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Newsletter Contents:
1)
First Round of Small Grants Awarded
4)
Mexico Youth Force Update & MTV Agente de Cambio Contest
5)
Youth-Adults Commitments Desk Follow Up Completed
6)
ÒMen nÕ GenderÓ Program in Zambia
7)
Oxfam Youth Partnerships Profiles
8)
Living Positively Interview
The Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA) is a youth-led, UNFPA
and UNAIDS-supported international alliance of over 4,000 young people working
to end the spread of HIV and AIDS in 150 countries.
1) First round of
GYCA Small Grants awarded!
á
Faith
Phiri, Blantyre, Malawi: ÒBuilding Capacity of Girls to Reduce Their
Vulnerability to HIV/AIDSÓ
á
Amare
Abebaw, Bahir Dir, Ethiopia: ÒEnabling AIDS orphan children to live a continuous decent life in Bahir Dar,
EthiopiaÓ
á
Christabell
Opudo, Nairobi, Kenya: ÒYoung People Living with HIV/AIDS in the Fight Against
HIV/AIDS StigmaÓ
á
Gulalai
Ismail, Peshawar, Pakistan: ÒAwareness Raising about HIV/AIDS Among Young
WomenÓ
á
Jean
Luc Ugirashebuja, Huye, Rwanda: ÒVoluntary Counseling and Testing Campaign
ProjectÓ
Over the
six months of their project period, grant recipients will be posting regular
updates and photos from their projects on the GYCA small grants blog, at http://www.tigblog.org/group/gycablog/.
Please check back regularly to read about their projectsÕ process! Applications
for the 2nd round of GYCAÕs small grants program will be available
in the fall of 2008.
Central Africa RFP
Presents on GYCA at Student Global AIDS Campaign Conference
In March,
Nahbila Paquita Tabenyang, RFP for Central Africa, attended the First Annual
International AIDS Conference organized by the Student Global AIDS Campaign
(SGAC)-Cameroon Chapter, at Buea, the capital of the Southwest Province of
Cameroon. This was the very first gathering of this kind organized by SGAC. It
was aimed at sensitizing youths on the situation and prevalence of HIV/AIDS in
Cameroon, as well as cultural factors influencing its spread of HIV/AIDS and
the development and evolution of the HIV vaccine. Speakers at the conference
included university professors, young leaders working on HIV/AIDS, and medical
practitioners, as well as leaders of other organizations.
NahbilaÕs
mission in this conference was to speak with conference participants about GYCA,
especially those who came from rural areas with little or no access to internet
and communication technology. This forum gave her the opportunity to introduce
and communicate the goals of GYCA, let people know more about the network and
encourage them to join the network. She spoke to the group about GYCAÕs
objectives and priorities, benefits, and membership.
West Africa RFP Participates At
the National Council on Youth Development
Esther
Eshiet, RFP for West Africa, was invited to participate in the meetings for the
2nd National Council on Development held in Calabar, Nigeria from March 10th -
14th, 2008.. The meeting, titled ÒYouth Development: A Veritable Tool for
National GrowthÓ featured presentations from resource people, syndicate group
sessions, and the review of memoranda.
The council, which is the
coordinating entity on youth issues, met to evaluate the progress made after
the first council meeting in Katsina in 2007, to identify strengths and
weaknesses in implementation, and to proffer workable recommendations
geared towards the wellbeing of Nigerian youths. Outcomes of the meeting were
the development and presentation of a communiquŽ to guide the actions of the
sector for the year. The slogan "Youth Are the Future Elders of Tomorrow"
was abolished for the new slogan: ÒYouth as Partners of Today; Leaders of
Tomorrow, reinforcing GYCA's goal to build youth-adult partnerships.
GYCA helped to organize
an informal delegates briefing on Youth and HIV with UNFPA and UNAIDS, hostedby the Jamaican Government, on May 21st and the UN Secretariat. Several representatives
from country missions attended the briefing, whichhad a full audience. The
briefing is in preparation for the UNGASS High Level Meetings in June, and it
is hopedthat youth and HIV- especially the needs and rights of youth living
with HIV- will be a priority issue for country delegations. Although progress has been made on
prevention, treatment and care in some regions, programmes and policies that
support YPLHIVÕs rights and access to sexual reproductive health services have
not featured on the international agenda thus far.
