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Every minute, six people under the age of 25 contract HIV. In Africa, some 1.7 million young people are infected with the AIDS virus every year. These alarming figures illustrate the urgent concerns addressed by Scenarios from the Sahel, an HIV/AIDS prevention project being conducted by and for adolescents and young adults primarily in three West African countries.
Scenarios from the Sahel provides young people in the region with a unique and empowering opportunity not only to learn more about the relationship between HIV/AIDS and their everyday lives, but also to inform people across the African continent about the dangers presented by the epidemic. During the Scenarios process, young people work in partnership with some of the region's premier artistic talents to produce of a series of highly acclaimed short films.
Scenarios from the Sahel began back in early 1997, when some 13,000 young people under the age of 25 participated in a contest held in Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. The contest participants (41% girls) demonstrated tremendous imagination and creativity as they went about the task of drafting a scenario for a short film on HIV/AIDS.
The contest helped generate an environment conducive to open discussion on HIV/AIDS and its many implications. It provided a forum for girls and boys to exchange views on topics generally considered taboo; nearly one of every two participants was a member of a mixed team.
150 national finalists and then 30 regional winners were selected by juries made up of specialists in the areas of HIV prevention and care, people living with HIV, and experts in the realm of film production. Today, a team of internationally renowned and highly committed filmmakers is busy transforming the scenarios of the regional winners into a series of short films of between 2 and 10 minutes in length.
The first three Scenarios films, directed by Idrissa Ouédraogo of Burkina Faso, were shot at the end of 1997 in Ouagadougou and in neighboring villages. Two more films were completed in March/early April 2000: a fourth film by Idrissa Ouédraogo; and a cartoon featuring the Senegalese music star Ismaël Lô, directed by Pierre Sauvalle of Cameroon and animated at Pictoon Studios in Dakar, Senegal. The Malian director Cheick Oumar Sissoko shot the two most recent Scenarios films in Dakar in late April of this year ; post-production was completed in early June.
The Scenarios films are broadcast on a non-commercial basis across the African continent on national television stations, as well as on international networks such as TV5, CFI and Canal+Horizons. The films generate great enthusiasm when broadcast. They are also considered to be precious educational tools in the hands of the HIV-prevention community in Africa and beyond.
During the first part of 2001, non-profit distribution of a compiliation VHS cassette of all the Scenarios films will begin. The objective here is to see to it that the films are made available to NGOs, CBOs, educational establishments and other structures operating at community level. In order to optimize the linguistic accessibility of the cassette, the films will be dubbed into several languages, and groups will be able to choose from the following versions of the compilation cassette: Swahili, Hausa, Fulani, Bambara, Moré, Wolof, English, French and Portuguese. The cassette will come with a User's Guide.
The second Scenarios from the Sahel contest was held from February to May 2000 in Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. This year, the dozens of structures collaborating in the organization of the contest took special steps to reach out to three priority groups and to encourage them to contribute ideas for short films on HIV/AIDS: girls/young women, out-of-school youths, and rural youths. Once the regional jury completes its deliberations and the 30 winners are announced in September, production will begin on six more Scenarios films, three of which will be directed by Ousmane Sembène of Senegal. In addition, a series of radio shows based on winning scenarios will be produced.
The thousands of creative works contributed by the contest participants, gathered together at the Scenarios archives in Dakar, are a unique goldmine of information for researchers, prevention specialists, trainers, members of theater groups, and so on. The archives are structured around a searchable, computerized data base so as to make it easy for interested individuals to locate and study scenarios written by a particular group or on a specific topic. The archives provide insights into the language used by young people, their perceptions on HIV/AIDS, the relevant difficulties they encounter in their everyday lives, and the solutions they suggest. The archives are also a way for members of the HIV-prevention community to measure the impact of past activities and to formulate strategies for future actions based on needs expressed by the young contest participants.
A number of local, national and international organizations around the world have expressed interest in replicating the Scenarios from the Sahel process. With a view to facilitating such initiatives, every step of the project is being carefully evaluated and documented, and a detailed Scenarios from the Sahel Replication Guide, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme, was drafted and published in 1999. The Guide is being applied in the conceptualization and execution of Scenarios-style projects on HIV/AIDS in the United States and Nigeria, as well as in the context of a project designed to curb school violence in the Netherlands.
The Scenarios from the Sahel team is made up of a vast network of individuals and organizations across the Sahel and beyond. The project enjoys the active collaboration of the National AIDS Control Programs of Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso and is financed by UNFPA, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), Comic Relief (UK), Futures Group International (Mali), UNDP, the Red Cross, PLAN International (Senegal and Burkina Faso), Peace Corps/USAID (Senegal), WHO (Burkina Faso), German Technical Cooperation (GTZ; offices in Senegal), and the National Alliance Against AIDS (ANCS; Senegal). Sponsors include Air Afrique, Swatch (Switzerland), Rainbow of California (USA), CRIPS (whose project 3,000 Scenarios Against a Virus, carried out in France from 1992-4, inspired Scenarios from the Sahel), Newcastle Sporting Club (UK), the Edward Thompson Group (UK), Africa Consultants International (Senegal), Duplication Company (UK) and Fine Cut Facilities (UK).
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