Aunties Project

A baseline study conducted in 2000 by the GTZ-supported health programme in Cameroon revealed that teenage pregnancies and risky sexual behaviour were widespread and needed an appropriate public health response. It became obvious that adolescents and especially girls did not have any experienced adults to ask for information or advice. The traditional role of the aunt - to provide moral and sexual education - was no longer being practised. Thus, the idea was developed to recruit teenage mothers and to train them as "little aunties," able and willing to inform and counsel their peers in the neighbourhood and in the schools.

The programme recruits teenage mothers from all over Cameroon and trains them to give testimony of their own experiences and to give advice to other adolescents in order to help them avoid the difficulties they themselves had experienced. By testifying in front of other young people in their neighbourhoods, in youth clubs, and in schools, the Aunties aim to help their listeners understand the risks of sexual behaviour and see the advantages of prevention.

In capitalising on the experience and the commitment of teenage mothers who suffered and struggled for their own and their child's survival, the project encourages a self-help as well as a peer approach. Organisers contend that not only do the adolescents who receive this counselling and advice benefit, but the teenage mothers benefit as well. The involvement of "victims" in prevention campaigns is considered by the project as a valuable concept if handled with respect, sensibility, and responsibility. The victims become empowered by sharing their knowledge and experiences and by helping others. In addition, the Aunties are encouraged to form their own association, which they name, and for which they develop the rules of
collaboration. These associations are reportedly recognised and valued by local authorities and community members.

The project philosophy of self-help is also the reason why all the teenage mothers who participate in the programme are volunteers. They receive neither a salary nor an allowance for their activities. The strict adherence to this concept is considered one of the keys to success of the project. The trained teenage mothers have to understand that they participate for themselves, not for anybody else. The organisers believe that motivation to be an Auntie comes from the empowerment and the fact that they are being valued in the community after having been marginalised.

All teenage mothers who participate in the programme take part in a 3-day basic training. The training aims to give the teenage mothers basic knowledge and skills in sexual and reproductive health, as well as the skills for speaking in public and encouraging a vision of a local self-help group. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry for Women's Empowerment supported the training sessions by sending trainers. The training programme gradually developed in a participatory manner as project staff, trainers, and trained teenage mothers regularly discussed progress and improved the training programme accordingly.

The steps to the programme include:

• Situation analysis or baseline study
• Mobilisation
• Training
• Building local associations and agreement on rules and regulations
• Activities in schools and the neighbourhood, and individual youth counselling
• Public relations (PR) activities in print media and on the radio and television
• Follow-up, monitoring, and evaluation of the ongoing programme
• The necessary support structure and budget

Reproductive Health, Youth, Gender.

Formerly, aunts took care of the sexual education of young girls in different communities in Cameroon. Due to urbanisation and economic problems, families have separated, thereby putting a distance between aunts and their nieces. Organisers explain that, since parents often find it difficult to discuss sexual matters openly with their children, adolescents today receive no guidance on sexual matters. The pilot experience described above was designed to bridge the gap by reconstructing the personage of the aunt in order to guide youth. They are called "aunties", which is a diminutive of the aunt, because the project wants to reconstruct symbolically and affectionately the image of the aunt.

"The outcome of the programme was that the activity of the young mothers led to a change in attitude and behaviour in adolescents in their neighbourhoods and in their communities. The programme also empowered the teenage mothers to gained self-confidence, self-respect and the courage to make a change in their lives. Those who were marginalised in their families and communities, those who were at risk of making a living as prostitutes due to lack of other support, become successful change agents."