GYCAÕs Regional Focal
Point for the Middle East and North Africa, Ramy Nasr, spoke about EgyptÕs
progress achieving UNGASS youth targets, and the discrimination young men who
have sex with men face, including arrest and forcible HIV testing. GYCA member
Veronicah Omunga from Kenya spoke about her experiences living with HIV and
issues around access to sexual reproductive health information and services,
condoms, and gender inequality (Read her Living Positively interview below!). Presentations
were given by Dr. Urpreti from the Ministry
of Health and Population Nepal, Dr. Anna Marzec-Boguslawska the Director of
Poland's National AIDS Center, and the session was chaired by Raymond Wolfe the
Ambassador to the UN for Jamaica.
GYCA prepared a fact
sheet in Youth Living with HIV for the review based on the latest available
data which is available at http://www.youthaidscoalition.org/pages.html?page=ypdata.
As the UN General
Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS approaches, GYCA is producing a
series of 12 Youth Shadow reports. At UNGASS, member states of the UN submit
country progress reports on Universal Access to prevention, care, and
treatment. As a parallel project, the Youth Shadow Reports evaluate government
commitment to young people and HIV/AIDS, based on political commitment,
financial commitment, access to services, level of youth participation, and availability
of sufficient data on youth trends & behaviors.
This year GYCA
researchers and editors will produce 12 reports, and 6 simpler, community-level
versions; specifically seven from Africa, one from North America, one from
MENA, and one from Europe. These reports will serve as critical advocacy tools
for youth participation and involvement in policy-making and implementation at
the UNGASS review and at the XVII International AIDS Conference in August. We
look forward to sharing the reports with youth advocates and experts across the
globe very soon! For inquiries please contact naomi@youthaidscoalition.org.
For examples of shadow
reports from 2005 and 2006, please see http://www.youthaidscoalition.org/resources.html for the GYCA/Global Youth Partners/UNFPA publication ÒOur Voice, Our Future:
Young People Report on Progress Made on the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS" and six 2006
shadow reports.
4) Mexico Youth
Force Update & MTV Agente de Cambio Contest
GYCA, MTV Latin America, UNFPA and Fundacion Huesped are coordinating a scholarship competition called ÒAgente de CambioÓ which offers ten Latin American young people under 25 years old the chance to attend the conference as a digital reporter. The 30 second television advertisement is airing all across Latin America, and youth from the region can apply until June 15th. To watch the ad or apply, visit http://w
With only
three months until the AIDS 2008 Conference, the Mexico Youth Force is hard at
work! Six committees are coordinating various aspects of the youth program
– Pre-Conference, Advocacy, Youth Pavilion, Reception, Media and
Communications, and Main Conference- each made up of 10 to 20 young people and
allies from around the world.
Applications
are currently open for both presenters and participants for the pre-conference;
the advocacy messages are being finalized; and the website has new information
each day. The Òpocket bookÓ to help youth negotiate the main conference is
being revised and updated. Many
exciting and innovative workshops, sessions, and performances are scheduled for
the Youth Pavilion, and the reception details are being finalized.
There are
several specific opportunities available for people to get involved, including
the
Youth
Partnership initiative, which will pair youth leaders with older mentors in
their field, the Agente de Cambio scholarship contest, the Media Training for
Youth Living with HIV, and the Youth Journalist positions, which offer the
opportunity for young people to write, blog and otherwise document the
conference.
For more
details on these roles and on activities of specific subcommittees, please see
the April Youth Force newsletter, available at http://youthaids2008.org/en/informed/newsletter/april.html.
In addition, check the Mexico Youth Force website and sign up for updates on
the list serve at www.youthaids2008 for
information & ways to get involved.
5) Youth-Adults Commitments Desk Follow Up Completed!
As of
April, GYCA has completed follow up on the Youth Adult Commitments Desk follow up process! As you may
recall, the Toronto YouthForce (TYF) and the AIDS 2006 Youth Programme hosted
the Youth-Adult Commitments Desk in front of the
Youth Pavilion in the Global Village, as part of a new initiative to give
delegates of the XVI Toronto International AIDS Conference in 2006 an
opportunity to make concrete commitments to young
people and youth AIDS issues.
In total, 102 responses were
received, equaling a 30% response rate. Most committers who responded were able
to fully or partially complete their commitments; in approximately 10 cases,
committers expressed their desire to see these commitments through, but were
unable to do so due for reasons including lack of funds and resistance in
leadership, either within organizations or on the part of governments.
The full
commitments report, available online at www.youthaidscoalition.org, includes an
account of GYCAÕs challenges and successes in holding adults accountable for
their commitments to youth and youth AIDS issues, a
detailed breakdown of the follow up process, and recommendations to improve the
process for future use.
