Ambassador: Iswandy Ahmad , Brunei
The HIV Awareness Programme for Peers & Youth (HAPPY) is a youth-led project that spreads HIV awareness including knowledge about teenage pregnancy & sexually transmitted infections throughout the 4 districts in Brunei, Darussalam. The project originated in 2005, with a group of volunteers in the Brunei Darussalam AIDS Council who created the idea of HIV Awareness educational talks in schools by young people themselves. It was called “HIV/AIDS Basic” and was organized by the youth club of the Council, Penyinar Club. However it was not fully implemented.
In 2008 when five members of the club, including Iswandy, took the idea and competed in a local competition for new start-ups. Under the name Sentient, it won the Silver Medal. The recreated HAPPY programme is a 1½ – 2 hour workshop which teaches young people about HIV and raises awareness in Brunei where little is spoken about it. The programme combines audio-visual and interactive activities to educate young people about safe sex and how HIV is contracted. It includes messages adapted to the local background of Brunei Darussalam. The project continues today through the Penyinar Club.