SOUTHERN AFRICA PLEASURE HUB

The Disrupt Pleasure Project

The Disrupt Pleasure Intervention is a bold, innovative approach to advancing pleasure-based sexual and reproductive health and rights for young people in two urban and two rural communities in Zimbabwe.

In collaboration with the Pleasure Project’s comprehensive program of training toolkits, advocacy, and media engagement, the intervention aims to create a more inclusive, affirming, and equitable environment for young people to explore and understand their bodies, desires, and relationships.

Key components

Key components include thought leadership; comprehensive training for sex educators using the Pleasure Project Toolkits; deployment of 40 "Pleasure Ambassadors" across diverse communities; strategic media engagement through Podcast TV, radio, and social media; and movement-building outreach at music concerts. It also involves sensitizing key stakeholders, including policymakers, healthcare providers, educators, and the private sector, to foster a supportive environment for pleasure-based sexual health initiatives.

The anticipated impact

The anticipated impact of the Disrupt Pleasure Intervention includes reduced stigma and discrimination against the ANTI-RIGHTS movement; improved access to comprehensive sexuality education; increased safer sex practices that prioritize pleasure; and, ultimately, empowered young people equipped to advocate for their sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Let’s make Pleasure Sexy: Join the movement and spread love: programs@bayethe.org

The Safer Together Campaign

Bayethe Development Institute launched the Safer Together Campaign, targeting high-incident events, specifically the Victoria Falls Carnival 2022, to provide comprehensive Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Services and information, and to raise awareness of HIV, SGBV, and drug use.

Bayethe Development Institute partnered with the Ministry of Health and Child-Care, the National AIDS Council (Young People’s Network on HIV and AIDS), Youth Engage, UNAIDS, and other organizations with shared goals of SRHR, GBV prevention, and ending AIDS by 2030 to launch the Safer Together Campaign during the 2022 Zimbabwe Carnival, hosted in Victoria Falls.

Key partners

The Victoria Falls Carnival

The Victoria Falls Carnival is a three-day annual festival encompassing a series of events and festivities aimed at advancing the arts, culture, and heritage of Zimbabwe. It has been termed Africa’s Celebration of its diverse culture, food, and arts, and for the past nine years, it has attracted thousands of young people aged 18 to 35. A wide range of activities is offered, including the famous Steam Train and Bush Party, all of which present opportunities for young people to experiment with alcohol, other drugs, and exposure to sexually transmitted infections. Throughout the history of the carnival, attendees have come from countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa, presenting the host city with diverse populations and needs, thereby requiring tailor-made HIV prevention services.

BDI is mobilizing human and financial resources to implement the Safer Together Program in high-traffic concerts in Zimbabwe. Join us as a partner and help make a difference. Email: programs@bayethe.org

The Naked Truth Show

The show

Bayethe Development Institute, in partnership with Amplify Change, launched a Sexual Health Education Webcast/Talk Show that aims to promote, advocate for, educate, and challenge social norms to improve Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Zimbabwe. The Webcast/Talk Show was streamed on Facebook and YouTube, comprising 13 episodes, flown weekly.

Key topics

A presenter hosted the show and invited guest speakers, including gynecologists, sex therapists, SRH advocates, LGBTQIA+ activists, and policymakers. Topics to be covered include: Sex and Sexuality; Sex and Consent; SRH services for LGBTQI people; Sex Addiction; Sex and Culture; Sexual Health and Nutrition; HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections; Adventurous Sex and Reproductive Health; Sex and Disability; MSM and WSW; Sex Work in Zimbabwe; and Referral to SRH services.

Watch the videos on our youtube channel, engage with us, and we can do more together.

The Power of Positive

Bayethe Development Institute, in partnership with UN Women, hosted various HIV/AIDS champions on a TV show that demystified issues related to HIV/AIDS. The TV show will build on its engagement across several interactive online platforms. The show was a 6-episode series, each 25 minutes, aired on social media channels including Facebook and YouTube, as well as on mainstream TV channels on DSTV and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation TV.

What we covered

The content focused on a sequence of deliberate, thought-provoking, cutting-edge, and educational conversations aimed at unmasking contemporary issues faced by women and girls living with HIV on SRHR, SGBV, sex, and sexuality. Each episode hosted guests drawn from selected sections of Zimbabwean society, including but not limited to women living with HIV, traditional and religious leadership, civil society, influential local personalities, sex workers, and other key populations. HIV and SRHR practitioners who provided expert content included health practitioners, psychologists, and nutritionists, among others.

The impact we made

The Online TV Show challenged social norms through diverse, interactive, and intergenerational conversations that comprehensively unpacked the audience's lived realities, perceptions, and curiosities. This ignited confidence among different target groups to speak out about their SRHR issues, particularly those related to SGBV and HIV. This was matched by the provision of on-the-spot, accurate, nonjudgmental, inclusive, up-to-date SRHR information on access to services and rapid-response referral pathways in Zimbabwe.

My choice, Our Choice

Bayethe Development Institute, in partnership with SAfAIDS, rolled out the regional ‘My Choice: Our Choice’ Campaign to end unsafe abortion among AGYW in the SADC Region. Aligned with the Campaign were a series of Sectoral Leadership Policy Advocacy Dialogues, held within the SAfAIDS PRTHJ Model 4.

Stakeholder inclusions

These Dialogues motivated, mobilized, and engaged policymakers (including Parliamentarians) and religious and traditional leadership to generate a harmonized Regional Roadmap that defined their intent and commitment to addressing unsafe abortions – as a matter of reducing maternal mortality rates and health system burdens, preserving human and social development, and saving lives.

Impact

The Campaign and the Dialogues reinforced messaging for policymakers and leadership and advanced an advocacy angle grounded in evidence, rights, and development – shifting the discourse away from moralistic framing. The Campaign contributed to a SADC region where adolescent girls and young women can access, free from judgment or discrimination, safe and legal abortion services, with support from policymakers, men and boys, and community leaders.