6) Men nÕ Gender Program in Zambia
By Bob Munyati, Remmy Shawa &
Zo‘ Costa-von Aesch
Men need to be equal partners in the solution by becoming
positive, engaged, caring role models in their homes and in their communities.
To promote such positive perspective change we decided to target young men at
the University of Zambia. We chose this group because we saw them as ZambiaÕs
future fathers, colleagues, husbands and leaders, and as a generally engaged,
open-minded, enthusiastic group of young people.
The
project began as a three-day course comprised of short presentations, debates,
group work and interactive games, with the goal of providing information and
changing individual perspectives related to: HIV/AIDS transmission and
prevention, gender roles in the home and in society and the characteristics of
a healthy relationship. After the course, twenty of the most competent and
enthusiastic course participants applied their training within the field by
providing gender & HIV/AIDS presentations to the staff and target
communities of various local organizations.
Despite the short duration of the course, anecdotal evidence
suggests that the course was very favorably received and prompted many of the
young men to realize how gender equity-related improvements could be made in
their personal relationships. As part of the Gender Roles component of the
course one participant explained: My girlfriend is busier than I [academically],
but every day I let her cook for me and call me to go and eat. I canÕt believe
I used to do that, I really have been unfair to her.Ó
During the Healthy Relationships component another participant
commented: ÒThe last time I beat her was on New YearÕs Eve. I beat her up in
front of my friends because I thought I was being a real man, I was even
arrested for that. Now I know I shouldnÕt have done it, not because I am scared
of being arrested, but because I think love doesnÕt batter.Ó
Both facilitators and
course organizers were surprised by the openness of the course participants and
reported how positively group discussions seemed to affect and engage the
individual participants. Results from the monitoring and evaluation
questionnaire provided before and after the intervention were similarly
positive and encouraging. For example, participants were asked if they agreed
or disagreed with the statement: ÒA man can hit a woman if he is angryÓ. After
the course, there was a positive change in perspectives by over 10%.
All in all, these positive comments and
quantitative results were encouraging and have prompted the initiation of
future community outreach strategies and international student partnerships to
strengthen and expand the program to create more young men working for gender
awareness and equality.
7) Oxfam Youth Partnerships Profiles
Bill Clinton Center for AIDS Research & Education (B'Care), India
The Bill
Clinton Center for AIDS Research and Education (BÕCare) is a registered nonprofit and an
international organization based in Hyderabad, India. Approximately 80%
of the total number of HIV infected women BÕCare works with are young widows,
often disowned and homeless, whose husbands died of AIDS. Overall, 80% of their
efforts are dedicated towards HIV prevention activities, 10% towards research
and 10% towards care and support. The project is youth led, and is run by youth
leader Mrs. Swetha C.
One of
B'CareÕs programs is the Small Scale Business Initiative (BSSBI). BSSBIÕs
objective is to provide HIV/AIDS affected women with shelter and employment
such as tailoring and candle making, using profits to fund BÕCareÕs ongoing
work and help HIV positive widows and their children support themselves.
Candles and other projects are sold at retail outlets as well as awareness
programs, meetings, and conferences.
B'CareÕs Network of Positive
People (BNP+) is an in-house network, free to all people with
HIV, which enables them to unite around positive living. BÕcare has a
database of all the BNP+ members in order to involve them in HIV/AIDS
activities, as well as self-help groups for married women or widows who also
participate in. BNP+ members are guided to government hospitals, counseled, and
their ARV medications and nutritional supplements are monitored.
BÕcareÕs Pediatric Initiative consists of
funding and support for children of HIV positive widows. Currently, BÕcare financially supports
and cares for five affected children. Additionally, BÕCare offers
pre-marital HIV testing for women. In theory, pre-testing can help to protect the majority of women, as 75%
of infections among young HIV positive women and widows occur because of their
HIV positive husbands or extra marital partners.
The Kijana Project, Zimbabwe:
Youth helping youth in the era of HIV/AIDS
Saunsuray,
15, and Alexandra Govere, 18, were moved by the suffering of AIDS orphans in
their village of Bikita, Zimbabwe. The sisters believed that they were blessed
because their parents did not have AIDS and thought they should use that
blessing to help children who had lost their parents to the disease. They began by donating clothes, toys,
books, and pocket money to needy children.
