Daily, more than 8,500 children and young people become infected with HIV, that is, six every minute. During 1998 alone more than 3 million children and young people became infected.

A growing consensus exists that an expanded, multisectoral effort is urgently required to address this epidemic. In its own right, as an agency concerned with sustainable human development, and in its capacity as a co-sponsoring agency of the Joint United Nations Response to HIV/AIDS _ UNAIDS, UNDP is committed to developing effective responses to the epidemic and has demonstrated this commitment through substantial involvement in programme and policy development in relation to HIV/AIDS. The UNDP HIV and Development Programme has, among its goals, the identification and dissemination of innovative responses to the epidemic. Scenarios from the Sahel is one such example.

Scenarios is an HIV prevention project conducted by Global Dialogues Trust in Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. In each country young people are encouraged to develop and submit potential film _scenarios_ which are designed to explore an issue of relevance to the HIV epidemic. At the end of an exhaustive and transparent assessment process winning entries are made into films by celebrated film-makers and broadcast widely.

The project is unusual in the degree of attention paid not only to content but to process, with the result that, at each stage its development, the needs and views of the young people remain firmly at the centre of attention: as a result concepts of participation and transparency are reflected in action.

This manual provides an opportunity not only to learn from the experience in 3 African countries, but also serves to stimulate reflection on how the approaches used in one part of the world might be adapted elsewhere.

Each and every step of the process is explained and illustrative examples are used to demonstrate the importance and purpose of each.

As the project implementers intended the project is ongoing rather than static. With this in mind, feedback and suggestions are strongly encouraged and should to addressed to gdt@enda.sn

Mina Mauerstein-Bail
Manager
HIV and Development Programme