7th March 2018.
Bali Children’s Project is delighted to announce that our Sex Education Project has been funded for another year, thanks to some crucial support.
Talking about the Birds and the Bees
Sex education in Bali has never been more essential. Recent figures suggested that in 2016 the number of identified cases of HIV jumped by 24%. When considering the large majority of people who contract the virus are in the 20-29 age group, it becomes even more crucial to help teenagers learn about safe sexual practices – as well as the dangers of drugs.
Our response has been a long standing project, aiming to educate teenagers with the knowledge to make informed decisions. The project, which has been running every year since 2012 has grown in size and scope, with 2018 set to be yet another big year.
The workshops have already started for 2018, visiting the regency of Gianyar. Over the course of the year, our team will be visiting 5 schools in each of Bali’s 9 regencies and educating over 10,000 students directly.
Supporting Health in Bali
Thanks to funding support from the Mel Wolf Foundation, Lucky Number 9, Canggu Community School and Three Monkeys Cafes, we have been able to run the program with even greater effectiveness in 2018.
Delivering workshops to schools, our team, lead by Opy Sulaeman, run workshop sessions for classes in schools. Designed using a mix of videos, games, group discussions, 
presentations and more, the workshops have consistently shown that students leave with a greater knowledge in sexual health.
Our before and after multiple choice tests show correct answers jumping from an average of 50% up to 86%. It’s knowledge that will change the course of their lives.
Engaging Teenagers in Taboos
Looking to the future, it’s not just about 
delivering one workshop and saying goodbye. The workshops are part of a wider engagement plan for each school.
As a formality, all schools have a ‘KSPAN’ group (a student based study group), who are tasked with promoting healthy lifestyles in their schools. However, many groups struggle with a lack of support, materials and knowledge to educate their fellow students.
The workshop involves each school’s KSPAN 
group and helps them to develop their own aims, goals and objectives. Through doing this, we can help each school capacity build and educate more students than any Bali Children’s Project workshop ever could.
The groups all become part of our competition, providing an extra incentive for them to achieve their goals over the year. The competition culminates in awards being given at the end of the year for a range of categories (such as ‘biggest improvement’, ‘most inventive, etc.)
Technology Saves Lives
Acknowledging that schools should have the abilities to educate in sexual health, in 2018 we are also bringing these messages to teenagers through technology.
Through the development of a mobile phone app, hundreds of thousands of students will have access to information that are normally taboo subjects – all at their finger tips.
Still in development, the app will give KSPAN groups, schools and communities the ability to disseminate information about drugs, HIV, AIDS, sexual health and more.
Capacity Building
Social media also plays a huge part in this. With the majority of youngsters in Bali running social media accounts, KSPAN groups are being encouraged to launch their own information channels on Instagram.
It’s all part and parcel of an effective program that focuses on capacity building within schools in Bali. The result of which is more teenagers able to make informed choices about their health and activities.
Bali Children’s Project is still seeking long term support for this program. To give us the ability to not only maintain, but improve how we promote sexual health, we are seeking funding.
Continuing this program into the future is something we are committed to, but is all dependant on funding.
If you are interested in supporting the program in future years, please get in touch.
