top of page
Cover - Positive Disruptions.JPG

INNOVATION SPOTLIGHT

“Positive Disruptions:” Shifting Attitudes in Support for Sexuality Education at the Community Level in Madagascar

Trust-building strategies CSE Educators use to build community support for sexuality education in Madagascar, captured through Collaborative Filmmaking

December 2023

The Starting Point

Comprehensive sexuality education is inherently sensitive — it means teaching young people about sex and relationships, a topic that can trigger resistance. Building public support is essential to delivering CSE at all, yet little evidence exists on how to actually shift community attitudes toward it.

In Brief

This interactive results brief shares new insights on how Projet Jeune Leader's CSE educators build community trust and support. Drawing on a research project where educators used collaborative filmmaking to document their own strategies, the brief identifies the specific approaches that shift attitudes towards support for CSE at the local level.

Key Takeaways

→ Educators build trust through two pathways: technical (demonstrating knowledge and reliability) and relational (deepening connection and reciprocity with community members).

→ Technical strategies include legitimizing their expertise and reinforcing the purpose of their work to local stakeholders.

→ Relational strategies involve closing the distance between educators and communities — integrating into local life until they become invested, trusted community members.

→ The right personal qualities matter as much as training the CSE Educators. In particular, open-mindedness, adaptability, confidence, and humility are core to earning community trust.

"In the middle school, I try to reach out and help the teachers so that I can get their support. We do the work together so that we can help each other. If you help the teachers it helps you get their support if, for example, you ask them for something. It's just a good thing to do when you have free time."

PJL CSE Educator Ranjha

Discover Other Resources

Thumbnail - CFM Academic Article.png
“When I finished my film, I realized that people really needed me there”: the transformative power of Collaborative Filmmaking

A qualitative study, published in Springer Nature's Research Involvement and Engagement, examining how the process of Collaborative Filmmaking shaped CSE educators’ motivation, self-reflection, and use of film as an advocacy tool.

Click to Read
Thumbnail - CFM Academic Article.png
From Classroom to Community: A Study of the Multi-Level Impacts of a Comprehensive Sexuality Education School Subject in Madagascar through Collaborative Filmmaking

Through Collaborative Filmmaking, a participatory visual research methodology, CSE teachers in Madagascar's rural public middle schools documented how the subject can positively transform a school community

Click to Read
Thumbnail - CFM Academic Article.png
Learnings, Practices, and Approaches for Scaling Comprehensive Sexuality Education

The learning briefs in this series highlight key components of our model — approaches we have tested, refined, and implemented to deliver and scale CSE through Madagascar's public school system.

Click to Read
bottom of page