Population Council Research that makes a difference

Since 2003, the Ford Foundation in East Africa has supported over 20 grantees to give visibility, depth, and legitimacy to the field of sexuality in the region. Previous Ford-funded initiatives in the region have confirmed the existence of major gaps and weaknesses in the conceptualization of sexuality. Therefore, more concrete communication strategies and actions are needed to ensure that the gains made in stimulating research involve two major activities: (1) a capacity-building workshop for sexuality grantees; and (2) documentation and assessment of the effect of communication strategies. This project represents an effort to entrench a framework for better communication choices around sexuality in East Africa.

During 2007, the Population Council enjoyed a mutual partnership with the Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre (ARSRC), geared toward promoting discourse on sexuality through research, debate, and information exchange in public forums in the region. Promoting such discourse is part of a larger Ford Foundation initiative, the Global Dialogue of Sexual Health and Wellbeing. Under the initiative, the Population Council conducted five major activities, including hosting the 2007 Sexuality Institute with the objectives of rethinking sexuality research and generating discussions that reexamine medical discourse; documenting the process leading to the enactment of the Kenya 2006 Sexual Offences Bill; undertaking operations research on sexuality and chronic illness; organizing public dialogue on sexuality for students and professors at four universities in Kenya; disseminating the Sexuality in Africa Magazine in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda; and, lastly, building a network between ARSRC and local institutions to identify potential candidates for the Sexuality Leadership Development Fellowship program.

These activities were implemented from January 2007 through May 2009 and helped researchers make significant changes in the conceptualization of sexuality within both research and programming. Researchers learned that Africans and African institutions are highly motivated to discuss and work on sexuality issues. Universities are beginning to develop academic course modules on sexuality.

The project is scheduled to end in December 2010.