Welcome to JOMA.PCMoz.org. The JOMA Project (Jovens Para Mudança e Acção, or Youth for Change and Action) aims to reduce the incidence of HIV transmission among Mozambican youth through the promotion of positive behavior change in young men by developing their ability to identify cultural norms and critique unhealthy gender stereotypes in Mozambique. The JOMA Project takes advantage of Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) teachers’ dual roles as colleagues and mentors, giving PCV teachers and their counterparts tools to facilitate communications clubs. These clubs focus on journalism, photojournalism, theatre, or art, and train students as peer educators promoting and supporting healthy behaviors among their fellow students.

bern on June 17 2007 08:27:26

The JOMA Presentation at the HIV Implementers' Meeting was very well received. The presentation is available in the downloads section (or click here). Peace Corps staff from Uganda and Namibia have expressed interest in implementing similar programming in their respective health programs, possibilities that we look forward to exploring.

Likewise, the project's call to attention that HIV prevention programming must include unique approaches to changing men's behavior received positive feedback from conference attendees. In particular, Mr. Michael Ottenyo of the Movement of Men Against AIDS in Kenya, also presenting at the conference, expressed support for our approach.

bern on April 06 2007 02:00:00

The steering committee for the 2007 HIV Implementers' Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, has accepted the JOMA Project's abstract for a conference presentation. The conference will take place mid-June and will be an excellent opportunity to show off JOMA's successes to the project's supporters from USAID and PEPFAR. It will also be an opportunity to exchange experiences with other persons implementing projects to promote behavior-change and HIV transmission-reduction.

Projects training and supporting young men as peer educators in their schools are few in Mozambique. We hope that by demonstrating JOMA Project successes, supporters might promote this strategy among non-governmental organizations and within the Ministry of Education of Mozambique. This strategy deserves further development and broader support.

bern on March 04 2007 02:00:00

The JOMA 2007 project plan is available in English and Portuguese in the downloads section. The JOMA team is currently developing the project curriculum with the technical assistance of experts in the 2007 focus areas of:

• Peer education in gender & HIV
• Communications
• Project development and management
• Journalism
• Photodocumentary
• Theater
• Community Art

The preliminary reports from Education PCV's as they form JOMA clubs in their schools are encouraging. Matthew Rysavy, a new MOZ11 PCV in Sofala province has already started training club participants students in photography and documenting; last week one of the students shot a series of photos in his local market demonstrating the different tasks delegated to men (selling meat and standing in the shops) and women (selling vegetables, sitting on a cloth on the ground).

Nelson Machaila, a Mozambican teacher who worked with JOMA last year, has already started meeting with JOMA club students twice a week, provoking them into debates and discussions and devising their school newspaper layout for 2007.

Paul Johnson, a PCV who participated in last year's project, has made the formation of a JOMA club a priority since moving to his new site in rural Zambezia province. The club began meeting before classes started, and have started exploring concepts of light and perspective in photography.

And finally, at the administrative level, JOMA Project coordinators will be submitting an abstract to the 2007 HIV implementers' Meeting. We hope to present in June, sharing our experiences bringing behavior change in young men to the fore in Mozambican secondary schools.

bern on January 18 2007 02:00:00

The JOMA Project 2006 Final Report is now available in the downloads section (English, Portuguese). The report focuses on the successes and challenges faced by JOMA groups in planning and implementing microprojects in their respective schools.

From the report:

"The most successful JOMA projects achieved the following:
1. Utilizing local human resources
2. Utilizing local material resources
3. Developing effective prevention messages
4. Including young women
5. Developing relationships with partners in government

JOMA participants also faced challenges in the following areas:
1. Communicating concepts of gender
2. Developing effective prevention messages
3. Maintaining participation
4. Monitoring project progress
5. Developing microproject proposals"

As the 2007 school year opens in the coming month, Peace Corps Volunteer and Mozambican teachers will return to their schools and begin to organize student groups into JOMA Clubs. This year JOMA participants will continue to explore ways to address gender inequality through educating and changing the behavior of young men. JOMA clubs will communicate with and educate their peers through journalism, community art, theatre, and photodocumentary projects.

bern on October 10 2006 02:00:00

JOMA participants in 16 schools are wrapping up their microprojects in the areas of journalism, community art, theatre, and community gardening. Monitoring visits carried out over the past three weeks brought counterpart teachers and students in contact with representatives from the Mozambique Ministry of Education and National AIDS Council, giving them a chance to show off their work and develop contacts for the support of future school projects.

JOMA microprojects are addressing inequality between the sexes through the development of critical thinking skills and open discourse between young Mozambican men and women. Young men are developing healthier concepts of gender roles and sharing their ideas with peers and community members. The results are encouraging and we look forward to further success in 2007.