The International Education and Partnership Office at DUT in partnership with the University of Michigan proudly hosted The Pedagogy of Action, a three-day community outreach programme centred on imparting HIV/AIDS in communities.

The PoA was recently held at the ML Sultan Campus. Spearheaded by Professor Nesha Haniff, lecturer at the University of Michigan, this programme was started over a decade ago in South Africa with a view to develop simple methodologies for illiterate people to acquire knowledge about the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Together with peer educators, most of whom are University of Michigan students, Prof Haniff holds the programme in various universities and primary schools across the country where they educate community members annually.

Prof Haniff said one of the reasons behind the increasing rate of HIV infections is related to education and literacy. Most HIV/AIDS related information is based on literacy and the message is conveyed in English. The problem with this, Prof Haniff notes, is that a majority of the human population is not keen on reading bulky information with incomprehensible medical terms. Adding to the latter, a lot of people do not have a good command of the English language. This miscommunication then leads to more cases of HIV infections.

These are areas that the PoA seeks to rectify. The programme simplifies information to a 20-minute presentation with four categories: Science, Transmission, Prevention and Stigma. “The most important method is interaction,” said Prof Haniff, “We need to interact in small groups, have dialogue and not handouts.”
On Thursday, 17 May, the participants of the programme were awarded certificates. This was certification that they can now impart the knowledge in their communities.

The Director of IEP, Dr Lavern Samuels said this project has been a part of the institution for the past three years and it has been a pleasure to work with the group from Michigan each time.

“This is a sort of programme that we will conduct and promote. I believe as a professional, one should engage in lifelong learning,” said Dr Samuels to the young educators. He commended them on their commitment towards this project saying this is indicative of their level of professionalism and autonomy. “I hope your visit will enrich you in your experience as well.”

Dr Samuels also congratulated the awardees, saying this is a celebration of the knowledge they have acquired in the three days.

Caption: The Pedagogy of Action crew, together with the participants of the programme, celebrate the success of the 2012 programme held at the DUT ML Sultan Campus.