The Liberia Music Project

Liberia 

 

What is the history of HIV/AIDS in Liberia?

Fourteen years of civil war destroyed Liberia’s health infrastructure, education system and national economy.  As a result of chronic deprivation, sexual and gender-based violence, and huge population movements, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is thought to have grown from less than 1 percent before the war to an estimated 6-12 percent today. However, the actual prevalence rate is unknown due to the absence of a comprehensive nation-wide survey. 

Almost one million of Liberia’s 3.2 million citizens were displaced during the war, and there are still hundreds of thousands of people without permanent housing.  The unemployment rate is 85 percent, with 76 percent of the population currently living below the poverty line, and more than 90 percent surviving on less than US$2 per day.  Due to fighting that destroyed infrastructure, only around 62 percent of Liberia’s population has access to clean drinking water and 26 percent to adequate sanitation.  During the conflict, about two-thirds of women were subjected to sexual and gender-based violence, and Liberian women continue to wage their battles against sexual abuse today.  All of these factors, in addition to HIV/AIDS stigmatization and multi-sexual behavioral practices, have exacerbated the rise in prevalence of HIV/AIDS.  Young people are especially at-risk, particularly females. 

What is the Liberia Music Project?

The world is losing the fight against HIV/AIDS as the numbers of infections continue to rise at such a rate that treatment regimes cannot keep pace.  Prevention is the only answer to beating the AIDS epidemic, yet there are not enough programs that promote candid conversations about sex among youth.  In order to address this discrepancy, Humanitarian Notes created the Liberia Music Project, which will mobilize local musicians and media to produce HIV/AIDS music that will reach thousands of young Liberians.  Our music will not only give youth the information they need about HIV/AIDS prevention.  It will also create an environment that promotes HIV/AIDS discussion by engaging popular and well-respected Liberian musicians as HIV/AIDS awareness advocates.  At the same time, the project will encourage global awareness by educating people in the United States about HIV/AIDS in Africa, and in Liberia specifically.  

What are the project goals and objectives?

The Liberia Music Project aims to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among Liberian youth.  The main objective of the Liberia Music Project is to create and disseminate HIV/AIDS awareness music and messages by Liberian musicians.  Its specific objectives are:

·  Effective dissemination—recruit 14 popular musicians, equally divided by gender, and of varying ethnic backgrounds, by December 1, 2008; record music and messages by popular Liberian musicians by March 30, 2009; distribute music and promos to radio stations by April 1, 2009; play music on radio stations in all 15 counties by June 1, 2009. 

·  Empowerment— train 14 popular musicians as HIV/AIDS advocates by January 1, 2009; partner with 4 media outlets to increase the time and space dedicated to HIV/AIDS awareness by June 1, 2009; provide HIV/AIDS information to 10,000+ young people by the end of the project.

·  Awareness in US—receive 1,000 website hits, have 1,000 attendees at awareness events, and solicit donations from 500 individuals in the United States. 

What are the project activities?

Project activities consist of three work programs: mobilization, dissemination and awareness-building:

· Mobilization of local musicians and resources
Outreach with 6 peer organizations (July-December)
Outreach with 4 media outlets (July-June)
4 Partner meetings (October-April)
Recruitment/signing of 14 musicians (July-December)
2 Musician workshops (December-January)
Recording of 14 songs/messages (December-March)

· Dissemination of music/messages
Contracts—14 copyright agreements, 2 advertisement agreements (December-March)
Music to 4 partner radio stations (April)
Promo to 4 partner radio stations (April)
3 News releases and 4 interviews (December-June)
Music/promo played on radio for a minimum 3 months in 15 counties (April-June)

· U.S. awareness campaign
6 Fundraising events (July-December)
6 Website updates (July-June)
50 CDs sold (April-June)
6 News releases/ interviews (July-June)

Who are the intended beneficiaries of the project?

The Liberia Music Project will strive to have its music played on national and local radio stations in all fifteen of Liberia’s counties, including previously marginalized regions such as the rural inland.  Radio is a nondiscriminatory medium that does not exclude Liberia’s illiterate population, which is estimated at around 55 percent.  It will also ensure that there is gender and ethnic equality among the musicians included in the project, so that the messages reach the intended beneficiaries—young Liberians of all social and economic demographics (although our target number is 10,000).

Will other organizations be involved in this project?

Partners will include Liberian musicians and media outlets, and peer organizations.  Partners will be asked to contribute in-kind to the project and will sign partnership agreements stipulating exactly what their expected contribution is.  Partners will also be invited to sit on an oversight committee so that they are active participants in planning and implementation.  (For example, the United Nations Mission in Liberia, which is considered a peer organization, will be asked to distribute our music via UNMIL Radio, which broadcasts to all fifteen counties.) 

How will the impact of the project be sustained?

A participatory approach that engages the local population and musicians in decision-making will ensure that the music is culturally relevant and representative of Liberia’s diversity.  The project will form ‘true’ partnerships with local stakeholders that will foster a sense of ownership and empowerment. Because the Liberian Music Project uses local resources, its work is cost-efficient and not dependent on large sums of external funding.  This promotes sustainability and enables musicians and media to continue providing HIV/AIDS education that fights stigmatization, combats misinformation, and provides young Liberians with information about safer-sex long after the Liberian Music Project ends.  (We know that this strategy works, because the musicians we worked with in Namibia are now independently organizing their own HIV/AIDS awareness initiatives.)

How will the project be evaluated?

Evaluation activities will focus on measuring progress towards the program’s three specific objectives:

·  Effective Dissemination.  The evaluation of the project’s dissemination of music throughout Liberia will use baseline data regarding the numbers of media outlets and estimated audiences to analyze how many people heard the messages.  A post-test, semi-structured interview will be administered by HN field staff to a stratified random sampling of 100 men and women, aged 14-30, in each of Liberia’s fifteen counties.  These interviews will measure how many people heard the campaign, the popularity of the music and messages, and how much HIV/AIDS information was retained.     

·  Empowerment of Musicians and Media.  The post-test, semi-structured interview will also measure the ability of people to identify musicians and link them with HIV/AIDS, and to identify media outlets that have HIV/AIDS components.  Again, the evaluation of baseline data will be compared to post-test data to disaggregate the number of musicians with recorded HIV/AIDS music, the number of media outlets with HIV/AIDS components, and the amount of airtime and space dedicated to HIV/AIDS in the media. 

·  Awareness in the U.S.  Monthly monitoring reports regarding the number of website hits and participants in on-line discussions, event attendance, donors, CD sales, and media hits will be compiled and analyzed in order to estimate the number of U.S. citizens reached by the campaign.

This information will be shared with project partners to help inform future projects and Liberia, while Humanitarian Notes will also utilize the evaluation activities in the development of HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns in other African countries.