Families Matter! Program

"The ultimate goal of FMP is to reduce sexual risk behaviour among adolescents, including delayed onset of sexual debut, by using parents to deliver primary prevention to their children and increasing awareness and protective strategies against child sexual abuse and harmful gender norms that may lead to violence." FMP responds to the need of many parents and caregivers for guidance and practical skills to "convey their values and expectations about sexual behaviour and to communicate to their children important messages about HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and pregnancy prevention."

The programme uses certified facilitators, one male and one female, who work at the community level to lead a six part programme of weekly group sessions of 3 hours each. "The programme is designed to help parents overcome common parent-child communication barriers – such as embarrassment or discomfort and lack of knowledge, skills and confidence – and to enhance parenting skills and practices, including parental monitoring, positive reinforcement and the building of a strong parent-child relationship."

The FMP sessions use a mixture of structured learning experiences, discussion, audiotapes, role plays, and group exercises, with each session building on the foundation laid in the previous session. In one session, parents bring their 9-12 year-old child to practice the communication skills learned during the intervention. In designing the curriculum, it was recognised that the issues of child sexual abuse and gender-based violence were particularly sensitive, and so these issues have been addressed through culturally-acceptable and age-appropriate content highlighting the key role parents can play in protecting their children. "By raising awareness of and highlighting a parent’s role in helping their children to prevent CSA and GBV, FMP promotes reflection, dialogue, and action across the broad spectrum of issues that contribute to these problems."

A number of tools have been developed to help guide the programme and support the facilitators. These include programme materials such as manuals; posters; and audio recordings; as well as a 5-step implementation plan; a capacity-building toolkit; programme manager training materials; and monitoring, evaluation, and quality assurance tools. A slightly revised curriculum was released in 2014, which included a new child sexual abuse session, information on GBV and harmful gender norms, and discussion on how to disclose HIV status (disclosure of parents' HIV status to child and of child’s HIV status to child).

The Families Matter! Program in Africa was adapted from the Centres for Disease Control’s United States intervention, the Parents Matter! Program (PMP). The approach was adapted and piloted in Kenya in 2003 – 2006, and renamed the Families Matter! Program. "Based on the positive results in Kenya, countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa have requested FMP...FMP is culturally and linguistically adapted for implementation in countries that request the program. As of August 2012, CDC/PEPFAR supports the adaptation, implementation, and scale-up of FMP in 8 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe."

According to the CDC website, "FMP has achieved national adoption in Kenya, with over 500 facilitators trained and certified and over 250,000 Kenyan families reached through the program. Overall participant retention across FMP sessions averages above 90%: Ivory Coast (94.0%), Mozambique (94.9%), South Africa (91.3), Tanzania (95.6%), and Zambia (90.8%). More than 60 non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, and Ministries of Health are involved in the delivery of FMP."