Use direct messages in campaigns

Editorial

WE wear coloured ribbons to support various struggles in life according to dates marked worldwide.
We wear white ribbons in support of the struggle to end violence against women and children.
We wear red ribbons to remind ourselves of the ever present danger of HIV/Aids in our communities.
But really, nobody needs to wear ribbons of any colour to remind themselves of these scourges.
If ribbons or any other apparel were to be worn to remind society of domestic violence or the threat presented by HIV/Aids, they ought to be worn every day.
They are ever present, everyday problems.
Despite all the hive and the attention given these problems, they continue unabated day after day, year by year.
Once we thought that domestic violence was an education thing and that educating more people would help arrest the problem.
The opposite seems to have happened.
Violence against women and children at home seems to have increased.
The threat of HIV/Aids too would be arrested by massive awareness and media campaigns, we thought, but they too continue their rampage through our population, uninterrupted it seems.
Domestic violence and the spread of the virus that causes Aids are grounded in the behaviour and habits of humans, Papua New Guineans.
Devising programmes to arrest problems that are grounded in our very habits requires far more than just good sounding slogans and clever media campaigns.
They are alright as a first step to raise awareness but now there is a need to take a good hard look at the people, at their psyche and their social behaviours.
Let us take a look at the violence against women issue.
The focus often appears to be on empowering women to take up the cause of women.
This approach, whether intentional or inadvertent, is combative. The message seems to be: “The man is the guilty party. He is the perpetrator of violence against the woman. We should enable the woman to stand up to him.”
And that is where the campaign has met resistance and stagnated at all levels.
The campaign will succeed when men become an interested partner, when he participates and believes that what he is doing is right and is appreciated.
When the men take it out to the community, people will sit up because it is new.
The message should become sex-neutral.
It should not be seen as a women issue but a human, family, community and national issue.
A similar approach is needed in the HIV/Aids campaign.
The condom message that accompanied the campaign right from the start was meant to inject reality.
Promiscuity cannot be arrested so if you want to be promiscuous at least use a condom.
That is a good enough message except it promoted promiscuity.
With a condom one does not really have to stop having multiple partners.
The Aids message is only now trickling into some communities but slowly because Papua New Guineans saw it as an outside agenda, something that belong to the United Nations, UNAIDS or Australian aid.
The HIV/Aids message should be inclusive, promote Christianity, be family based and it should be PNG generated.
That is when we begin to see people pay serious attention and take ownership.