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MATHARE YOUTHS SPORTS ASSOCIATION IN KENYA
(Mathare Youth Sports Association – MYSA Kenya, Kangundo Road, Nairobi)
Background
The main purpose of the Mathare Youths Sports Association is to help the youth in the community is to help youths in the community by helping the youth maximize their potential and also help them achieve the dreams they have. Mathare is considered the largest and the biggest slum in Africa therefore in 1987; Mathare Youths Sports Association was registered. The association was first founded as a youth and community self-help project for development. The population of Mathare is about 900,000. In every slum, the situation is always challenging there are challenges with accessing water, proper housing, electricity and also the crime rate which is caused by the high number of unemployed youths in the area. Currently, there are 2052 youth teams and 30,000 youths who are involved in the cleanups for the slums, HIV/AIDS prevention, mentorship programs, music, juvenile kids and other development activities in the community. In 1999 the Mathare Youth Sports Association initiated a program in Kakuma refugee camp has youths participating in the sport from about 10,000 people from different countries.
Every year there are 14,000 matches played by 25,294 people by both girls and boys. These matches are played in 16zones. The players get points just for participating and also choose the amount of time they are going to spend playing football. The players don't just play, but they also create time for creating awareness of the community on HIV/AIDS. One of the missions of Mathare Youth Sports Association is to empower the youth in environmental preservation. Their goal is to create a community space that is cost-effective, functional and sustainable for the benefit of the community.
THEORIES FOR CHANGE
There is a group of ecological models that have a holistic approach towards understanding behaviors related to HIV and AIDS. These approaches create an understanding of individual behaviors that can help create a favorable environment for prevention (Crosby, 2011). Ecological approaches have been multi-level meaning they are more effective, efficient and exploratory than approaches that only deal with only one account. Some of the theories that work best at individual levels include; Social Cognitive Theory, Theories of Reasoned Action, Planned Behavior, Trans-theoretical Model and Behavioral Skills. These models are not limited to individual levels since their impact can be felt across all levels (Johnson, 2010). The models applicable to individual levels require an advancement to a level that is wider. The multi-level models include:
The Multiple Domain Model (MDM)
According to this model, healthy behavior can be influenced by various domains, self-esteem, normative, intentional behavior, social structural variables, and social, environmental factors. Planned behavior theory marks the beginning of multiple domain models and as result self-esteem replaces perceived behavioral control. The multiple domain models allow the social situational variables and the social, environmental variables have a direct relationship with behavior. The structural factors include race, gender, age, and social class. Mathare slums are of the lower class. Therefore, this theoretical framework can help understand the behavioral influences that come from being in a low social class that contributes to HIV and AIDS infections in Mathare. The social environment deals with relationships in the family and how the school system impacts the HIV and AIDS infection rate (Zimmerman, 2007).
Social learning theories
There are three factors that determine individual behavioral patterns; they include; behavior, individual and environment. The person and the environment don't necessarily result from behavior and. Models for behavior come from the environment (Glanz, Rimmer &, Lewis, 2002). Behavioral change can occur in an environment that tolerates it. Therefore, peer educators of Mathare Youth Sports Association facilitate awareness in Mathare and allow room for change. Recreational activities like music, dance, and sports (just to name a few) are being used by Mathare Youth Sports Association to educate peers and create awareness on HIV and AIDS. With the open door policy, Mathare Youth Sports Association allows children to participate in any recreational activity
DEVELOPMENT OF MATHARE YOUTH SPORTS ASSOCIATION MONITORING AND EVALUATION PLAN
Mathare is considered to be one of the slums that have the worst living conditions. As earlier stated, conditions of living are terrible with people living in houses made of mud and tins. There are challenges with access to clean water and electricity. But the most alarming challenge is the crime rate and the HIV and AIDS infection rates. The crime rate can be attributed to the lack of employment and a lot of idle youth. About 600,000 make up the population in Mathare. HIV and AIDS infections are more popular. One in three adults is infected with HIV and AIDS according to estimates. Therefore, so many children are left as orphans to fend for themselves. The situation is so serious that children as young as eight years old are left to care for their younger siblings. Therefore, the Mathare Youth Sports Association has an HIV and AIDS awareness program that tries to create awareness and heighten the awareness of HIV and AIDS in the country. The program is to be reinforced to help mitigate the side effects of HIV and AIDS not only in Mathare but also in other in parts of Kenya and if possible try and use sports to have a wider impact and reach. The impact of HIV and AIDS in slum areas is a real problem that needs to be dealt with, therefore, forming the basis for the evaluation.
FRAMEWORK FOR MONITORING AND EVALUATION PLAN
Objectives and goals of the program
The core objective of this intervention is to reduce the number of new infections in slum areas and also mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS. There are four targeted areas that this intervention hopes to achieve:
HIV and AIDS testing and counseling
The intervention intends to increase the activities in support of HIV and AIDS testing and counseling through:
• Making HIV and AIDS testing and counseling part of the routine in medical facilities.
