Welcome to the Condom Project: 30 Seconds: A Visual Voice

the CONDOM PROJECT
1919 16th St NW, Suite 1
Washington, DC 20009 USA

121 East 10th St, Suite A
New York, NY 10009 USA

A - 86 East of Kailash
New Delhi, 110 065 India

The Condom Project Partners

TCP works with primary and secondary partners. Primary partners are involved with major, on-going programs and they include India, Thailand, Ethiopia and Nigeria. Secondary partners may become primary, but TCP is in an earlier stage of development in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Senegal, Togo, Canada and in the United States. Most partner organizations use both the Condom Art Pin and 30 Seconds: A Visual Voice strategies to complement what their groups' programs in HIV/AIDS prevention. Some are also part of LIFE GUARD our peer condom distribution program. Some contribute either to the video project or the art pin strategy, and one partner makes art pins for distribution at major AIDS conferences. Here is a description of these partners.

Primary Partners by Country

India
Sangini (India) Trust, established in 1997, is the first organization of its kind in India. Aimed at women's issues, Sangini covers the following areas: sexual health, focused on sexual relationships and one's control over their own sexuality; on reproductive health, providing information and choices on contraception and reproduction, safe pregnancy and delivery, treatment of infertility, safe and effective protection from unwanted pregnancy, STIs and HIV/AIDS; sexuality; sexual rights; and information and knowledge.

Programs include public education to raise awareness of diversity, women's sexual reproductive health and rights, HIV/AIDS and STIs; counseling services and community support to women dealing with issues around their sexual and/or gender orientation; capacity building, and research. Sangini has published ÒA Guide to Your Rights ÐLegal Handbook for Sexual Minorities.Ó Sangini works with Naz India, described below.

Sangini serves as the coordinating organization for TCP's programs in India. www.sangini.org

The Naz Foundation (India) Trust, established in 1994, is focused on a set of programs that deal with the HIV/AIDS epidemic--its medical, epidemiological, social, and cultural ramifications.

Naz India offers prevention, awareness, and education programs and care, support and therapy services. Naz India is focused on fighting the social injustice that is a by-product of HIV/AIDS in the context of gender, sexual orientation, poverty, stigmatization and discrimination. The organization explores sexual health and sexuality issues. Advocacy is integral to all facets of the organization and Naz India makes a concerted effort at influencing policy formulation as well as at sensitizing the government on key issues related to the epidemic, like the importance of introducing sex education in schools.

Programs include training workshops in schools, for NGOs, the corporate sector, and hospitals related to HIV/AIDS that disseminates knowledge and creates a space for the discussion of topics like sex, sexuality and sexual health.

Naz India's care and support services are designed to reduce the social stigma associated with HIV/AIDS for people affected by HIV/AIDS who face isolation, uncertainty, discrimination, stigmatization, and alienation.

NAZ Trust delivers medical services in its free STD/HIV clinic and through its outreach and counseling for two hospitals in New Delhi. Ongoing home visits and counseling for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families and telephone counseling are offered.

Naz India has established a care home for children living with HIV/AIDS in answer to a dearth of services and discrimination for these children. Currently, twenty children who are HIV positive and need treatment are cared for. The home provides basic medical and nursing care, testing and counseling, support groups, and a base for palliative home care services. These service are complemented by the HIV clinic and various prevention activities that range from training to telephone counseling.

Naz India has a women's sexual health program to help women get accurate information and proper health care. The program promotes women's health and focuses on empowerment., sexual choice, autonomy, and concerns related to HIV/AIDS. Naz India works with Sangini to provide support groups and counseling for lesbian and bisexual women.

An important program of Naz India, working with TCP is the Milan Center. The Milan Center's focus is men who have sex with men (MSM). These men are often seen as deviant and face discrimination and are marginalized so often they cannot make choices for safer sex practices. Naz India's MSM program provides a supportive environment and disseminates information about HIV/AIDS, counseling services, a helpline, a support groups. MSM are both gay men and kotis, defined as feminine men.

The Milan Center participants are and important par of TCP's video program, performing and filming videos for use around the world in order to de-stigmatize condoms.

TCP has provided safer sex training workshops for the staff and outreachworkers of NAZ. TCP also conducted a workshop on HIV/AIDS status ÒdisclosureÓ to the residents of the care center who will face discrimination in school if their HIV status is known. This workshop included NAZ staff, caregivers and partners.

