Introduction and Project Outline

The project INT/88/P98 "Integration of Population Education into Programmes for Rural Youth in Low Income Countries", is being implemented by the FAO Agricultural Education and Extension Service (ESHE) with funding provided by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). The project began in early 1987 and is currently scheduled to continue through to the end of 1991.

The long range objective of the project is to reach out of school rural youth with population education materials which will draw attention to the effects of rapid population growth and the need for responsible parenthood.

The project works through existing youth groups such as scouts, religious organisations, self help groups and farmers organisations. New groups are not formed solely to promote population education as it is felt that they would not have long term viability.

During the first phase of the project, existing population education materials were collected, reviewed and analysed in collaboration with the major organisations active in the field. A preliminary selection of the contents for use in programmes for out of school youth was made. Workshops were then held in three pilot countries (Swaziland, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe), to discuss how the topics might be most effectively introduced into existing programmes for out of school youth and what type of teaching aids might be used.

One result of these workshops is that a prototype set of leader's guides and teaching aids were prepared on basic concepts of population education. These leader's guides consist of an introduction and ten self contained booklets or modules together with a flipchart, a set of flash cards and a poster. The leader's guides were first introduced to national youth workers in "training of trainers" workshops in three countries in Africa (Swaziland, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe) followed by extensive field testing in Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe throughout 1989. Reports were received from leaders of youth groups throughout the country concerning the reactions to use of the materials. Individual reports were also received from the group members on the flipcharts, flashcards and posters.

The process is now being replicated for other regions of the world with the guides having now been translated into French for West Africa and into Spanish for Latin America. Work is continuing on their adaptation and introduction into these regions.

Prior to introduction of the population education modules in the youth groups, group members were asked to complete a questionnaire to assess their knowledge and attitudes toward population education related concepts.

The group leaders then used the prototype leaders guides and teaching aids as the basis of a population education programme over the ensuing six to nine months, and after completion of all the modules, the group members were again asked to complete a questionnaire (identical to the first questionnaire).

Around 1000 completed questionnaires were returned but of these a large number could not be used as either there were no matching post-questionnaires ('after' tests) to match the baseline questionnaire ('before' test) forms completed, or too much information was missing. Some forms were also rejected when it was uncertain whether the same person had completed the 'before' and 'after' test questionnaires. The remaining 298 matched sets of 'before' and 'after' tests represent group members from a wide range of different organisations over the test area of Sierra Leone. Groups varied considerably in their composition with differences in age range, educational backgrounds, proportions working and at school, and proportions of males and females.

The following report summarises the findings from Sierra Leone of the field evaluation reports from field testing the Leaders guides.

The report also presents an analysis of the 'before' and 'after' test questionnaires to assess whether or not there has been a change in knowledge or attitudes of group members during the intervening period. This analysis consequently gives an indication of the potential effectiveness of the population education materials.

Detailed analysis of the field evaluation reports is given in Annex I of this report and a detailed graphical analysis of the questionnaires is given as Annex 2.

A: Summary of Leaders Guide Evaluation reports.

Major findings and suggestions.

I. Leaders Guides:

Introduction

Population and Agriculture
Population and the Environment
Population, Employment and Income

Population and Nutrition
Population and Health
The Family and Family Size

Responsible Parenthood
Human Growth and Development

How the Population Changes
Community Involvement

(For individual reports of modules see Annex I )

Summary

The general reaction to the guides was very positive with the only particularly controversial guide being the one on Human Growth and Development. In this guide, while there was general acceptance of the concept, some illustrations will have to be altered especially those concerning the birth process.

The text for the leader's guides and the format of the booklets seem to be basically acceptable to the youth group leaders with the exception of the following points:

1. Some of the activities are not acceptable since they require more funds than the villagers have available Eg. Rubber tyres for tile making, solar cooker, use of mosquito netting. Some of these projects will have to be replaced and alternatives suggested.

2. Expanded modules are needed in some cases Eg:

   Population and the Environment: Compare with countries with draught/famine through misuse of the environment Population and Nutrition: Add more details on malnutrition and prepare lists of major foodstuffs in each country with analysis of their nutritional values.

   Human growth and development: Add information on genetics - twins, albinos, how sex and other characteristics are determined - and information on difficult births. The Introduction module needs to be considerably expanded to include information on group organisation and management. This may also include expanded information on how to use the leaders guides - or a separate training manual may be developed.