In
2000, Alexandra was selected as one of 2,000 youth worldwide who made a
difference in their communities and was appointed as an UNESCO-Disney
Ambassador. Alexandra attended the UNECSO-Disney Millennium Dreamer Ambassador
awards ceremony where she met young people from around the world that had also
been working at improving their communities. Soon after, the sisters founded
The Kijana Project, which aims to educate youth worldwide about HIV/AIDS,
assist youth in Africa that are infected and affected by HIV, and empower youth
to help themselves and other youth. The project has now received the support of
the Stanford-Harvard Quest Scholars program and Youth Venture.
The
intervention is multifaceted; the first level is aimed at using local,
national, regional, and international media as a tool to spread HIV/AIDS
education to youth. The girls were able to use their profile to help publicize
HIV/AIDS awareness and their organization by featuring it in a variety of
publications such as teen magazines, Voice of America, CNN student news, The
Junior Journal, community, school, and Internet newspapers, as well as their
own Web site. They also attended conferences and youth focused gatherings. The
second level involves directly helping youth infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
The third level of intervention involves youth empowerment through training
members in proposal writing, developing project documents, making presentations
and speeches, and developing media materials.
The
Kijana Project is entirely youth led and has members from many places around
the world, including North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. One challenge faced by the project is a
lack of resources. To overcome
this, the organization attempts to educate adults on project achievements and
maintain sustained partnerships with other youth-focused organizations.
Girl Child Art Foundation (GCAF),
Nigeria: Six month intensive youth friendly media project
Girl
Child Art Foundation Role (GCAF) conducted a multifaceted and intensive
HIV/AIDS campaign aimed to raise HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention over a six-month period in Anambra State. The foundation used a youth-friendly
approach, including public media and visual communication, theatre
entertainment, and artists in their outreach strategies. The project aimed to
produce behavioral change among young people and it incorporated skill
development in the literary and performing arts. The project also aimed to
document the opinions of young people through discussions, stories, radio talk
shows, and poetry.
GCAF
produced three radio jingles, which were aired six times a day (1,092 total
slots). GCAF also produced seven
episodes of the radio drama "Choices," which addressed HIV/AIDS
issues such as prevention
and awareness, care, support and stigma, and prevalence rate. The episodes featured young
people using language that appealed to the target community. The stories
recorded in the drama series were written and dramatized by youth from
different higher institutions as well as by GCAF members.
GCAF also held a road show to
coincide with World AIDS Day in Anambra State. The show was run by youth from higher institutions, GCI
campus initiative, and UNICEF peer educators from the National Youth Service
Corp (NYSC). A long truck was
decorated with HIV/AIDS posters, red balloons, red ribbons, and banners. Volunteers wore t-shirts with the
message, ÔA test in time saves lives, stop the spread of HIV/AIDSÕ and a DJ was hired to play popular
music. The truck advertised a Red
Ribbon Concert to approximately 12,000 youths in Anambra State. The concert was hosted by a popular
comedian, and there was tremendous turn out of over 3,550 youths at the
concert, which featured over 17 artists eager to campaign against the spread of
HIV/AIDS through their music, dance, and other creative talents. Deemed a tremendous success by the
organizers, the concert ended at 6:30 am!
Undergraduates
in the state that were part of ÒGCAF Campus InitiativeÓ assessed the projectÕs
impact through a questionnaire and oral interviews. They found that about 88%
of youth and adults in the state listened to the jingles, 96% read the posters,
and 89% listened to the talk show and drama series. The project also succeeded
in recording expressions and perceptions of over 350 youths from all over
Nigeria on HIV/AIDS through a compilation of poetry. This project highlights
the power of the media, especially radio, which reaches into rural areas. An
important lesson learned was the need for forming partnerships and also
maintaining a good working relationship with media houses.
8) Living Positively: Veronicah Omunga, 27, Kenya
ÒI have no idea how I became
infected with HIV, I only learned about my positive status about five years
ago, but being HIV positive has not stopped me from having big dreams. I am a survivor; I have a goal in life,
which I must work towards achieving. HIV positive or not, I will achieve my goal, for that is what I live
for.Ó
When and how did you know about
your status? It
all started five years ago, when I got ill and was forced to seek treatment.
After several tests and appointments, the doctor who was treating me
recommended an HIV test, to which I readily accepted because I did not suspect
I could be infected with HIV. A
few days later, my doctor informed me that the test result was positive; that I
was infected with HIV.
