Abstinence and Risk Avoidance for Youth (ARK)

Overview

The Abstinence and Risk Avoidance for Youth Program (ARK), a five-year project funded by PEPFAR, was launched in Kenya, Tanzania, and Haiti to address abstinence and mutual faithfulness for HIV prevention. Led by World Vision, the project focused on HIV prevention among girls age 10-24, with a secondary focus on boys of the same age. Parents, teachers, religious and traditional leaders, service providers, and other adults that interact with youth also benefited from ARK’s efforts. CCP supported the project by conducting trainings to help youth and adults form action groups and conduct outreach in their communities, using materials and tools developed by ARK. CCP designed training for youth on message development and script writing. CCP utilized radio spots, interactive discussions and listener groups to engage experts and lay people to discuss ARK messages.

Accomplishments

In all three nations, ARK demonstrated evidence of community participation and endorsement of its core values and strategies. For youth, the program provided:

• accurate and critical information to support both attitude and behavioral change

• skills and strategies to support empowerment, choose abstinence and resist the lure of having sex

• foundations of self-respect that enable them to evade enticement by others. Activities had positive effects on family relationships and communication. Tremendous support exists from community leadership and local faith-based group