Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Poverty, poor education, and gender-based violence mean that many young women in Botswana are not able to act on HIV prevention choices to use condoms or limit their number of sexual partners. An HIV prevention trial seeks to help marginalized young women to access government structural programs, improving their ability to choose, and reducing their reliance on transactional sex and hence HIV risk. Identifying and engaging the most marginalized young women is challenging but necessary to ensure that none are left behind. We carried out a survey about the social networks (real connections between individuals, not social media) of 312 marginalized young women (aged 16-29, not in school and not in work) in two urban and two rural areas of a district of Botswana. We analyzed their social networks to understand who they go to for information (about potential work or school), emotional support, and socializing, exploring how these networks could be used to reach young women more effectively. We found that outreach is likely to be most effective through other women, and relatives in particular, and outreach through networks might be more effective in rural areas rather than urban areas. Sub-groups, such as the poorest or least educated, may require targeted outreach. Understanding who these young women are connected to can help researchers and services providers reach a group that might otherwise be ignored.