RTK - Thailand Profile

Young people as a percentage of total population:
27% (age 10-24)

Estimated percentage of young people living with HIV/AIDS:
Female – 2%
Male – 1.3%

RTK INITIATIVE STATUS
Phase I: Planning for RTK -- Completed
Phase II: Participatory Action Research -- Initiated; to be completed upon receipt of funding
Phase III: Research development and Implementation of Communication Strategy -- To be initiated 2003

PURPOSE
The primary goal of Right to Know is to plan and implement adolescent communication strategies that provide adolescents (both in school and out of school) with information and lifeskills for the prevention of HIV/AIDS, and to ensure adolescent participation in all aspects of planning and implementation.

PRIORITY ACTIVITIES, 2002-2003:

• Conduct RTK planning meetings in the North and North East;
• Build upon existing programming by starting at the reflection stage of Participatory Action Research [PAR], rather than initiating PAR activity from “scratch;”
• Promote PAR methodologies that allow youth to fully express themselves;
• Initiate discussions on both process and outcome indicators;
• Investigate, through PAR, methods for converting knowledge into action;
• Strengthen the linkages between ongoing PAR activities and RTK.

PARTNERS AND LINKAGES

• University of Chiangmai and Khon Kaen as the collaborating research institutions;
• Steering Committee comprised of UN and governmental agencies; NGOs; UNFPA; UNDCP; UNAIDS; WHO; MoE; MoH; AIDSNet North; Volunteers Group for Children Development; Thai Youth AIDS Prevention Project; For Youth Group, Lampang; Sang Fan Wan Mai Group, Chiangrai; Maekowtom AIDS Coordination Centre, Chiangrai; The Mirror Group, Chiangrai; Rom Rua Inthanin Youth Group, Buriram Technical College; Ton Krachaeng Youth Group, Krachaeng Withaya School, Sisaket; Takhop Pa Youth Group, Phrathongkham Witthaya School, Nakhon Ratchasima; ACT Centre, Khon Kaen; Ton Kla Youth Group, Siam-Care, Mukdahan; Thai Red Cross; PATH; National Council for Children and Youth Development (NCYD).

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO DATE

• Core Group Meeting 9 April 2002;
• RTK Orientation workshop, 12 June 2002;
• Assessment of the capacities of Thai youth organisations and UNICEF Thailand RTK planning RTK 10-22 June 2002;
• Follow-up RTK planning workshops 28 July, 2002 in the North; and 27-28 July 2002 in Nakhon Ratchasima;
• Drafting an appropriate Thai RTK title: “Ru rue plaw”, which roughly translates as “Do you know;
• Youth assessment of how to best adapt ongoing and new PAR activities to reach the “non-joiners” and how to document PAR results.