In one of the television ads, Thabile, an 18-year-old-from Zola, hovers at the edge of a shiny black Mercedes. Inside is a smooth-talking older man who licks his lips and smiles as he pats the seat beside him. Thabile’€™s commonsense, in the guise of an Ali G clone, urges her to move away while an Ice Cube look-alike tempts her to give in.

 “Why not. The man is filthy rich,” urges Ice Cube adding that Thabile could get more gifts like the golden earrings he’s just given her. In the end, commonsense wins. Thabile decides she’s “not for sale”, and walks away.

The TV ad is part of government’s R92-million HIV/AIDS communication campaign, Khomanani, Tsonga for “caring together” and one that has been flighted regularly by the SABC during the past month.

Khomanani? Chances are the name doesn’t ring major bells even though the two-year campaign – the biggest publicly funded HIV/AIDS communication this country has seen — is in its last three months. South Africans will probably be more familiar with some of the television and radio ads without really being able to identify them with the campaign.

Some are really funky like the youth series that features Thabile. Others are more serious, like “my son” which is an appeal from the father of an HIV positive child for people to “stand together against discrimination”.

Interestingly, Khomanani is more concerned that people recognise its messages ‘€“ such as “I choose to wait” and “stop TB because you can” — than the name of the campaign says Khomanani’€™s Indra de Lanerolle, executive member of the AIDS Communication Team (ACT), a Johnnic-headed consortium who together with Meropa Communications was awarded the tender to run the mass campaign.

Khomanani is very different to the youth campaign, loveLife, which chose to put much of its initial energy into branding.

But perhaps a bit more brand association between Khomanani’s products — approximately 10 TV commercials and 16 announcements, the 19 radio announcements (all available in 11 languages) and the multitude of “small media” – and government wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Especially given that controversies over HIV/AIDS has given the impression that government doesn’t care about epidemic.

But it’s not just the lack of branding that makes the name, Khomanani, unmemorable. Truth is, the two-year campaign has only really got going in the past year. Originally it was put out to tender by the health department, and in September 2001 awarded to the Johnnic-headed consortium.

Initially, complications slowed it down. The first three months were devoted to organising World AIDS Day at the end of 2001. Only then could the department and campaign staff develop Khomanani’€™s messages, which took six intense months.

“A very high level group spent a lot of time getting on to the same page about the campaign,” said Soul City’€™s Dr Sue Goldstein, one of Khomanani’€™s expert advisers.

Khomanani’s brief was massive. It had to cover all aspects of HIV/AIDS, be aimed at all citizens and also raise awareness about tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections.

The shadow of Sarafina 2, the disastrous AIDS awareness play that government funded some years back, loomed large but the time devoted to conceptualising Khomanani appears to have been worth it.   Messages are clear, memorable and relevant to a wide range of situations.

Problem is, three months before Khomanani closes shop, the campaign is beginning to look good. Government tender regulations make it possible for the campaign to be extended for another six months but thereafter another tender process is likely.

“Government needs to have a more long term approach to HIV/AIDS,” says Goldstein.

While the ACT Consortium, which consists of nine organisations including the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (Napwa), and Meropa do the daily slog, final control rests with the Department of Health.

Strategic direction is determined by a group of expert advisers, while a government-convened communication task team also views all the products. PricewaterhouseCoopers controls the finances, and there is an 18% cap on administrative costs.

To meet it’s brief, Khomanani prioritised youth, orphans and vulnerable children and those living with HIV. Aims include delaying the age at which young people have sex, promoting safe (condomised) sex, help for orphans and vulnerable children (guided by a national “Circles of Support” hotline) and a reduction in stigma and discrimination of those with HIV/AIDS.

In addition, there are also campaigns against tuberculosis (with the slogan, “stop TB because you can”) and sexually transmitted infections, and to promote health worker excellence.

But behaviour change is a slow and murky business, and De Lanerolle, says that “communication and media are just two of the many factors that influence behaviour change”.

A multitude of surveys show that South Africans know how HIV is transmitted but many have not changed their sexual behaviour.

“You can’t just tell people about HIV and expect behaviour change,” says De Lanerolle. “They are influenced by subjective social norms. But it is possible to change these.”

Changing what people perceive to be normal takes a lot longer than two years and it is hard to measure this. To emphasize its messages, Khomanani decided to approach both individuals (through mass media) and communities (through social mobilisation).

The individual appeal through mass media is slick and professional. Media partnerships have also paid off, and for every R1 of advertising bought, Khomanani gets R1 free airtime from the SABC and 70cents from e-TV. Over 14 million items of “small media”, mainly pamphlets, have been distributed. Meropa is also training DJs in six provinces to be Khomanani advocates.

But the “social mobilisation”, which involves community door-to-door campaigns and local awareness events, relies on volunteers.

The idea is that Khomanani staff spend three to four weeks in an area, relying on a core team of about 10 people who are ideally drawn from Napwa branches and an additional 60 or so local volunteers. At the end of the mobilisation, the area visited is meant to have a functioning Napwa branch. Volunteers are trained to take the Khomanani messages to their communities, mostly through door-to-door campaigning, as well as a few public events.

In KwaMakhutha on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, volunteers conducted a door-to-door information blitz and arranged two banner-painting events. While it is unfair to judge Khomanani’€™s social mobilisation on one event, it was clear at the banner-painting aimed at children aged 7 to 9 that the volunteers lacked training.

While the children were painting, volunteers discussed HIV/AIDS but volunteer Zama Mbhele seemed floored when a little girl asked how the virus got into a person, and failed to mention sexual transmission. “I’m not used to talking to such young children,” she admitted afterwards.

At this blitz, the national Khomanani staff had gone off in their car and were not around to guide the volunteers, who were committed but inexperienced.

Khomanani says that its social mobilisation has reached over 400 000 people directly. Goldstein concedes that it is hard to get social mobilisation right. But as this outreach offers ordinary people a rare opportunity to interact with government on HIV/AIDS, it is important that it is properly managed and essential that volunteers are well prepared.

While it’s too early to assess Khomanani, it is clear that its foundations have been laid with great care. It will be a waste and a shame if government discards this infrastructure and tries to build another campaign from scratch through another short-term tender.

* A range of information about HIV/AIDS, TB and STIs is available from Khomanani’s Red Ribbon Resource Centre. Tel (011) 880 0405 www.aidsinfo.co.za