How did you feel when you got to
know? Like most
people newly diagnosed with HIV, and also being young and not knowing much on
HIV/AIDS, I underwent a lot of depression and even went into denial when I was
told of my status. I did not want to be associated with the disease, and so I
pretended that nothing had been said and tried to live a ÔnormalÕ life, but the
depression took its toll on me and I went down again, with all sorts of
illnesses that I could not even explain. It took the intervention of several professional and experienced counselors
to make me accept my status and since then, I have lived positively and have
become a role model to my peers.
What did your family say or think
about you? I have
gone partially public about my status by confiding in some of my friends, peers
and relatives who have been very supportive. Some of my confidants found it hard to believe the results
but they have since come to accept my status and have stood by my side all
through. I am particularly
grateful to my friends, who have been there for me in bad and good times,
making sure that I get the best medical care when the need arises.
You have been living positively
for years; can you share tips of how you've done this successfully? One of the strategies that has
really worked for me is talking about my problems to the people I consider my
confidants. I usually visit and share with my counselor, doctor, peers and
colleagues any issue that might be disturbing me, and by doing this, I find
solutions to whatever problems I have. I keep away from negative tendencies and
attitudes that might cause stress.
I also
make sure that I honour my appointments with the doctors and try to follow the
advice given by my counselors. I maintain a well balanced nutrition that has
helped to maintain high CD4 count and thus delay starting ARVs. I also practice responsible sexual behavior,
thus contributing to protecting the health of others, and also protecting
myself from infection and STIs. Rest is very important to PLHIV, and I seek
medical attention whenever I feel sick.
How has being positive affected
what you do now? Knowing my HIV status has given me a new lease of life. I have been motivated
to put extra effort to achieve better results in whatever I do. I am out to prove a point that being
HIV positive is not inability. People need to know that even people living with HIV have got the
potentials and need to be given equal opportunities in all areas, be it in
employment, in representation or in any other area of their expertise.
What is your greatest
ambition in life, and do you think that being HIV positive may stop you
from realizing this dream? My greatest ambition is to be better positioned to be able to
advocate for youth issues, especially issues affected children, women and girls
living with HIV/AIDS in my community. Being HIV positive cannot and has never
hindered me from realizing my dreams. On the contrary my HIV positive status is the driving force behind my
successful career as a Program Assistant.
What do you think that can be done
to halt the spread of the HIV virus? It is worth noting that a lot has been done by the
governments, donor agencies and the civil society to halt the spread of HIV
across the globe, but still, a lot more needs to be done because every day
there are new HIV infections, especially among young girls and women.
There is
also the need for governments and other stakeholders to put in place special
preventive measures for other vulnerable groups such as homosexuals,
intravenous drug users, commercial sex workers and prisoners, who have unique
prevention needs. Finally, meaningfully involving people living with HIV is
central to both HIV prevention and treatment.
What is the greatest assistance in
your own opinion that stakeholders can do for young people living
positively? The roots of any response should
lie in protecting the rights of young people, especially those who have gone
public about their HIV status. Stakeholders should also provide the youth with
the information, services and tools needed to defend themselves against the
spread of HIV. The odds of success are greatly enhanced when young people
living with HIV are involved in the decisions that affect them, when adults
listen and respect them, and when their creativity and energy are harnessed.
What advice do you have for young
people that are living positively and cannot disclose their status, due to
depression, fear of stigmatization and so on? An internationally known fact is that people
living with HIV cannot be forced to disclose their HIV status to anyone if they
are not willing to, especially if they believe that disclosure will impact
negatively on their lives. It is
however necessary that young people living with HIV understand that disclosure
is a process and that the advantages and disadvantages of disclosure should be
fully considered before one discloses their status. There have been cases where
people have rushed into disclosing their status only to lose jobs, meet rejection
by family members and friends among other negative consequences.
Young
people should be encouraged to embrace either full
disclosure (i.e. publicly revealing their
HIV status) or partial disclosure (i.e. telling only certain people such
as, for example, a spouse, relative or friend). They should also be made aware of some
of the benefits that come with disclosure such as access treatment, care and
support services and also access to psychosocial support from other young
people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
What do you want to be remembered
for? I would like to be remembered as being
part of a group of young women living with HV/AIDS in East and Southern Africa
that initiated a dialogue forum where young women living with HIV in the region
can air their views, exchange ideas and share their experiences.
Who are your role models? Why? My role models are the African women whom have gone public about their HIV positive status and are giving back to the community by supporting newly infected women and girls to cope with their status.
To submit youth, HIV and SRH-focused content to the newsletter, please email Aleza Summit (aleza@youthaidscoalition.org). Anyone can join GYCA at http://www.youthaidscoalition.org/join.html
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