The SASA! Approach
SASA! is a new methodology for addressing the link between violence against women and HIV/AIDS. Documented in a user-friendly Activist Kit, it is meant to inspire, enable and structure effective community mobilization to prevent violence against women and HIV/AIDS.
SASA! is an exploration of power—what it is, who has it, how it is used, how it is abused and how power dynamics between women and men can change for the better. SASA! demonstrates how understanding power and its effects can help us prevent violence against women and HIV/AIDS.
Until now we have allowed community norms to portray men as more valuable than women and more powerful than women. SASA! is about mobilizing the community to change these norms, because they lead to violence and HIV/AIDS. SASA! recognizes that all people are equal in worth and value. SASA! shows us how a balance of power between women and men means healthier lives for everyone.
Power can be positive or negative. Positive power means feeling the power within ourselves, the power of joining with others, the power to create change. Negative power means wealthy people having power over poor people, the educated over the less educated, one ethnic group over another, and, in most communities, men having power over women. Negative power is so common that it often goes unquestioned.
Many times, power is thought of as limited. We often think that some people can and should have power and others cannot. Many men fear that they will lose power if women gain power. This is faulty thinking. Women and men can and should be able to exercise their own power—hold their own beliefs, make their own decisions, express themselves as they prefer, become what they want to become—as long as this does not include using their power over another person. By changing the imbalance of power between women and men, we can prevent violence against women and its connection to HIV/AIDS.
The SASA! Process
SASA! is a Kiswahili word for “now!” and also serves as an acronym for the major phases of the program:
Start
Start thinking about violence against women and HIV/AIDS as interconnected issues and foster power within yourself to address these issues.
Awareness
Raise awareness about how our communities accept men’s use of power over women, fueling the dual pandemics of violence against women and HIV/AIDS.
Support
Support the women, men and activists directly affected by or involved in these interconnected issues, by joining your power with others’.
Action
Take action. Use your power to prevent violence against women and HIV/AIDS.
The SASA! Strategies
SASA! uses four strategies to reach a variety of people in a variety of ways.
Local Activism – Encouraging others to become activists in the local community is at the core of the SASA! movement. Community dramas, quick chats, community conversations, public events and are all great ways to involve the broader community in your work.
Media and Advocacy – Reaching out to everyone in the community through media and advocacy is a great way to increase your impact. Some available materials include: radio programs, listening guides, fact sheets, persuasion sheets, an advocacy film and postcards.
Communication Materials – This pamphlet is one of the many communication materials that have been created for SASA! Other materials include posters, comic sheets and games. These communication materials are designed to encourage individuals and organizations in the community to begin talking and thinking about violence and HIV/AIDS.
Training Modules – There are many stakeholders in our communities that would benefit from training on violence against women and HIV/AIDS. Police officers, health care workers, teachers, local leaders, religious leaders, counsellors, NGO workers ...etc!
The SASA! Activist Kit will be available in January 2008. If you would like to be notified when SASA! has been released, send an email to: info@raisingvoices.org
[Click here] to read a Case Study of SASA!
other SASA! links:
SASA! The Film
SASA! In Action
The SASA! Study