3. Additional modules may be useful particularly on health and social issues such as AIDS and Drugs.
4. Other suggestions included use of more tables and charts of information and use of questions at the end of each module to test understanding.
5. The binding for the booklets needs to be stronger - perhaps saddle stitching or stapling instead of glue.

The illustrations will need considerable alteration and this will need to be done on a country by country basis. The majority of the reports made at least some comment on improvement of the illustrations in one way or another, with the following points being the most significant:

Colour

Nearly half of the evaluation reports suggested the use of colour. This has deliberately not been done so far because of the increased cost of production. While colour editions could certainly be produced for the prototypes in Rome, mass production of the guides and other materials for national projects would have to be produced in country with specific funds allocated for the purpose. These funds will be limited and it will be a matter for each individual country to decide how much it wishes to spend on use of colour bearing in mind that use of each additional colour could drastically reduce the total quantity which can be produced. If it is felt that 3,000 colour booklets will have more impact than 10,000 black and white booklets for example, then it may well be worthwhile producing the colour version. It is of course always possible to compromise by Eg. use of colour covers or use of two colours rather than four (full colour). This whole issue will have to be discussed by the funding and user groups.

Cover Design

A number of reports requested the use of illustrations rather than abstract designs for the covers of the reports. The abstract designs for 'How' and 'Why' should also be replaced with illustrations or a more recognisable symbol.

Illustrations

Illustrations generally need improvement. Many of the comments related to making the illustrations more realistic however and this is something which can only be done in country using a local artist -rather than in Rome. A danger is that the more realistic illustrations are made, the more local they become. A line illustration with stylized clothing may be usable throughout Africa but a colour photograph will be identified as from a particular region of one country. The more accurately facial features and clothing are drawn, the more closely they will be identified with an area and consequently the less people from other areas will identify with the illustrations. This was the reason for the prototype illustrations lacking detail since they were for testing in a number of countries. For national projects however, more detail can be added but care should be taken to ensure that the illustrations are relevant to the whole country.

Size

A number of reports requested that the illustrations be drawn much larger for use in groups. The leaders guides were not originally envisaged for use in this way and it may well be that as with the module on human growth and development, a flipchart should be developed for each module with the same illustrations as in the modules. Supplementary handouts/leaflets for each module covering the main points taught could also be produced to give to all trainees.

II . Flipchart on Human Growth and Development

As with the module on the same subject, this was a very controversial topic and the largest number of comments were recorded. (see Annex Ifor detailed analysis).

The main criticisms of the flipchart as a whole were that it should be larger, with a strong cover and better binding. Also that the illustrations should be coloured and labelled.

Comments on the subject of colour are as for the modules (above) except that there may be a stronger case for colouring the flipchart as it will be shown to larger groups of people at a time and the total quantities required will be less than for the modules since only one flipchart is produced at present. If the suggestion above to produce flipcharts on all modules is taken up however, cost of producing colour versions may become prohibitive.

Additional Information

A number of respondents requested additional information to be included in the flipchart particularly on the following subjects:

Genetics - how twins, albinos etc occur and how sex and other characteristics are determined.
How deformed children occur.
Medicines, foods and activities during pregnancy
Position of the child and difficult births
Midwife's instruments and medicines

Some of these points could probably be included within the existing module, but any in depth treatment would need another approach. A supplementary medical section or for use by the group leader or a professional nurse/health worker might be one approach.

A more technical supplement such as this might possibly help reduce some of the controversy regarding teaching the subject of sexual development and reproduction.

Reactions to the illustrations

A large number of respondents thought that villagers would find some or all of the illustrations offensive particularly those showing a woman giving birth. However, when the flipchart was actually used, some reported that the villagers did not seem to be offended as had been expected. The strongest feelings seem to be that men should

not be shown illustrations of delivery and that the illustrations should not be shown to youth. It seemed however that it was mainly the elders who might be offended - the youth were generally just curious and wanted to know more but were aware that this was a 'taboo' subject. Some comments also made the point that it might be better for the subject to be taught by nurses or health workers. It may be possible for the objections to be overcome in this way by using a different approach to this subject compared to the others. Eg. Use professional health workers to present the module. Present to separate groups of men and women, old and young. It will probably also be necessary to remove or at least make more modest, the illustrations of childbirth. Some groups had less objection than others and it may be that individual groups will need to decide for themselves how this subject is to be taught.

