Making the Transition: From Good Girl to Good Wife

This 94-page report, published by Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation and Research (PEER), documents a study conducted by Options Consultancy Services and Population Services International (PSI) Rwanda. The study examines the attitudes, behaviour, and risk perceptions among rural young people and commercial sex workers, both considered priority groups for PSI Rwanda's behaviour change programme. According to the report, there are few data available for these groups, and current data focuses mainly on urban populations.

The objectives of the research were to gain a more in-depth understanding of rural sex workers and rural youth; to use the approach to provide an evidence base for designing awareness raising and interpersonal communication programmes for rural youth; and to refine and develop an interpersonal communication and behaviour change programme for rural sex workers.

The study followed the PEER methodology, which believes that building a relationship of trust with the community is essential for researching social life. According to the report, peer researchers undergo participatory training during which they identify key research themes and develop "prompts" to guide their interviews. Interviewees are not asked to talk about their own experiences, but rather "what other people like them do or say." This technique enables respondents to talk about sensitive issues to which they may not feel comfortable giving personal attribution. Sex workers and youth were trained separately, as were boys and girls.

The report identifies a number of challenges to guide the objectives of PSI Rwanda's awareness raising campaigns. The key challenge among young people was how to respond to the differing needs and realities of youth in the context of an abstinence only programme. The report found that boys and girls are unable to communicate effectively with each other around sexuality. The authors suggest PSI focus their programme on improving communication between boys and girls, and empowering girls to be able to "say no when they mean no". They recommend focusing on reinforcing positive messages for young people using multiple media, including radio, magazines, and peer education. In addition they list a number of major themes for media programmes to focus on.

According to the report, the priority focus for the sex worker programme should be on increasing consistency of condom use for both sex workers and their clients, as that was identified as a key challenge in the research. It recommends a strategy with 4 main objectives: to increase skills and knowledge among sex workers of using condoms to break the cycle of HIV transmission, as well as to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs); to increase the perception that condoms can be pleasurable; to improve negotiation skills between sex workers and clients; and to improve solidarity among sex workers to reinforce positive behaviour change.