HEALTH DEPARTMENT AWARDS AIDS COMMUNICATION TENDERS

22 August 2001

The Department of Health has awarded communication tenders relating to the Government AIDS Programme to consortia that combine media clout, community connections, creative ability and some of the best research and health promotion expertise around.

The tenders extend over a two-year period and are collectively worth more than R90-million.

"We received nearly 30 bids for these tenders and there certainly was depth of quality in the field. We feel very confident that we will be gaining the services of companies and organizations that can add immense value to the AIDS Programme," says Dr Nono Simelela, Chief Director for AIDS in the Department.

Two of the three tenders have been awarded to consortia headed by Johnnic Communications.

The larger of these contracts - worth R56-million - concerns a major mass media campaign on HIV/AIDS prevention and the treatment, care and support of people infected and affected by the epidemic. The successful consortium goes by the name of AIDS Campaign Team (ACT) and in this instance Johnnic's managing partners are TBWA Hunt Lascaris and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Other members of ACT are:

• National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), which will play a role in relation to community mobilization.
• Soul City, which will serve as strategy consultants.
• Modjajiworks Research and Communications, which has been included both for youth mobilization and research.
• Social Surveys, which will undertake applied research.
• CASE, which will be responsible for evaluative research.
• Abt Associates, whose focus will be AIDS-related research.

A slightly different Johnnic-led consortium has been awarded the R23,5-million tender for production and dissemination of materials - pamphlets, booklets, posters and promotional items -- used in "action and dialogue" with communities by government departments and non-governmental organizations.

In this instance, Jacana Education (which specialises in developing educational materials for historically disadvantaged communities) and Sharp Sharp Media (which has particular strength in producing multilingual media) replace Hunt Lascaris TBWA as major partners. PricewaterhouseCoopers Incorporated again plays a support role as do many of the organizations participating in the mass media campaign. The third tender is for the implementation of a social advocacy programme costing around R12-million. It has been awarded to Meropa Communications Consortium which comprises:

• ABC Ulwazi/National Community Radio Forum
• Kagiso Trust
• Meropa Communications
• Net#work Naledi BBDO
• Rapid Phase/New Africa Media.

The out-sourcing of AIDS Programme campaigns and advocacy activities is not a new departure. Over the past five years two consecutive tenders under the banner of the Beyond Awareness Campaign were awarded. The second of these contracts ended a while ago with the following outputs to its credit:

• Marketing of the red ribbon as a widely known symbol of support for people with HIV/AIDS.
• Establishment of an Aids Action Office that produced and more than 25-million media items - including leaflets, posters, booklets and stickers - and distributed these on request to government services and NGOs.
• Radio training for community radio and SABC producers.
• A Tertiary Institutions Project that involved mobilising students through workshops, provincial summits and a national conference.
• Development of the AIDS Memorial Quilt Project in which thousands of participants, including many who had lost loved ones to AIDS, created quilts as living memorials to those they had lost and promoted a climate of greater openness about HIV.
• Social research into HIV/AIDS awareness among the youth and reported sexual behaviour.

The Johnnic- and Meropa-led consortia will take up where Beyond Awareness left off, consolidating the gains made, filling a number of significant gaps and regearing the approach for changing circumstances.