I was thrilled to be selected for the second year in a row to present the work of Project Troubador at the Global Health Conference in DC this May. This 4-day conference attracts hundreds of non-governmental organizations from around the world. My presentation was entitled “Tools for Prevention: Communication Strategies to Fight HIV/AIDS,” and I was privileged be part of a panel of three. Our audience filled the Ambassador Ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel to its capacity (600)! Emmanuel D.K. Fiagbey of Ghana presented “Journey of Hope,” an program of participatory storytelling with interactive visuals which draw the audience into open discussion about sexual behavior and HIV/AIDS. Pako Selemogo, a dynamic young man from Botswana discussed how his youth-led organization, Youth Health Organization of Botswana, reaches its extremely vulnerable constituents by promoting youth-friendly sexual health services, publicity campaigns, and leadership skill building. He broke some new ground with adding a “D” on the ABC’s of AIDS prevention (A- abstinence, B- be faithful, C-use a condom and D -do it yourself), promoting masturbation in HIV/AIDS prevention messages for the first time in Africa. This stirred up some lively audience debate!

Knowing that many HIV/AIDS education groups are using theater more and more to get their messages across, I offered suggestions gleaned from our years of experience for more effective means of communicating through this art form. Illustrated with video clips from our experiences on location, I presented 10 principles of successful communication (available upon request!).

Many thanks to Vali Valenti for editing the video selections and for filming our session. Vali is creating a documentary film about Project Troubador for her Masters thesis at the Visonaries Institute in Sheffield, MA
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For more information about the Global Health Network, visit www.globalhealth.org.