The Stigma Challenge – Belgium (BeMSA)

Name of the activity: The Stigma Challenge

Country/NMO: Belgium (BeMSA)

Program: HIV/AIDS & Other STIs

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Campaign

General description:

For the general description I will give you the program of the three cities; this way you will have the best idea of what the stigma challenge is:

The Stigma Challenge: Program + general information

Brussels
Event Program :
Set-up : 10h – 12h30
Event : 13h- 17h30
Break-off : 17h30- 19h00

Content :
1. Twister Std : 2 people
Replace the colors with a STD; Gonorroe, Chlamydia, Syphilis, Herpes.
Goal : Let them tell what they know about it and correct them if they say something wrong. Ask questions about it and invite them to do the parcour.If someone comes alone one of the two people at the stand do the twister with him/her.
2. A disease, one fact : 2 people
Flash Cards : virus responsible for the disease, duration of the infection, when to detect the virus,contagiousness, symptoms, prevention, treatment. Show some images of the infection.
3. What is a risky situation ? 2 people
Ask them which situations could lead to an infection;
Example;Not to use a condom,Not to use the pill, Steady partner, With someone you don’t know
Safe or not safe; ping pong pallet with ‘safe’and ‘not safe’ on the sides and ask a question to whichthey have to answer with the pallet.
Ex; you go home with someone you met at the club and he tells you that he’s clean so you don’t haveto use protection.
4. Detection of the STD
Show the material, give adresses where they can get a test, explain the different methods of detection.
5. Against the stigma : 2 personnes
Example; Do you know that even with HIV you could live a normal life?
6. Explain the different contracepton methods and which of these protect against STDs
7. For more information : documentation about biphobia, transphobia, (3 people)
8. « info » stand
9. Prices.
10. Free hugs Mascotte

Ghent
From 2 pm the event will start in NEST Gent (old city library). From then on the Think Tank opens. This consists of a series of information stands of organizations within the field. In addition, 3 interactive games with propositions and quiz questions are organized around the theme, of which 1 by GAMS vzw. At the event, a series of information panels on reproductive health and migration policy were also drawn up to frame the themes that will be discussed during the panel discussion. Ella also provides a small exhibition with a graphic novel about migration. These all will be present continuously until 9:00 pm to 9:30 pm.
Still in consultation, around 3.30 pm a readiness will go on about the GEAStudy led by Kristien Michielsen and Sara De Meyer.
From 4:30 pm, Gangthelabel will perform in the NEST concert hall.
From 5:15 pm people can enter the large speaker room to attend the Studium Generale.
We want to start the studium around 5:30 pm.
– Introduction by the organizers (5 min)
– Moral-scientific introduction by Dirk Lafaut (15 minutes)
– Testimony by Stephanie de Maesschalck (15 minutes)
– Panel discussion led by Olivier Degomme. (1h)
Speakers: Ellen De Geest, Stephanie de Maesschalck & Reema Shamali, Wim Peumans, Still in consultation (Kristien Roelens or Marilyn Dhondt)
From 20h the Democrazy program starts. They will provide the music for the event.
– PJAY
– Laguna
– Jam session by KASK Conservatory
The event ends at 11:30 pm.
External partners who will be present:
• GAMS: mutilatie bij vrouwen
• Ella vzw: infostand + tentoonstelling (stripverhaal)
• Cavaria en casa rosa
• Bemsa
• JOETZ: jonge holebi (van 15 u 30 tot 17 u 30)
• Wel Jong, Niet Hetero
• Nuv-Hop
• Rosa vzw

Leuven
On 27 of march on ‘Het Hogeschoolplein’ in Leuven, we will organize the Stigma Challenge Leuven, the second edition, 2018.
That day we will be having :
Music
3 bands will be coming:
– Vince Seys will play from 17h to 18h
– The Devilles will play from 18h30 to 19h30
– NovaScotia will play from 20h15 to 21h30
We are planning for one or more DJ’s to come, but so far we have no arrangements yet.
Content
With our group we will be having 9 booths the passengers can visit between 14h-21h
1. Speeddate
2. STD-game
3. Quiz about sex, SOA’s, …
4. Condomrace
5. Photobooth: possibility to take pictures with a dick suit and sex-shapes
6. Aids-cupgame
7. Upperdare stand
8. Sexuologist: everyone can have free consultations with Wim Slabbinck or Kaat Bollen, both in a mini-van.

We will be having a wailing wall, in which all the students can post their complaints about sex, sexuality, … . We were thinking that people could send a message to e.g. Polleverywhere (ofcourse anonymous) and that we could display this on a big screen where everybody can read this.
Food and drinks
As food we will be serving hamburgers and hotdogs.
As drinks we will be serving beer, soda, water and stigma sex cocktails for 18+ (pasSOA orange, porno).

Focus area:

Removing stigmatization and empowering people living with HIV, Raising awareness among the general public about STIs

Problem statement:

We still have the feeling that talking about sex is an issue in Belgium. People feel uncomfortable while tallking about sex-related themes. Also the STI rates are going up (https://www.sensoa.be/feiten-en-cijfers/seksueel-overdraagbare-aandoeningen-soas-feiten-en-cijfers; here you can find the scientific evidence. This page is in Dutch, as it is a national investigation. When more information is needed, I will be happy to translate)

Target groups and beneficiaries:

People between 16-25 years old.

Objectives and indicators of success:

We want people to feel more at ease when talking about sex. We want to improve the knowledge on topics as STIs and sex in general. By improving this knowledge we hope that people will feel more ready to talk about these topics. Our target group will be people between 16-25 years old who will come to our event. We will lure them to our little festival by using music. On this square we will do workshops to educate the people and give them tools to talk about sex. They will fill out a questionnaire where we hope to see what they have learned. This project, dependent on the city, will take place between 1 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Methodology:

On a public square we will talk about sex. We will attract people by creating a festival atmosphere using music and food/drinks. We will do this in three cities. On this public square we will have interactive workshops where people can learn things about STIs and sex. We will have sexuologist ready, who can talk to the participants about everything concerning sex and relationships. This way we hope to show people that talking about sex in public is nothing to feel uncomfortable about. Our slogan is “Let’s talk about sex!”. In on of our cities we will have a side event, a pannel discussion, discussing the topic sexuality and migration.

Plans for evaluation:

We will count the amount of people present and let people fill out the following questionnaire:

Age:

Questions

1. How did you like our event? (1 = did not like it at all; 5 = loved it)
1 2 3 4 5

2. Did you clearly understand the information we provided? (1= did not understand anything; 5 = fully understood everything )
1 2 3 4 5

3. Did the event meet your expectations? ( -2 = worse than expected; 0 as expected; 2 more than expected)
-2 -1 0 1 2

4. Would you recommend this event to other people? (1 = I would never recommend it; 5 = I would recommend it to everyone)
1 2 3 4 5

Open feedback
What can we improve? Were there stigmata that we didn’t pay enough attention to? How did you learn about our event?