were twice
as likely to report high self-confidence, twice as
likely to possess more equitable attitudes about
gender and four times more likely to abstain
from sex if they had a boyfriend, compared to
their unexposed counterparts.
• Males exposed to the materials were less
than half as likely to have started sex and three
times more likely to resume abstinence if they
had previously had sex than those not
exposed. They were also 20 times more likely
to consider their current relationship “serious”.
Population Council • Exposure was associated with testing for HIV.
study researchers Dr Exposed female adolescents were 3.5 times
Susan Adamchak and Dr
more likely to have tested than those not
Karusa Kiragu
STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I33I
 exposed: exposed male listeners were three times more likely to know
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

adolescents were nearly
four times more likely to
have been tested than
unexposed age mates.
The full reports are
available on http://
www.straight-talk.or.ug/
downloads/downloads.html
how HIV passes from mother to child; more
likely to know where to get an HIV test and less
likely to exhibit stigma towards people with
HIV. The show increased VCT in Kapchorwa
district.
• STF surveyed 152 adults in Masaka, Sironko,
Mbale, Kabale, Gulu, Mbarara: 70.4% knew of
Parent Talk radio of whom 96% had listened in the last six months.

Other research
• STF surveyed 327 young
people aged 15 to 27 in Busoga
and Kapchorwa about its AB
radio shows for youth. It found
that, compared to non-listeners,
• STF surveyed 318 young people in four Moroto sub-counties about the
Nga’karimojong radio show (Erwor Ngolo Ediriana): half had ever
listened to the show; 40% were regular listeners; 63% of listeners said
the show had made them more positive about abstinence, condoms
and going back to school.

Pre-testing
STF prides itself on its journalism for social
change, but it does something no journalist
would do: it reviews newspapers with
readers and makes changes before
printing. Pre-testing is a fundamental step
in all BCC models and always enriching.

“It’s a way to get the feel,” says STF

researcher Isaac Kato. “We look at
language, layout. We do not want to give Above: STF journalist Deo Agaba and
them something they cannot read. But we researcher Isaac Kato pre-test Young
do not remove every difficult word. They Talk. Says Deo: “With pre-testing the
will meet them later in life. We may suggest people we write for give their opinions
putting in a glossary.” and represent the others in the
country.” L/below: pupils in a pre-test.
In pre-tests, secondary students in
Kampala struggled with the words “tragedy”
and “reality”. Teachers struggled with
“terminated”, “reinforce”, “fatigue”,
“stereotype” and “stigma”. “Pre-tests open
our eyes to things we take for granted,”
says STF journalist Martha Akello.

Pre-tests are also a way to understand how

adolescents feel. Straight Talk is always
pre-tested in a Straight Talk club. In one
club, students were asked what they
thought the newspaper was saying. “It is
telling us to be patient,” answered one
student with a sigh.

