The Tisankhenji radio programme (see Related Summaries at bottom of page) aired from 2005 to 2008 and was designed to prevent HIV among young people in Malawi, especially girls age 10 to 14, by increasing self-efficacy, encouraging open discussion, promoting career goals, and encouraging aspirations for education and careers.
This document is peer reviewed case study of the radio programme. According to the report, schools are important intervention sites for both girls and boys as they reach young people before or shortly after sexual debut. Keeping girls in school also reduces their vulnerability to HIV. Encouraging girls to have education and career aspirations both gives them motivation to protect themselves from HIV and early pregnancy, and encourages them to stay in school. The Tisankhenji radio programme used entertainment-education (EE) to model desirable behaviours about having future goals and encourage discussion among girls and between girls and elders. The programme was designed primarily for girls, with boys, teachers, and parents as secondary audiences.
The report concludes that EE is “a potentially effective, creative approach to promoting educational aspirations and achievement motivations, which may be helpful in fighting HIV.” The authors recommend continued development of EE programmes that focus on young girls’ needs, desires, and dreams. “Focusing on positive outcomes will enable them to plan for, and make progress toward, a future where HIV rates among young girls are diminished.” The report also re-iterates that school-based initiatives can have the multiple advantages of accessing young people early in their lives, providing structured yet creative approaches, and encouraging girls to stay in school, and recommends more school-based programming.