Sukhad Yatra
Launched in 2001, this pioneer program developed by the Delhi School of Social Work, is charged with reducing the incidence of HIV/AIDS transmission among the trucking community. Serving 20,000 truckers per year, the approximately five million truckers and their crews are sexually active and vulnerable to STD and HIV/AIDS. Sukhad Yatra means happy and safe journey and the program seeks to provide a supportive environment to increase awareness about STD and HIV/AIDS, to increase the treatment options for STD, to increase the availability of condoms, and to encourage positive health behavior in the trucking population.

Located in two central transport centers, truckers are served by and STD clinic where treatment and counseling are offered. Safe sex practices are promoted and condoms are distributed. Outreach health educators and peer educators work with the community to reduce at-risk behaviors.

Sukhad Yatra also works with women sex workers to protect them from STD and HIV/AIDS.

An important TCP partner, Sukhad Yatra employs the Condom Art Pin project twice a month, during workshops. TCP's Condom Art Pin making project is used as a door opener to begin discussions about condoms. Sukhad Yatra is also committed to the 30 Second Visual Voice program and performs, films and edits 30 second videos with their target population for inclusions on the TCP master video. Thailand
Alden House is a residential center in Bangkok serving men and women, IV drug users who are trying to stop using drugs. Many residents are HIV positive. This group faces serious discrimination, and suffers from a lack of medical services and support. Providing a supportive environment for these vulnerable and underserved men and women in Bangkok, Alden House provides a unique program in Thailand to help drug users to stop using drugs and to remain drug free and provides medical care including ARV drug treatment. Alden House is committed to helping former drug users to integrate back into society so that they can become positive contributing members.

Although the Condom Art Pin is usually made as part of workshop and include health education discussions, Alden House has played a different and equally important role for TCP. Alden House members are main creators of thousands of Condom Art Pins needed for distribution at AIDS conferences. Up to 50,000 pins made by Alden House have been distributed helping to break down the stigma associated with condoms.

Alden House members embrace the condom art pin project because they are happy to be contributing to safe sex practices and, thus, helping to prevent HIV/AIDS. Also, the process of making the pins themselves is, itself, therapeutic and provides an enjoyable, creative project for Alden House members.

MPlus+
MPlus is a non-profit organization in Chiang-Mai, Thailand that serves the gay, lesbian, and transgender communities. They are doing groundbreaking work and going to parks where quick, anonymous, and often rough, dangerous MSM (men having sex with men) sex is taking place. They are bringing condoms and safe-sex information to the parks, at the point where it is most needed.

MPlus has established a drop-in center and clinic where its target group can be tested and treated for STD or referred for anti-AIDS therapy. The gay, lesbian, and transgender communities are comfortable using the center where health educators, with accurate information, and counseling services are available.

MPlus workers are conducting the TCP Survey and are participating in the video program. They use the condom project art pin program to introduce condoms to their target groups. Mplus uses the video program and condom pin making at festivals, community events as well as at their drop in center.

TCP/Thailand School Project and Survey
A secondary school teacher in a town outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand, Unchan Wonghaw, has organized a consortium of colleagues in five schools, all committed to bring safe sex and condom education to their schools. There is resistance on the part of some teachers to bringing condom information to the schools. Many teachers and parents fear that discussions of condoms in the schools will promote sex to an innocent and virginal student body and do not want those younger than 17 to receive condom information. TCP's coordinating teacher and many of her colleagues disagree. They believe that Thai children are having sex earlier than age 15 and are ignorant about safe sex practices, thus potentially exposing themselves to sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS.

TCP has developed a school survey and, working with the School Project and Mplus, this survey is being given to a sample of up to 2000 secondary school children between March and June, 2006. Questions are asked about age at first sexual encounter, definitions of sex, and attitudes about the protection given by condom use, among others. If we can document this information, the TCP Survey results will be used to convince the school administrators and teachers to bring TCP and condom education to the schools earlier than it now is, banishing ignorance and protecting these children against HIV/AIDS.

Empower
Founded in 1985, Empower is a sex workers rights organization. TCP works with the branch Chiang Mai, Thailand. An NGO, Empower supports sex workers and promotes a safe working environment. Empower is a center that offers accurate information about safer sex and health, offers condoms, counseling, computer training, as well as information about worker's rights.

