Tsa Banana (For Adolescents)

The project identified 28 places frequented by youth (such as clinics, shops, and game rooms) and promoted them as sources of information and advice for teenagers on relationships, HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections. The project’s message in the identified outlets was “Stay healthy with condoms and reproductive health services and advice from Tsa Banana outlets”. To help them transmit this message, the youth outlets' staff members attended a half-day training workshop. PSI then made follow-up visits to the outlets to ensure that they were well staffed and stocked with adequate written materials and other resources for youth.

Each outlet was branded with a logo that directly identified the outlet as youth-friendly. “This was necessary because pre-testing had shown that young people felt, ’clinics are meant for someone else, not me.’" It decided to use a modified version of the existing popular PSI condom brand, Lovers Plus, without directly mentioning the brand. The new logo used the same large green plus symbol, but with the words "Tsa Banana" inside.

The Tsa Banana project also conducted peer education and promotion (PEP) sessions, using 15-30 minute shows that were designed to entertain small audiences in schools and public places by dramatising condom negotiation, holding contests based on audience knowledge of reproductive health topics, and answering audience questions.

The project’s live promotional shows attracted audiences of 500-3,500 adolescents, and used techniques and routines developed by PEP teams. Entertainment included local drama, dance, and music groups, along with contests and skits. Tsa Banana shows emphasised solutions rather than problems. The messages focused on how to "have fun," "stay healthy," and "get good advice." In the eight months between launch and evaluation, the project staged seven promotional shows. In order to ensure a high turnout at these shows, project staff placed posters and banners around town, made announcements at schools, played loud music on the day of the event, and drove around town with a loudhailer.

Health, Youth, HIV/AIDS.

Tsa Banana project highlights the importance of involving youth in all aspects of development, implementation, and management of projects geared toward them. Organisers believe that the success of this project was due in large part to the fact that youth contributed to the project at a variety of levels, from the design of information, education and communication (IEC) campaigns to the overall management of project activities.