If handouts/leaflets are produced for all group members they will need to be very modest if they are to be acceptable since handouts tend to get left around for all to see and would be taken out of context.

III. Flashcards

Reaction to the flash cards was much more critical than to the other teaching materials. In general the comments were less positive and there was some impression that this type of teaching material is not thought very useful with some suggesting they be made larger and made into a flipchart or flannel board materials and others suggesting they be made smaller and turned into a booklet. As with all the materials, the majority wanted the cards to be coloured (see comments as for the flipchart). A large number also requested that they be labelled and bound together in some way.

Comments on the illustrations

The good nutrition and food cards were the most criticised with a number of comments to say that foods were not easily recognised, that only local foods should be used, and that the foods should be clearly labelled and coloured.

The 'environmental pollution', 'clean drinking water' and 'food hygiene' cards were not thought to show a poor or dirty enough situation on the reverse sides.

A more general comment which occurred several times was that a clearer contrast should be shown between the two sides of the cards.

Posters

The poster was generally well received and liked though again there were many requests for it to be coloured. The only other major comments were:

a) that the children in the poster should look thinner, poorer, ill etc. At present they do not look unlike other children.

b) That either a second poster be prepared to show a contrasting well planned family - or the comparison be added to the same poster.

c) That a heavier grade of paper or card be used for the poster.

B: Summary of findings from the questionnaires

The questionnaires consisted of a series of 30 statements as given below. Group members were asked to indicate on a scale of one to five how much they agreed or disagreed with the statement as follows:

5 = Strongly agree with the statement

1 = Strongly disagree with the statement

The 298 sets of 'before' and 'after' test questionnaires which could be reasonably confidently matched together, were tabulated. Mean scores and frequency distributions for each question were then calculated. The results for the 'before' test questionnaires were then compared with the results for the 'after' tests and a paired t-test conducted to test whether the difference between the two sets of results was statistically significant.

All statements except 11, 17, 20 and 28 show a change in response between 'before' and 'after' tests which is statistically significant at the 99% level (P= 0.0001).

Statements 8, 12, 24, 25 and 27 showed the greatest change with a difference in mean response of between 30 and 40% followed by statements 2, 7, 10, 15, 18, 21, 22 and 26 with a difference in mean response of between 20 and 30%

Statements (greatest changes in responses underlined )

1. The Population of an area increases when there are more birth than deaths.

2. The more people there are in a family, the greater farm output will be

3. When population increases rapidly in the rural areas there are often not enough jobs or land for everyone.

4. Movement of people from the village to the city can result in a shortage of housing in the city.

5. Movement of people from the village to the city can result in pressure on social services in the cities.

6. Movement of people from the village to the city can result in pressure on farmers in rural areas to produce food for city people.

7. The earth can support an unlimited number of people.

8. Pollution is only a problem in the cities, not in the rural areas

9. The number of people in a family has an effect on family standard of living.

10. Large families are usually happier than small families

11. It is better for a woman's health if she waits until she is at least 20 years old before having her first child.

12. A large family is a sign of God's blessing

13. Children provide security in old age

14. Children strengthen the bond between husband and wife.

15. Having many children is a sign of a man's vigour.

16. It is important for a family to have at least one son.

17. Population education can help to improve the quality of life.

18. Parents should have only as many children as they can provide for

19. In smaller families, the children are usually better educated

20. Large families can add to the social problems of community.

21. Having many children is good way to guarantee a source of labour for the family farm

22. The earth's natural resources will last forever

23. Increases in population in the ruralareas can make it is possible for youth to obtain good land for farming.

24. Agriculture is the only kind of employment possible in the rural areas

25. As soon as a woman reaches sexual matuirity, she is ready to be a mother

26. Important decisions in the family should always be made by the father

27. It is the mother's responsibility to provide love and affection to the children

28. The body needs a balance of different kinds of foods to grow and be strong.

29. It is the responsibility of the government to provide adequate health facilities.

30. The number of people in our village is increasing too quickly

Statement Difference between means Probability of occurence by chance