Jipende - Center for Women’s Health - Beauty Salons Programme

The T-MARC project started socially marketing female condoms in 2005 through commercial networks and non-governmental organisations. As of October 2010, a total of 3.4 million Lady Pepeta have been sold and distributed across ten regions of the country, yet Lady Pepeta was still not widely available, partially because of trade reluctance to stock female condoms due to 'limited demand'. The product was not widely known and required some introduction to potential customers.

In February 2010, T-MARC expanded on an earlier pilot peer education project called Jipende! (or Love Yourself) that was designed to reach sex workers and women engaged in transactional sex, and built on the existing training methodology and curriculum. A feasibility study was conducted and based on the results, twenty-one beauty salons were selected to become 'Jipende! Centers for Women’s Health'. The salons were situated in five neighborhoods close to HIV hot-spots. The goal of the pilot was to introduce more women to the female condom and to improve condom availability at a community level, specifically in the kind of locations where women commonly meet. In addition to stocking and selling both male and female condoms, two beauticians were trained from each salon who could then provide advice on family planning and reproductive health using the knowledge gained through their training.

The four day training curriculum for the beauticians was spread over one month and concentrated on: preventing HIV, understanding and avoiding sexually transmitted infections, promoting the Jipende! Beauty Salons and female condoms, educating about family planning as well as cervical and breast cancer, and building entrepreneurial skills. The latter module was intended to incentivise the beauticians to attend, empower them to grow their businesses and to understand the financial incentives inherent in the initiative. The Jipende! Curriculum for Beauty Salon Attendants is available in English and Swahili.

All graduates of the course received a certificate. The salons were branded as “Jipende! Resource Centers for Women’s Health" and each was provided with startup stock of male and female condoms as well as a pelvic model for demonstrating the female condom. By July 2010, the pilot was up and running in 21 salons in Dar es Salaam. Each sslon was provided with Jipende! Posters, brochures, and stickers everywhere, as well as t-shirts that said: Ask me about Lady Pepeta!

According to salon workers, many clients were curious when they saw the materials and this opportunity was used to talk about women’s health and safe sex, and to introduce their clients to the key products, the male and the female condom. One advantage found was that that clients are in the salon for extended periods and tend to frequent the shop every few weeks, which builds trust. Even women who are reluctant to ask questions hear the beauticians speaking to other women, or even amongst themselves. The beauticians are incentivised to discuss this knowledge to promote condom sales. At the same time, women feel more comfortable to talk and purchase, as it is a women only environment.

By 2013, a total of 140 peer educators from 70 beauty salons were trained in the Iringa region of Tanzania.

Reproductive Health,HIV/AIDS