By addressing young people on their own ground in Bangui, a programme for sex education has caught their attention. Videos and puppet plays have encouraged adolescents to speak out about their own concerns and anxieties about sexual matters. Part of the programme's success lies in the multitude of organizations with which it collaborates, including the local family planning association, a condom social marketing programme, youth clubs and associations, a women's NGO, private video parlours, UN agencies and governmental ministries.

Urbanization and other developments in society have led to dramatic changes in the social and sexual behaviour of young people in the Central African Republic. Traditionally, sexual education and other support systems were in place to guide young people into adulthood but, today, these have broken down. As a result, adolescents often have their first sexual experience without adequate knowledge and are unable to protect themselves from the possible negative consequences of sexual relations.

The first provides information, education and communication activities to inform pupils and students about reproductive health issues and responsible sexual behaviour. The second, called "Support to Youth for Responsible Sexuality", supports sex education for outofschool youth as well as making provision for reproductive health care specifically for these youths. The objective of this project is to diminish the prevalence of HIV infections and STDs, unwanted pregnancies and abortions.

The programme focuses primarily on sexual health issues. However, other subjects included are gender training and consciousness raising about the roles men and women play in society and assertiveness training whereby young women are helped to negotiate condom use.

Parents and young people were invited to participate in different activities in order to be informed, sensitized and counselled about the dangers of irresponsible sexual behaviour. To support this process, possibilities of prevention and protection against unwanted outcomes of sexual relations were presented and discussed. Initially, the parents were contacted through the parent-teacher association, but this did not result in a satisfactory response. Parents are now contacted directly at the community level (e.g., via churches); some interested parents will be helped to write a manual about "How to talk to your children" about sex education.The heart of the programme is the Information Centre for Sexual Health established in May 1994. The Centre opens every afternoon and houses a modest library with books, journals and comics on sexual health. Following a weekly schedule, young people are invited to participate in a variety of activities promoting the development of responsible sexual behaviour. In addition, a range of videos and presentations are given in which the topics are not limited to sexual health but include other themes - like environmental consciousness, gender issues and legal questions - where the common denominators are empowerment and responsibility.

The most popular sessions are the afternoon video shows. These educational videos are followed by lively group discussions. Peer counsellors are available to youths wishing to discuss personal sexual health difficulties in private. The Centre also has a small health post with a laboratory staffed by a nurse. Simple STD diagnoses and pregnancy testing can be done there; most STDs are treated using the syndromic approach. Before attending the clinic, individuals must participate in a counselling session.

One of the most popular places in Bangui for young people to congregate is the cinevideo. There are roughly 70 of these videoparlours in the city. To make use of these meeting places to communicate with the young people, videospots promoting condom use were produced by local youth theatre groups. The videos are played at the parlours before the main feature. At the same time, places for condom sales were set up in 38 of the parlours. The supply is restocked once a week. The number of condoms sold in the parlours is used as an indicator of the efficacy of the videospots on condom use.

During regular meetings with the parlour managers, it appeared that their audiences wanted longer spots, especially educational ones. The parlours are now playing some of the same health promotion videos shown in the Information Centre followed by discussions moderated by peer educators.

Regular programming on the local radio stations is a useful way to communicate with adolescents (much more important, for example, than television transmissions). The youth radio programmes that include quizzes on sexual health issues with the possibility of winning prizes are particularly popular. Apart from the educational aspect, the radio programmes have promoted the Information Centre. Other publicity has included:

• a competition to find a name and logo for the Centre
• a first birthday celebration of the Centre
• handouts of imprinted items such as baseball caps, ballpoint pens and key rings.

In order to attract young girls to the Centre, special discussion groups for them were inaugurated. These groups have their own female moderators who address the girls using simple language and terms, but the Centre continues to have difficulty attracting outofschool girls and youth in their teens.

Regular programming on the local radio stations has been a useful way to reach outofschool adolescents and to inform the community at large about the programme. Outreach sessions are conducted for associations or groups not taking part in Centre activities, with gadgets such as ballpoint pens, baseball caps and key-rings being used to attract youths. These groups have included religious organizations, youth groups and young street vendors.

Today the programme has become an officially recognized model. The next step is to multiply the project. Plans are underway to find new channels of communication, intensify community-based activities and set up a mobile Information Centre to visit other areas of the city.