I34I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT


Finance and administration
T otal funding received by
STF fell from UGX 5.6 billion
in 2006 to UGX 4.9 billion in
2007, partly due to the slower-
than-expected start of the Civil
Society Fund (CSF). Managed by
Deloitte & Touche, CSF is a
basket for HIV funds from Dfid
Irish Aid, Danida and USAID.
STF received the first CSF
instalment in October
2007. Running from July
2007 to June 2008, the
total commitment was
UGX 3.5 billion. USAID
gave $150,000 for GYC
via CSF.
CSF funded Young Talk
and Straight Talk in
English and local lan-
guages; 12 youth radio shows
and two parent radio shows;
district advocacy meetings, health
fairs and secondary school
training; GYC; and M&E of CSF-
supported activities. CSF funds
the majority of STF’s core costs,
including salaries and utilities.
SIDA contributed UGX 594,
208,000 in 2007 for primary
teacher sensitisations, local
language Straight Talks, health
fairs, secondary school trainings,
and collecting material forYoung
Talk and radio.
USAID continued to support STF’s
activities. But aid from from
USAID fell 11.4% to UGX
1,190,957. UPHOLD supported
GYC until April 2007 after which
the CSF took over.
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION
PSI funded Parent Talk radio shows: UGX 279 million came from
AFFORD and HCP for Everyday Health Matters in multiple languages.
Path-Kenya funded Scouts Voice; YEAH funded the Rockpoint radio
shows.
Dfid funded Money World newspapers and radio shows with a grant of
UGX 782 million. UNICEF supported KYC with UGX 259,288,093. In
June 2007 STF received the first instalment of a two-year grant from
CORDAID for a radio project for adolescents in Kisoro. Danida funded
The finance/admin team: C Abbo, E Kirungi, N Ogwech, C Kandeke,
J Waiswa and P Amito. Not in the photo is the auditor, R Tumwijukye.
Farm Talk. WFP funded Tree Talk and wood lots.Grants from Mvule
Trust, MLK and Bottletop supported STF scholarship programmes.
In the USA, STF achieved 501(c)(3) status under the Global Support
Fund of Tides Foundation. Tides handled several donations for STF,
including $36,354 in September 2007 from The Philanthropy Workshop
West Cohort 6/Hewlett Packard. This unexpected gift paid for some
salaries when donor funds delayed out. It also paid for condom demo
dildos and burglar-proofing after a break-in. In 2007 STF futher
strengthened its financial control systems. A new computerized ac-
counting system was implemented to aid efficient capture of accounting
information and assist in the production of reports for multiple donors.
The general purposes audited accounts were successfully completed up
to 2006; the accounts for 2007 will be finalized in 2008.
Aministration
STF moved into a building it had purchased from the French Embassy
and renovated with a bank loan and a donation from Mvule Trust. Four
staff members left, and six new staff joined: a cashier, auditor, two new
radio journalists and two print editors. In 2007, many STF staff studied
for undergraduate and masters degrees. With CSF capacity-building
funds, STF was able to contribute to their fees.
STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT I35I
HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Department for DANIDA

International
Development

I36I STF 2007 ANNUAL REPORT

LACK OF IMPACT: girls who are exposed to STF mass media materials are
more positive about condoms than girls who are not exposed.

PARENTING
All adolescents need adult concern and
supervision: research worldwide consistently shows
that parental presence is a key protective factor
for youth.

In Uganda, the Guttmacher Institute and Makerere

Institute of Social Research found that girls aged
15-19 living with both parents were far less likely
to have had sex than girls with no parents (17%
compared to 29%). The figures for boys were 29%
and 32%.

HIV prevalence now peaks in men aged 35-45

and women aged 30-40: parents of adolescents.
It is therefore possible that, even as ARVs improve
survival, orphanhood will rise and adolescents’
ability to postpone sex will decline, especially in
girls. As it is, only 40-45% of Ugandan adolescents
currently live with both parents.

BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
Dr Peter Cowley, Chief of Party, Business PART Project

Rev G Byamugisha, Church/FBO Partnership Resource

Person
Anne Akia Fiedler, Chief of Party, ACE

Dr Frank Kaharuza, Director, Research, CDC/UVRI

Aggrey Kibenge, Principal Assistant Secretary, Minstry of
Education and Sports

Charles Odere, Advocate, Lex Uganda

Dorothy Oulanyah,, Regional Technical Advisor OVCs, CARE

Hon Dr E Tumwesigye, Member of Parliament

Board members Anne Akia and Aggrey Kibenge at the
Catharine Watson, Executive Director, STF, Ex-oficio
STF/Population Council dissemination, October 2007

“If you give your readers characters who are as complex and flawed as they truly are,
your readers are more likely to trust you on matters more important than character:
the crucial policy issue that your narrative elucidates.”
Kramer, Mark and Call, Wendy (editors).Telling True Stories:
a nonfiction writers’ guide from the Nieman Foundation at
Harvard University, New York: Penguin, 2007
 gandan
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a l k F o u n d a t i o, Unganda,
T
S t r a i g h t lo, P. O Box 22366) K2a6m20p31,
ala
Kolo 31
Avenue, 30, (256 ul.com,
4 Acacia l: (256 31) 2620 r. u g , strtalk@im
Te t- ta lk .o g
aigh .or.u
trtalk@str ight-talk
Email: s : www.stra
website

Design: Micheal eB. Kalanzi Plot 4 Acacia Avenue, Kololo, P.O. Box 22366 Kampala, Uganda,
Tel: (256 31) 262030, 262031, Mobile: (256 71) 486258, 486259, Fax: (256 41) 534858
Email: strtalk@straight-talk.or.ug, strtalk@imul.com, website: www.straight-talk.or.ug