With TCP, Empower conducts workshops making the condom art pin and participates in the video program.

Health and Development Network (HDN)
HDN is a non-profit organization that works to improve communications in the HIV/AIDS field. Its mission is to mobilize a more effective response to HIV/AIDS through improving information, communications and improving the quality of the debate. Its goals are to increase the number of people involved in popular discussion about HIV/AIDS; to promote advocacy, partnerships, and networking; improve the quality of and access to information; and to increase accountability and transparency in decision-making related to HIV/AIDS at local, national and international levels.

A major strategy for HDN is the use of e-Forums which provides a platform for thousands of people and organizations to connect and to share lessons.

The eForum is a major way to communicate to world HIV/AIDS activists. TCP will be distributing its video program through the eForum to 20,000 people and organizations world-wide. TCP hopes that through HDN's vast communication network, the video program's approach to de-stigmatize condoms will find a larger and influential audience to help spread its message.

Ethiopia
TCP Ethiopia
This program was established through an invitation by Ethiopia's Minister of Health in 2004. A TCP country coordinator located in Addis Ababa oversees TCP in Ethiopia. Working in schools, anti-aids clubs, during coffee ceremonies, and with Ethiopian NGOs, TCP's coordinator, an assistant, and many volunteers have conducted countless workshops introducing the condom through the art pin strategy. Program have taken place in Addis and out side Addis in rural locations including Awassa, Shashemane, and Bussa.

Workshops conducted with volunteers at anti-AIDS clubs, for example, work by introducing condoms during condom pin-making workshops, discussing the condoms effectiveness and properties, handling them extensively, and training these volunteers to carry the message of condoms to others in their communities. During traditional coffee ceremonies, TCP's trainees discuss condoms and make art pins. Condom discussion can be difficult to introduce in the very religious country of Ethiopia and sexual discussions are also difficult. Ethiopian women and men have had condom discussions, not explicitly sexual, through the art-making project, and, somehow this method is accepted.

Workshops lead to performance pieces that feature prominently in TCP's 30 Seconds:A Visual Voice montage. Ethiopia's country coordinator is also adept at editing the performance pieces.

TCP Ethiopia is also funded by Regional Addiction Treatment and Prevention to support a Learning Center in Addis Ababa, providing care, support and HIV education to orphans whose parents have died form AIDS.

Nigeria
TCP Nigeria
TCP partnerships in Nigeria evolved during participation in the 14th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa. This ICASO Conference, held in Abuja, Nigeria in December 2005, launched the TCP community awareness program in Nigeria. The community organizers of this group created a mobile street performance group, performing in and around Abuja. The group uses performance art and community participation to breakdown the stigma of condoms. TCP Nigeria uses the talents of local actors, singers and musicians to generate enthusiasm in the community and create an environment open to the discussion of condoms.

TCP Nigeria has captured the interest of some major actors in the Nigerian movie industry. Movie stars in Nigeria have participated in the 30 Seconds: A Visual Voice program by creating and acting out skits with TCP Nigeria volunteers. These 30 second videos have also been aired on television in Nigeria as a tool to desensitize new populations to the discussion of condoms and their use. TCP Nigeria continues to work in the community with Condom Art Pin workshops and 30 Second Video presentations.

USA
Regional Addiction Prevention, Inc. (RAP, Inc.)
RAP was founded in 1970 to provide alcohol and substance abuse treatment, education and prevention in the Washington metropolitan area. They are a national leader in developing culturally-sensitive strategies to help addicts recover and maintain their lives. RAP provides motivational alternatives to incarceration and homelessness for persons who have an earnest desire to make positive changes in their lives. They also work to increase community awareness of substance abuse and HIV/AIDS education/prevention. Their services include addiction prevention and recovery treatment, HIV/AIDS education/prevention, life skills training, and outpatient care and housing for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Many of the members of RAP's community have worked with The CONDOM PROJECT to create condom art pins. RAP Also provided seed funding for to the first Computer Learning Center for Vulnerable Youth in Ethiopia. The CONDOM PROJECT with our partners in the field in Ethiopia, The Condom Project Ethiopia, opened the Imani Youth learning center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association
The Four A's is a not-for-profit AIDS service organization. They provide one-on-one case management, housing assistance and other supportive services to people living with HIV/AIDS as well as HIV prevention case management and outreach, and public HIV education. Established in 1985 as a volunteer help-line service in Anchorage, Four A's was the only organization in Alaska responding to the illness we now call HIV/AIDS. 2005 marked the Four A's 20th Anniversary and as the AIDS epidemic has altered over the years, Four A's has grown to meet the constantly changing needs of clients and has expanded its prevention activities. Currently, Four A's is providing direct services to over 305 persons living with HIV/AIDS.

