Multiple Concurrent Partnerships Picture Codes Namibia

As part of Break the Chain, a multi-channel, multi-level national social and behaviour change communications (SBCC) campaign that addresses the practice of multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships (MCP), C-Change Namibia developed this MCP picture code flip chart in collaboration with Nawa Life Trust and with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund.

Field workers and volunteers in Namibia are using it to create conversations for behaviour change that focus on the drivers of the HIV epidemic. The MCP picture codes generate discussion on the practices of multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships, cross-generational sex, transactional sex, and couples communication. The idea is to bring together between 1 and 15 participants in a session, asking them to sit in a circle or in a way that they can see the picture code, which has a photograph on one side showing people in different situations and on the other side has questions for the outreach worker to ask in order to stimulate and guide a discussion. Underneath the questions are "talking points": key points the field worker or volunteer needs to stress at the end of the discussion.

Included in this resource are details about how a field worker or volunteer can use picture codes to address MCP. Suggestions are offered about how to get started (e.g. do not stand in front of participants like a teacher), what kinds of questions to ask during a session (e.g. ask open-ended questions), how to be a good listener (e.g. get the participants to relate to what is happening in the photos with themselves or people they know), how to get everyone to participate (e.g. ask a different question directly to a different person each time), and organising sessions (e.g. take time to let the participants discuss each picture code).

According to organisers of the Break the Chain campaign, contents of the flip chart can form part of a comprehensive HIV behaviour change curriculum or be used as a stand-alone material. The flip chart was developed under the guidance of the National Prevention Technical Advisory Committee's MCP Technical Working Group, and is a national material branded with the campaign logo and the logo of the Government of Namibia. Its contents are harmonised with the National Social and Behaviour Change Strategy for MCP and with the related mass media materials.