• The services to be devolved to the level of the community.
• The national health service to involve clinical staff.
• Creating awareness to the people on taking up HIV and AIDS testing and counseling, prevention measures and also healthy living in a bid to create greater adherence.
The vulnerable population
High-risk population in slum areas mostly are the women, children, and the youth. Therefore the intervention is to focus on reducing the transmission of HIV and AIDS, come up with programs and strategies that help mitigate the impacts and also promote healthy living through coordinated mechanisms.
Target the youths and adolescents
The Mathare Youth Sports Association uses sports as a means of creating awareness on HIV and AIDS, therefore, the intervention will be able to mobilize youths as from the age of 10 years and above to take part in the activities that help create awareness on HIV and AIDS among their peers and also engage them in the organized sports activities organized by the program.
Medical circumcision of male volunteers
Male circumcision has been known to reduce HIV and AIDS infection rates and also other sexually transmitted diseases. Therefore the program will encourage more male individuals to take up medical circumcision as a way of reducing infection rates.
Target population
The target population of the program is the vulnerable groups which consist of women and children and the youth, the financially challenged population of Mathare, uncircumcised male individuals and youths and adolescents.
Aims of developing a monitoring and evaluation plan
The monitoring and evaluation plan is to help the Mathare Youth Sports Association Program by:
• Improving the program's efficiency by identifying the operational issues that can bring solutions to help the program achieve its goals.
• Collection of data on relevant activities that the program undertakes and the current results about the activities.
• Another way to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the program is to identify the gaps present in the operations of the intervention program and find solutions to solve the same
• Find ways of strengthening all stake holders including the monitoring and evaluation unit in the HIV and AIDS awareness program of Mathare Youth Sports Association to ensure its success.
Results expected from the monitoring and evaluation plan
They include;
• Monitoring and evaluation system to be strengthened
• A capacity building plan to be developed
• Achievement of most of the program's goals
• Ensure all program implementers deliver the results on time
• Establish an organized chain of communication during the implementation of the monitoring and evaluation plan implementation.
TYPES OF EVALUATION
When an evaluation is conducted before the implementation of the actual project is known as a baseline survey. To be able to inform the project's focus, Mathare Youth Sports Association implementers conduct a baseline survey. Baseline evaluation forms the foundation for the evaluation and also marks the beginning of every project which makes it very vital to a project.
Alternative options
Mid-term evaluation
Mid-term reviews are conducted when the project is halfway. A mid-term evaluation helps to inform choices made by the management of the project by determining whether not the project is heading towards the achievement of the set goals and objectives. Project confidence is very important especially when it comes to strategy implementation and pointing the indicators that predict unsuccessful outcomes that will hinder the success of the project, therefore a halfway evaluation will help point out such indicators and recommend a change in course.
End-term evaluation
This can also be referred to as the summative evaluation. When a project is concluded a summative evaluation is conducted immediately. Establishing the projects output and the outcomes of the project by conducting an end –term evaluation. The importance of conducting a summative evaluation informs the stake holders of whether or not the project has been successful or not, it contributes to the documentation of the program being conducted. The Mathare Youth Sports Association team facilitators can conduct this evaluation.
Post-implementation evaluation
Even though both ex-post evaluation and summative evaluation are conducted on completion of the project, the post-implementation project was conducted by outsiders (people who aren't involved with the project). The downside of this evaluation is that it takes longer than the others. The duration is not only because the evaluators are not part of the program and therefore need to be taken from outside (outsourced) but also because the project's impacts need to be evaluated. Knowing the impact of a project might take a while because some impacts take time to realize for instance the reduction of new infections can take almost five years to realize whether there is a drop or increase.
Meta-evaluations
This kind of evaluation is based on different types of evaluation. In some cases, an organization might hire different companies to conduct a meta-evaluation. Meta-evaluation is done to reinforce confidence in the process of evaluation.
STATISTICS
Study design.
A control and intervention group conducted a study on the effectiveness of the Mathare Youth Sports Association; a cross-sectional design was conducted. The people who participated in that study were from 12-24 years. During the activities of Mathare Youth Sports Association respondent candidates were approached and also those who are in MYSA zones they automatically participated. A case study was conducted in 2007; the showcase involved going in private people's home, and during the door to door visit, there was no authority figure in the houses that had those at-risk youth. A form of consent was signed by the participants to ascertain all the participants were willing volunteers and the association promising the correspondents privacy.
