The Contests

Half of all new HIV infections are among young people between the ages of 15 and 24. Young people are those most vulnerable to HIV infection, and also the world's greatest hope for turning the tide of the epidemic.

SCENARIOS FROM AFRICA gives young people a unique opportunity to learn more about HIV/AIDS. It helps them to understand what the epidemic means for their own everyday lives, and for their friends, families and communities. It also allows them to inform others throughout Africa about the need to protect themselves from HIV infection and to support those who are most directly affected.

SCENARIOS FROM AFRICA began life in 1997 as SCENARIOS FROM THE SAHEL. Thousands of young people under 25 in Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso took part in a contest inviting them to come up with ideas for short films on HIV/AIDS. The contest was so successful that a second contest was held in early 2000. Special emphasis in this contest was placed on encouraging girls/young women, rural youth, and young people who do not attend school to participate. Scores of organisations worked in partnership to bring the contests to communities, and almost 22,000 young people took part in the first two editions of the contest.

In 2002, the contest was expanded geographically to become SCENARIOS FROM AFRICA. During the 2002 and 2005 editions of the contest, some 84,000 young people from 37 African countries participated thanks to the collective efforts of over 1,000 organizations working in partnership at community level, and opportunities given to young people to take part electronically and by post. More detailed information is available in the SCENARIOS FROM AFRICA 2002/3 Contest and Selection Final Report and the 2005 Contest and Selection Final Report.

The 5th Edition of the Scenarios contests in Africa will be held across the continent from 1 December 2007 to 15 March 2008.

The young people's film ideas can be in the form of cartoons, songs, poems, stories, dialogues, plays… The participants can - if they choose - use a list of situations, provided in the contest leaflet, as a springboard for their imagination. This list can include situations like:

We've never seen our president like that. Yesterday evening, completely unexpectedly on live television, he spoke to the people about HIV/AIDS.

The boss is worried about AIDS, but he's also very creative. He comes up with lots of ideas, some of them extremely amusing, to inform his staff about HIV/AIDS.

Their discussion is heated, and sometimes a bit funny. Some of them say they would never get tested for HIV. Others present some very good, intelligent reasons to get tested.

The list is designed to encourage young people to explore a range of everyday situations on which HIV/AIDS can impinge.

The contests are very successful at encouraging young people to seek out information about HIV/AIDS and at generating reflection and dialogue. They have brought together tens of thousands of boys and girls to talk about subjects generally considered taboo - almost half the participants so far have been members of a mixed-gender team.

The contests have increased contact between community-based organisations working in HIV/AIDS education and the young people they serve. They have also increased contact between the various organisations involved in implementing the contests, and, as an external evaluator has observed, this is leading to better collaboration at field level. These same organisations are involved in selecting the winning ideas.