Around the world today, every minute, five young people between the ages of 15 and 24 become infected with HIV: that is, over 7,000 each day. Scenarios from the Sahel is an HIV prevention project for adolescents and young adults currently being conducted in three West African countries. It provides young people with an exciting and motivating opportunity to educate themselves and others about the relevance of HIV/AIDS to their own everyday lives by inviting them to participate with acclaimed creative talents in the production of a series of short films.

In spring 1997, a competition was launched in Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. Young people aged 24 and under were invited to write a scenario for a 1- to 5-minute film on HIV/AIDS. Thirteen thousand young people participated in the competition. More than 40% of them girls or young women and almost half of the participants worked in mixed-gender teams. The competition brought together thousands of young men and women to talk about the epidemic and its implications for their lives, and to reach consensus on appropriate behaviour. Juries made up of leading specialists in HIV prevention and care and experts in film/video production from the region, selected 150 national and 30 regional winners.

Today, a highly committed team of internationally acclaimed filmmakers, led by Idrissa Ouédraogo of Burkina Faso, is in the process of producing a series of films based on the scenarios presented by the regional winners. Some of the region's most prominent musicians, including Youssou Ndour and the rap group Positive Black Soul, are actively involved in the project.

The first three films, directed by Idrissa Ouédraogo, were shot in and around Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, in late 1997. Broadcasts of the films on national television networks in the Sahel began in the course of the World Cup '98 and continue today - to a rapturous response. All the Scenarios films will, in due course, be shown at cinemas across the region and broadcast throughout Africa on national television stations, and on the Paris-based networks TV-5 Afrique and CFI. They are likely to reach in excess of one hundred million people.

The films will also be collected on a compilation video, a flexible teaching resource for local organisations and teachers. This will be made available in a variety of African languages as well as in English, French and Portuguese, and will be accompanied by a education pack.

Preparations are currently underway for the continuation of the production of the Scenarios films. A further 6 films are due to be shot in Senegal and Mali in 1999.

Scenarios from the Sahel partner organisations in the three countries have established archives of the scenarios which were submitted during the competition. These archives are being arranged in such a way as to enable researchers, prevention workers, public health trainers, members of theatre groups, and so on, to study the scenarios written on a given topic so as to gain insights into young people's language, perspectives, concerns and proposed solutions. The archives are also being used to help organisations involved in prevention and care to measure the impact of their past activities and formulate strategies for he future activities based on demonstrated need.

Several international organisations, including some of the UNAIDS co-sponsors such as UNFPA, UNDP and UNESCO, together with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have expressed keen interest in replicating Scenarios from the Sahel in other parts of the world. With a view to facilitating such replication, every phase of the project is being carefully evaluated and documented and made widely available through this manual.

The Scenarios from the Sahel team comprises a broad array of individuals and groups throughout the Sahel and beyond. The project enjoys the active support of the National AIDS Control Programmes of Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. Funding has been provided by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Department for International Development (UK), Comic Relief (UK), the Futures Group International (Mali), PLAN International (Senegal), Peace Corps/USAID (USA) and the World Health Organisation. Sponsors include Swatch (Switzerland), Rainbow of California (USA), CRIPS (France, who provided inspiration for the project in the form of their '3000 Scenarios against a virus', carried out in France from 1992-4), Newcastle Sporting Club (UK), the Edward Thompson Group (UK), and Africa Consultants International.