The Four A's employs the Condom Art Pin project, using it as a door opener to begin discussions about condoms. Their clients also participate in the 30 Second: A Visual Voice program and perform, film and edit 30 second videos for inclusions on the TCP master video. Additional programs include safer sex workshops for staff, training sessions and ongoing consultations regarding condoms and lubricants made available for their clients.

Camp TLC, The Joey DiPaolo Foundation
The Joey DiPaolo Foundation's Camp TLC, Teens Living a Challenge program, is a residential summer camp program for teens with HIV/AIDS. The Foundation provides food, lodging, transportation, and medical support under the guidance of specialists and registered nurses. The campers are between the age of 13 and 19 years and are all living with HIV/AIDS. Almost all are orphaned and living with extended family members, foster or adoptive parents. All teens are accepted on a first come, first serve basis without discrimination.

The CONDOM PROJECT enjoys working with these campers to create condom art pins and to talk about the challenges of living with HIV/AIDS.

Canada
ACTOUT
ACTOUT is a collaborative of educators, entertainment professionals and street-certified youth workers that strives to help youth help themselves. Through participation in drama, art, song and dance, as well as other community outreach efforts, the youth of ACTOUT build self-esteem, develop life skills and teach themselves and their peers how to positively integrate with their communities. ACTOUT speaks directly to youth and their communities with performances addressing topics crucial to a young person's development, such as violence, discrimination, relationships, sexuality, sexual and reproductive health and suicide. Since its inception, over 7,000 youth have participated in the project

Burkina Faso, Guinea, Togo, Senegal
TCP's partner groups in these four countries work through AIDS Empowerment and Treatment International (AIDSETI) and include: Burkina Faso: Association Africaine de Solidarite, Association AMMIE, Association ESPOIR et VIE, Association Laafi La Viim, Association Vie Positive / Wake Up, Responsabilité Espoir Vie Solidariteacute;. Guinea: Fondation Espoir Guineacute;e. Senigal: Aboya Senegal. Togo: Action Contre le Sida, Aides Meacute;dicales et Chariteacute;, Espoir Vie Togo.

AIDSETI works to expand access to HIV/AIDS treatment in resource-poor countries. The program is comprehensive and empowers associations of people living with HIV and AIDS along with their doctors and their counselors, with the knowledge, financial and pharmaceutical resources to run their own holistic HIV treatment programs. AIDSETI defines treatment as at least one of the three following components: (1) regular checkups and training in survival and healthy living skills, (2) prophylaxis and treatment for opportunistic infections, and (3) anti-retroviral therapy.

AIDSETI also supports the complementary programs of the associations which enhance treatment adherence and quality, as well as home, hospice, and orphan care programs. Member-associations already provide counseling and training in positive living skills, and where resources permit, access to HIV medications. The network's policies now include the purchasing of generic drugs.

AIDSETI is based on the Association-Driven Care and Treatment (ADCT) model for HIV/AIDS, which promotes the principles of co-production and participatory learning. The network has also developed and tested a web-based cross-country patient management system and a comprehensive operational manual. The manual describes the network management system, medical guidelines and procedures, patient selection criteria, pharmaceutical procurement and management, and financial management and accountability systems for the associations.

Eleven groups in the AIDSETI network have collaborated with The Condom Project using its Condon Art Pin making program to initiate dialog about condoms within their communities. These groups make and distrube Condom Pins as well as using them as activities for festivals and community events. Some groups also use the program as a therapeutic tool as a part of group counseling. Some groups make and sell the pins as a funding tool for needed medications. 200 of the pins made by these groups are on display at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg Sweden.

In Burkina Faso three groups have also begun to use the 30 Second: Video Voice program as an additional tool to bring the community together to talk about condoms as an effective tool to protect against the transmission of HIV. Association Africaine de Solidarite, Association Laafi La Viim and Responsabiliteacute; Espoir Vie Solidariteacute; all contribute to the video program for as part of this five-country network.