About The World Starts With Me (WSWM)

1. Why This Program

The World starts with me (WSWM)

The World Starts with Me (WSWM) is a complete digital Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights curriculum for young people in an in-school and out-of-school setting. The World Starts With Me combines IT skills building with creative expression. With this curriculum, Rutgers WPF aims to contribute not only to the improvement of young people's sexual and reproductive health but also to their social and economic development.

The curriculum aims to make sexual and reproductive health more real and appealing to young people by combining sex education with useful and fun IT skills. The overall goal is to give young people self-confidence and control over their own lives by supporting them in well-informed decision-making. WSWM uses active and creative learning. The exercises help students to internalize the essential message, learn crucial life skills and explore new behaviours.

The curriculum is adaptable and flexible so it can be used for different groups in different situations. The curriculum aims at both school going young people and early school-leavers, aged 12-20, to be reached through schools with computers and Telecenters.

WSWM for Teacher training colleges in Malawi

In Malawi we have adapted the curriculum for the setting of teacher training colleges (TTC’s). Doing so, we aim for two objectives:

  1. Students (future primary school teachers) learn about their own sexual and reproductive health and rights;
  2. Students learn how to facilitate the WSWM curriculum to their future primary school students.

WSWM for 12-19 year old learners in Malawi

In Malawi we have also adapted the WSWM curriculum for students aged 12-19 years old. These lessons you find under the button curriculum for 12-19 year old students.

Computer based & advantages

The basis of the program is a CD-ROM where all required educational materials are available.

The CD-ROM consists of a student’s section and a teacher’s section, so both groups have tailor made information.

The advantages of combining the computer and sexual and reproductive health education are:

  1. The medium is attractive and useful for students;
  2. Students experience more privacy sharing in small groups behind the computer, instead of in plenary
  3. Teachers are facilitated in dealing with sensitive topics that are generally hard; to talk about, especially for teachers that are new to the field.
  4. The medium makes new methods possible, where old behaviour codes can be re-examined in a new light;

The major advantage of using computers in education in general are also very clear: Currently, there is widespread agreement that technology literacy has become a new basic skill, and therefore a new basic for education. It will increase job opportunities for young people.

The Rutgers foundation in collaboration with Teacher Union Malawi (TUM), tutors and young people in Malawi have developed a methodology that aims to improve social competencies among in-school and out-of-school youth.

The WSWM project offers a unique opportunity for contemporary sex education. Human rights and a positive approach towards sexuality are the starting-points in developing technical and social competencies, such as negotiation skills, contraceptive use and the right to refuse sex. These competencies are needed for informed decision-making.

The programme is easy to use and can be adapted quickly, based on user feedback. The safe environment of E-learning and the self-guided, student-driven learning process facilitates interactive education on sensitive issues. The uniform, systematic learning process ensures quality across different sites. Combining text, audio and visual effects effectively helps to shape knowledge, attitudes and skills in a process of social learning by modelling.

For more information about the WSWM-program and using the computer, please read this document.

For more information about the development of the program by Rutgers, please read the WSWM factsheet.