Data collection methods
These are the methods that are used to collect data that can be used the facilitators of Mathare Youth Sports Association facilitators:
Questionnaires
A method can be used to acquire information can be through asking a set of questions. The questionnaire has spaces where the participants can answer. The set of questionnaires can be used to find out the age of the participants, their marital status, the last time they had sexual intercourse and whether or not they have been tested for HIV and AIDS. The questions can be tailored to suit a certain age group to get the right statistics in each age group. The questionnaires, on the other hand, should not come off as offensive or in any way intimidate the correspondents. The clients must also be assured privacy and confidentiality. For instance, the program can use questionnaires to find out basic information about the respondents during HIV and AIDS testing; these questionnaires could also help to understand the living condition of the respondent and to establish appropriate intervention methods for the individual especially when the person is living with HIV and AIDS.
Interviews
Conducting interviews is considered one of the most popular ways of collecting data. There are two types of interviews;
• Semi-structured interviews
In such interviews, there are similar questions that were asked, but the method of asking questions can be either be chronological or the questions can be asked randomly. The respondent also isn't restricted to answer the questions in the way they appear he or she can answer questions the individual feels comfortable.
• Unstructured interviews
In unstructured interviews the interviewer presents a list of topics for the respondents to react to. The respondents are allowed to phrase their questions in any way they want to. The program implementers can mobilize the youth in Mathare and give them topics to discuss and give their thoughts. This could add on the data of how much knowledge people have about HIV and AIDS.
Focus group
Focus groups as a means of collecting information are used as means studies in monitoring and evaluation can be explored. It also helps in finding out what people think about a particular issue. Which is quite helpful in dealing with the issue if raising awareness about HIV and AIDS to the people. This creates an opportunity for people to interact and talk about their experiences.
Statistical methods
The R version 2.9.0 can be used for data analysis (Ihaka & Gentleman, 1996; R Development core team, 2005). First chi-2 tests by analyzing two variables like sexual behaviors, self-esteem and societies norms, and values upheld by the youth in Mathare and also participating in the Mathare Youth Sports Association. Using sexual behaviors for understanding behavior, the following variables were used:
Those with any form of sexual experience whether it is anal or vaginal intercourse, age when sex was introduced, relationship history, the use of condom in the first sexual encounter or the last sexual encounter, the role of media, morality promoted by religion, self –esteem when it comes to having either negative or positive body image. An activity score can also be conducted for correspondents from the age 0 to 12 years old which will require all participants to be very willing to participate, this will enable Mathare Youth Sports Association to gauge the degree of exposure, and the age exposure is more prevalent for the HIV and AIDS awareness project. A secondary regression analysis was conducted to take a closer look at the effects closely.
RESULTS
The result of this evaluation will come from the methods of data collection used by the Mathare Youth Sports Association. The results will be based on the age limit of inclusion in the topics discussed the age limit of inclusion in the various discussions, socio-demographic characteristics, attitudes, myths, norms, and beliefs about HIV and AIDS. There are also those who didn't answer the presented questionnaires effectively which will be excluded from the analysis.
When it comes to dealing with socio-demographic characters, the mean age is very important and being that Mathare Youth Sports Association is majorly about sports its natural that the number of male respondents will be higher than that of females. Factors like the level of schooling, when the respondents became sexually active, whether or not they are using protection and the percentage of the youth that are not sexually active and what is the age of those who are not sexually active.
There are a lot of norms, beliefs and self-esteem issues when it comes to talking about sex and sexually transmitted infections/disease. Therefore focus groups could help collect data on the common myths, norms, and beliefs about HIV and AIDS which could contribute to creating awareness. The 4 point Linkert scale can be used to measure the variables by using two questions per variable.
Conclusion
Monitoring and evaluation help to identify programs that are making a change in the current society like the Mathare Youth Sports Association. Using sports to create HIV and AIDS awareness is a very creative way to capture a larger audience to sensitize. Monitoring and evaluation also help to track the process of implementation and how successful rolled out programs are or aren't. Strategic planning is also guided by monitoring and evaluation (Gage, 2009).
References
Cheluget, B., Baltazar, G., Orege, P., Ibrahim, M., Marum, L. H., & Stover, J. (2006). Evidence for population level declines in adult HIV prevalence in Kenya. Sex Transm Infect, 82 Suppl 1, i21-26.
Gage & Dunn, 2009. " Monitoring And Evaluation Are More Than A Costing Or Cost-Effectiveness Exercise." UN WOMEN
Johnston BT, Scott-Sheldon LA, Carey MP, (2010). Meta-synthesis of Health behavior change meta-analysis. Am J Public Health. P.23-28
Mathare Youth Sports Association. (2009). About us. Retrieved September 19, 2009, from http://www.mysakenya.org/aboutus.php
Zimmerman .R.S., Noar S.M., Fiest –Price S., et al. (2007). A Longitudinal Test Of Multiple Domain Models Of Adolescent Condom Use. J Sex. P.30
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