What’s yuh position?

Funky t-shirts, a get-down song and music DVD, dog-tags, cool wrist bands, crazy design bags… these are the tools used in YMCA HIV/AIDS advocacy in Trinidad and Tobago.

To address the increase in HIV in the 15-29 year age group, the YMCA developed a social marketing campaign to appeal to the youth. Gleeson Job led a session where he shared the success of this campaign. He is from the YMCA of Trinidad and Tobago and is presently at the World Alliance of YMCAs on the young professional programme.

‘Sexposition what yuh position” was a campaign developed to educate young people about HIV and AIDS, condom use and safe sex etc. “Mr Moosak” and Gleeson wrote a song and produced a music video which was used to send the message of the campaign to the target audience. It was developed by discussing what young people wanted and what appealed to them. The song got very popular and was played on the local radio stations, in parties and events and in several other countries in the Caribbean. The video was played on MTV Tempo and was in high rotation on the local music television station countdown were it was number 3 on the list.

Young people had no access to condoms in several communities and when they did go buy them, were often intimidated by the sellers. This real cool ‘Got it? Get it’ campaign was developed by ( PSI) Population Services International . The focus was to increase the availability of condoms for young people throughout the Caribbean region. The YMCA became a local partner in this initiative in which they were able to work with distributors to sensitise them and get them involved. Over 3 000 outlets in the last few years have been sensitised on providing condoms to young people at a reduced price. The logo of the campaign showed youth which outlets sold condoms and were youth-friendly in their approach.

During the Sex Education Caravan tours and community road shows in areas of high HIV prevalence, youth were enticed by the music and vibe. After one-on-one sessions with YMCA members, youth were given t-shirts with awesome designs. The info pouch with off-the-wall designs really appealed to youth – inside these was information about HIV. Branded dog tags also proved popular. Testing was provided onsite.

The idea was that after the one-on-one session, people would be able to go out with their cool gear and when asked about the t-shirt or bag etc, they would be able to tell others about HIV/AIDS and the YMCA. Youth started coming to the YMCA to find out about the exciting campaign.

The “Sexposition” campaign was supplemented by school initiatives, posters, radio and TV publicity for full saturation.PSI, S.Concepts, Family Planning Association, Red Cross, The National AIDS Coordinating Committee got on board and endorsed and supported the campaign.

The campaigns have contributed to the stabilisation of HIV prevalence in Trinidad and Tobago and are documented as a best practice according to UNDP. For more info please contact:
Gleeson Job at gleeson@ymca.int or gleesonjob@hotmail.com