YEAH @ AIDS 2014

YEAHs Role as the lead Australian partner of the AIDS 2014 Melbourne

Youth Force

• YEAH delivered in its role as lead Australian partner of the Melbourne Youth Force, the official platform for coordinating youth participation and voice in the lead up to and during AIDS 2014.

• Since August 2013, YEAH’s CEO has also taken on the role as Co-convener of the AIDS 2014 Youth Program and Melbourne Youth Force (MYF).

• Under YEAH’s leadership, 35 young Australians and 35 international youth were selected to participate in the MYF representing HIV, BBV and STI organizations from across the globe, along with students studying in a broad range of related fields.

• YEAH was responsible for the overall coordination of the work of the 7 MYF subcommittees to deliver the youth program during AIDS 2014.

YEAH took a lead role in the development of the MYF advocacy messages that were used As the pillars to build the 2014 MYF Youth Action Plan.The youth action plan was developed though the participation of over 200 young leaders during the MYF Youth Pre-Conference at the State Library of Victoria on July 18 th and 19th.

MYF Youth Pre Conference18th & 19th July State Library of Victoria

Delivery of a full two-day program of technical and skill building sessions for the 200 young delegates including many young Australians who attended the AIDS 2014 youth pre-conference at the State Library of Victoria on the 18th-19th July. YEAH coordinated sessions with a wide range of global experts including UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA, WHO and the Global Fund.

The first morning of the MYF Pre Conference coincided with the tragic news of the MH17 crash. YEAH’s CEO and co-convener of the Melbourne Youth Force gave the opening address for the pre-conference and in light of the tragic news invited all of the youth delegates to stand and take part in a ‘giant’ group hug (pictured below).

AIDS 2014 Melbourne Youth Force Delegate Bags

• YEAH leveraged its networks and relationships to provide young delegates attending the Melbourne Youth Force Pre-Conference with a range of useful resources and materials that would enhance their conference experience, as well as promote Australian public health campaigns and organisations to a young, passionate and global audience.

• YEAH assembled a bag with

collateral conservatively worth $25 per bag (or $6250 total), delivering great value to the MYF pre-conference delegates

• 250 x Red Aware branded bags were provided by YEAH and assembled by MYF volunteers

• Content for delegate bags was coordinated by YEAH staff and sourced from a range of organisations

AIDS 2014 Youth Symposium This high level session in the AIDS 2014 Program was co-facilitated by YEAHs CEO, Alischa Ross and Anders Nordström, Ambassador for Global Health at the Department for Multilateral Development CooperationMinistry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden. The session brought together a number of young leaders representing key affected populations and members from he MYF to youth leadership in the global response to HIV in 2014 and beyond. Young leaders used this session as an

opportunity to present the MYF Youth Action Plan to leaders from UNAIDS and the Global Fund

Partner Organisations

• Organisations who donated material included: Living Positive Victoria, The Victorian AIDS Council, UNICEF, Telstra, Minter Ellison, The Burnet Institute, Marie Stopes, Positive Women, The University of Melbourne, Museum Victoria, The City of Melbourne, Melbournalia, Melbourne City Sight Seeing & YEAH.

• Items included: Notepads, pens, lanyard, waterbottle, a range of sexual health campaign information (including GLBTIQ and indigenous materials), Tickets for free shuttlebus service provided by YEAH, Free tickets to Melbourne Museum provided by YEAH, iPhone speakers and information about Australian public health services and campaigns.

AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION (AHF) AIDS 2014 Satellite Session: Marketing HIV Strategies

YEAHs Case Study presentation of the Red Aware Campaign

• Sunday, July 19th, 2014• Approximately 100 people

attended• Overview of marketing

strategies including social media, online campaigns and resource sales across HIV and sexual health awareness organisations

• Very positive reaction to the Red Aware campaign content, especially in the context of YEAHs major annual music festival project at Groovin the Moo

There was a high level of interest and questions from the audience regarding YEAHs innovative approaches to health promotion and our youth led peer education program

Overview of Workshop

• The workshop included organisations from the United States of America, Ukraine, Russia, Netherlands and Australia

• Facilitated by AHF, Dance for Life, RedAware and a Ukrainian HIV prevention organisation working with young people

• Each agency presented case studies to share insights into the effectiveness of their community engagement and methodologies of their health promotion campaigns

Lessons Learnt

• The audience were invited to vote for their favorite campaigns. Red Aware was recognised as being a highly cost effective, resourceful and innovative organisation.

• The audience size exceeded expectations especially as the satellite took place prior to the official conference opening, demonstrating that organisations are looking for effective marketing strategies for HIV prevention

• People were really interested in YEAH’s approach to peer education at Music Festivals as an innovative, cost effective and sustainable model for community engagement.

