Healthy life choices for Zambian girls
17 April 2007
Image courtesy of Youth Alive
Fifteen-year-old Rebecca lives in Solwezi in the North-West Province of Zambia with her mother, four sisters and two older brothers. Rebecca’s older brothers are unemployed and have started hanging out at the local bars, or "shabeens".
Some of Rebecca’s friends also go to the shabeens, where they meet men who give them money for school fees and new clothes. Many of these men are traders from across the border in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who, missing their wives and families, are keen to meet local girls.
Young women are particularly susceptible to HIV infection. Almost 16% of Zambians aged 15 to 49 are HIV-positive, with young women aged 15 to 19 being disproportionately affected, as they are four times more likely to contract the disease than boys their own age.
Through its support for the
World Bank’s ZANARA Programme
DFID is helping young people to protect themselves against the epidemic. ZANARA
backs a range of community initiatives around HIV/AIDS - including, in Rebecca's
hometown, one called "Youth Alive Zambia" which has been initiated and developed
by young people themselves.
Communicating with young people
Image courtesy of CRAIDS
Although Rebecca’s favourite pastime has long been singing in her local church choir, she feels under increasing pressure to take part in the local nightlife. As a result, she feels conflicted. On the one hand she loves to dance and says she would like to find a boyfriend who is "sincere". But she also wishes to complete her education and find a good job in the city.
DFID understands the importance of giving young people like Rebecca choices, particularly in an environment where poverty, unemployment, lack of facilities and ill-health can rob young people of their dreams.
So far, using approved training courses, the Youth Alive project has trained 14 young people as counsellors and carried out outreach programmes in ten schools and one church community. The project has also refurbished the local youth centre and now provides extensive entertainment and recreational facilities, as well as lessons in life skills and health promotion workshops.
In keeping with all the projects that come under the Community Responses to HIV and AIDS (CRAIDS) umbrella, Youth Alive carries out its activities in the places where young people spend most of their time, and uses methods of communication that are relevant to the particular area.
Rebecca first encountered Youth Alive at her local youth centre. Its HIV awareness sessions soon became a fixture in her diary. "I go with my friends to the youth centre nearly every day," she explains. "Sometimes we do dramas, sometimes we have discussion groups."
Thanks to what she has been taught in the workshops, she feels much better equipped to face the future. "I used to be afraid of AIDS," she says, "but now I know how to protect myself."
Key facts
- One in six Zambian adults lives with HIV.
- DFID Zambia is committed to supporting an effective HIV and AIDS response. Although around 60% of DFID Zambia’s resources will go though the National Treasury in the form of General Budgetary Support, much of the remaining funds will be channelled through flexible funding instruments and civil society.
- DFID Zambia has committed £3.9 million to the Civil Society Fund for the period May 2004 to May 2009. Of this, £1.2 million is being channelled through CRAIDS as accountable grants for projects such as Youth Alive Zambia.
- CRAIDS is a component of the Zambia National Response to HIV/AIDS (ZANARA) project, which was established in a 2003 agreement between the Government of the Republic of Zambia, the Ministry of Finance and the National Planning and International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank. CRAIDS' overall budget to date since its inception in July 2003 amounts to $3,424,410.
- CRAIDS has been designed to build the capacity of communities, faith based organisations, non-governmental organisations and the private sector to respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. CRAIDS supports community-based projects where communities manage, plan, implement and sustain their own development. Communities own all projects and participate in all stages of the project cycle, with CRAIDS supporting all activities both financially and technically.
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