World Starts With Me (WSWM)

WSWM is a participatory sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum that combines building IT skills and stimulating creative expression. It was designed to be used in secondary schools and out-of-school facilities such as telecentres, libraries, and computer-training and youth centres - in a student-facilitator situation. Crafted to be youth-friendly, the programme also aims to be friendly to teachers, as well, in the sense that they can access the materials and instructions they need (e.g., information on sexuality and sexual health), as well as seek the assistance of peer educators.

There are 14 lessons, whose learning objectives, assignments, ice breakers, presentations, games, tools, guidelines, and stories are all available in a student version and a separate teacher version. There is a forum for both students and teachers to exchange tips and an online presentation section to upload work that has been created through the programme on the WSWM website. Specific programme lessons include:

1. The World Starts With Me
2. Emotional Ups and Downs
3. Is Your Body Changing Too?
4. Friends and Relationships
5. Boys and Girls, Men and Women
6. Fight for Your Rights!
7. Sexuality and Love
8. Pregnancy: 4 Girls and 4 Boys!
9. Protect Yourself: Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV/AIDS
10. HIV/AIDS: U Have a Role 2 play 2
11. Love Shouldn't Hurt
12. Your Future, Dreams and Plans
13. My Top Tips Peer Book
14. Exhibition

The lessons usually start with a theme-based warm-up, followed by a presentation by virtual peer educators (in the Uganda version, their names are "Rose" and "David"), who are the main sources of knowledge in this curriculum. The next step is often a game (such as the body change game, the personality game, the who's responsible game, or the safe sex quiz) which is intended to help students internalise information and explore opinions. The next step - and the main part of most lessons - is the assignment, which is a creative activity through which students learn computer skills, creative skills and life skills. For example, the students may have to create a storyboard (e.g., on negotiation), artwork (e.g., posters to fight stigma), or create a role-play (e.g., on sexual harassment, using digital means).

Organisers state that the website features an attractive design and takes a playful approach to mediating complicated content, which is presented in a way that enables young people to recognise situations confronting them in their everyday lives. They have designed the programme to be easy to use and to enable quick adaptation. The safe environment of e-learning and the self-guided, student-driven learning process is part of a strategy for facilitating interactive education on sensitive issues, as well as to relieve the burden on teachers of instigating sensitive discussions. The uniform, systematic learning process is designed to ensure quality across different schools and countries. Organisers believe that combining text, audio, and visual effects effectively helps to shape knowledge, attitudes and skills in a process of social learning by modelling.

Youth, Family Planning, HIV/AIDS, Rights, Technology.

WSWM is premised on the notion that "Human rights and a positive approach towards sexuality are the starting-points in developing technical and social competencies, such as negotiation skills, contraceptive use, refusing sex and escaping risky situations such as coercion and rape. These competencies are needed for applying informed decision-making in practice."

The first version of WSWM was made for Ugandan youth and was implemented in 34 schools in 2005; in 2007, it is reaching 70 schools throughout that country.


Click here to access a report (in PDF format) offering lessons learned and additional background on WSWM.