AIDS 2014 Connecting Schools Program TOTAL INVESTMENT: $6000

Delivered & Funded by: YEAH, Melbourne Planning Group, Life Technologies, Victorian Infectious Disease and Immunity Network and The Alfred Hospital Resource Centre

Connecting Schools Program at the AIDS 2014 Global VillageDates and Attendance NumbersJuly 21st, 2014 – 14 Secondary students attendedJuly 23rd, 2014 – 20 Secondary students attendedJuly 24th, 2014 – 62 Secondary students attended

Total Attendance: 96 students

Partners• YEAH – Primary peer education workshop

facilitator• Walter + Eliza Hall• Monash University• Burnet Institute• GTAC• Teenage Expo

School Program Design and Objectives

Key Outcomes from the workshop were to providing students with:• Basic FACTS about HIV and AIDS including transmission, testing, treatment

and prevention• An understand of local and global challenges associated with the HIV and

AIDS epidemic.• An understand that HIV and AIDS and sexual health related stigma and

discrimination still exists and tool on how to combat stigma.• Skills necessary to tackle sexuality-related stigma amongst peers and within

their schools and communities.• An opportunity to develop networks with other student leaders and a practical

way to connect to the Youth Program at AIDS 2014.

Interested schools nominated between 2-5 student representatives who attended a 90 minute workshop facilitated by YEAHs trained youth peer educators and some additional volunteers from across partner organisations.

Workshop learning's for students

– Introduce the basic science behind how HIV attacks the body and leads to AIDS;

– Provide information that is relatable to events at the conference, to highlight the cutting edge research and advocacy occurring locally and overseas;

– Use interactive activities and team building exercises to assist students in understanding the many aspects of the HIV challenges of their generation;

– Dispel myths about ‘Who gets HIV?’, in the process explaining how HIV can and cannot be transmitted, to empower students to make informed decisions and challenge their own thinking;

– Highlight scientific breakthroughs that have revolutionised HIV treatment and prevention;

– Emphasise the ways that stigma and discrimination have impacted the spread of HIV and;

– Empower students to ask ‘What can we do?’ to make a difference to increase HIV awareness and reduce HIV-related stigma.

School ParticipantsSchool Year level

John Monash Science School 12 Westbourne Grammar 11

St Kevin’s College 10s + 11sMckinnon Secondary College 9

Ashwood College 9 Fintona Girls’ School 9

Woodleigh School Langwarrin 10Mt Eliza Secondary College 12

Melbourne Girls college 9Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School 12

Overnewton Anglican Community College 10 St Margaret's College 9

Catholic Ladies College (CLC) 9 + 11 Overnewton Anglican Community College 12

Wesley College 12

YEAH contributed

• Trained peer-educators to facilitate workshops• Majority of the workshop content and activities

building on the existing Agents of YEAH Peer Education Training and Leadership program

• Support for other volunteers involved• Resources for workshops• Contributed to evaluation resources

Feedback from Peer Educators“The students were very engaged! They were selected from leadership groups from each school so were eager to learn and willing to participate. The teachers also provided positive feedback. I liked that we were the first workshop because had less time restrictions than following sessions.”

Caitlin Hennessey, Adelaide Local Leader

“Enthusiastic responses from the highschoolers”

Aurora Killey, Melbourne Agent of YEAH

YEAH @ AIDS 2014 Meet the Experts Panel Session

Report: The recipe for effective public health: Innovation,

Leadership and Grassroots Mobilisation

Snapshot• Meet the experts panel session, Tue 22nd July • Provided an interactive panel discussion with 3 global leaders with vast

experience working in HIV and global public health• The session was chaired by Alischa Ross, CEO YEAH• Facilitated by: Alischa Ross, CEO YEAH• Speaker 1: Professor Rob Moodie - Inaugural Director of Country

Support UNAIDS, Professor Public Health• Speaker 2: Steve Kraus - Director UNAIDS Regional Support Team

Asia Pacific • Speaker 3: Lady Roselyn Morauta - former First Lady of Papua New

Guinea and Chair of PNG Country Coordinating Committee for the Global Fund

• The audience described the session as one of the most emotionally insightful and inspiring session of AIDS 2014 with a clear message about the importance of love and the centrality of human rights in health.

Session Overview

• Freely accessible to the public, this meet the experts Q & A panel brought together internationally renowned leaders in the global response to HIV, creating a platform for them to inspire and be a catalyst to motivate thinking beyond traditional approaches to public health.

• The session challenged current thinking on what makes effective leadership, discussed and debated the impacts of working upstream and down stream in public health, and opened up dialogue around innovation and building partnerships across sectors and a broad range of professions.

• View the session online: http://youtu.be/R5s-o4kDlLQ?list=UUMkPYKUROhoJ7r6uNFUxLew

YEAH @ AIDS 2014 Workshop Report:

Harnessing the Potential of Social Media in Global HIV Prevention, Education and

Community Building

Snapshot

• Program Session, Wed 23rd July • Approximately 200 people attended• Provided overview of social media strategies

and case studies (Red Aware and B-Change).• Very positive reaction to content, particularly

RedAware and B-Change case studies.• High level of audience interest in applying

lessons learned in above campaigns to their own community work.

Workshop Participants

• Ariel Cerrud, Youth Activist Network Coordinator, Advocates for Youth (USA)

• Laurindo Garcia, Founder, Bchange (Philippines)• Felix Scholz, Resources Manager, YEAH (Australia)• Kaushi Kogar, Volunteer Coordinator, YEAH

(Australia)• Brigitte Tenni, Senior Technical Advisor – HIV, The

Nossal Institute (Australia)

Overview of Workshop

• Ariel Cerrud provided an overview of social media engagement strategies for not-for-profit organizations with a strong focus on advocacy and political engagement.

• Felix Scholz followed up, presenting the Australian RedAware campaign as a case study, highlighting challenges and the successes of the national campaign that deals broadly with youth sexual health.

• Laurindo Garcia discussed Bchange case study and problems of large, multinational communities, particularly dealing with issues of diverse language and cultural attitudes around sex and gender diversity in Asian contexts

• Kaushi Kogar and Brigitte Tenni discussed how a social media AIDS2014 focused advocacy campaign could be developed around the specific example of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

YEAH @ AIDS 2014: Peer Education Workshop Report

Dynamic, diverse & inclusive: evidence-based approaches to HIV and sexual health peer education for

young people

Snapshot• Program session, Thursday 24th July 2014• Duration: 3 hours• Approximately 100 audience attendance• Provided an in-depth overview of best-practice and

evidence base frameworks for peer education approaches for young people

• Highly interactive and participatory based workshop which received positive feedback from participants

• Presenters provided anecdotal evidence of workshop participants seeking follow-up discussions and resource requests

• Alex Tanglao – Youth Empowerment Against HIV/AIDS (YEAH)

• Rosa Roberts - St Kilda Youth Services & Youth HIV and Sexual health Peer Educator (YEAH)

• Fita Utami – Young People Alliance• Duncan Moeketse – Y+ Programme• Shubha Kayastha – Y Peer

Workshop Presenters

Overview of WorkshopSession Topic 1: "Peer Education Standards” - Presented by Shubha Kayastha. Participants were given hypothetical scenarios and asked to use these standards as a checklist to plan, recruit, train and evaluate a peer education program

Session Topic 2: "The importance of cultural sensitivity for Peer Education Programs” - Presented by Fita Rizki Utami. Participants were taught about how cultural sensitivity consists of a body of knowledge and interpersonal skills that allow a peer educator to provide information to the audience from a certain culture.

Session Topic 3: "Including gender and sexuality diversity in peer education workshop content”- Presented by Alex Tanglao and Rosa Roberts. Participants were challenged to reconsider the way peer education workshop content is delivered and provide for more inclusive language.

Session Topic 4: "Self-empowerment theory and peer education programs” - Presented by Duncan Moeketse. Participants were introduced to the theory of self-empowerment and how it can be an effective tool for encouraging peer educators and preventing them from becoming burnt out.

YEAH’s Condom Castle in the AIDS 2014 Global Village

Victorian Health Minister David Davis meets YEAHs youth sexual health peer educators at their Condom Castle in the AIDS 2014 Global Village

Sir Bob Geldof Meets delegates at YEAHs Condom Castle in the AIDS 2014 Global Village

Video Production Summary:

• A short film narrated by YEAH’s young peer educators was produced featuring highlights of YEAH’s AIDS 2014 public engagement activities, including key global and local HIV statistics, call to action messages focused on prevention of HIV transmissions and the end of community stigma along with vox pop interviews highlighting the public’s reaction to the installations and their general awareness of HIV and the AIDS 2014 conference.

• This along with a series of other short films made by YEAH in and around the AIDS 2014 conference were designed to further maximize public reach and promoted through a number of local and global health organisation’s websites and social media channels.

YEAH’s Youth led HIV awareness campaign @ AIDS 2014 http://youtu.be/I0fXAE99fVw?list=UUMkPYKUROhoJ7r6uNFUxLew

Honouring the Past Hope for the Future Towards an HIV Free Generation projections highlights http://www.redaware.org.au/video- gallery-2/yeah-aids-2014-stop- motion-projection/

AIDS 2014 Youth Legacy Street Art Project http://youtu.be/T9Kq3Gmlppc?list=UUMkPYKUROhoJ7r6uNFUxLew