Diary Update

Diary Update

Quick Links On This Page

• 29 August 2007 - Meaningful Participation of Youth

• 22 August 2007 - Children's Visions and Voices

• 23 July 2007 - A Summary Of The W.H.O. Technical Report

• 25 November 2006 - Speech by prince Mangosuthu Buthlelzi

• 15 November 2006 - Choice Partner Welcome

29 August 2007

STOP AIDS NOW! 4LIFE PARTNERSHIP IN SOUTH AFRICA
“MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION of YOUTH”

• The promotion of gender equality;
• The integration of monitoring and evaluation systems;
• The development of mechanisms for sustainability;
• The meaningful participation of children and young people, and those with responsibility for them, in their contexts;
• And utilisation of the skills, experiences, methodologies and knowledge of the SAN! Partners.
  
  The 4-Life philosophy uses a rights-based approach, focussing on encouraging all youth and children to access their rights, i.e. it is gender inclusive.
  
  The partners work together on five learning tracks. One of these tracks is classified as the “Meaningful participation of young people.”
  
  AIM OF MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION LEARNING TRACK:
  All the SAN! SA partners involve young people and children in their projects. The models used to involve young people and children differ. In this learning track we wish to learn from the different models used, their successes and difficulties and the perception of the young people and children about their involvement/participation in the projects that aim to improve their situation.
  
  RESULTS:
  We believe that by actively encouraging and mentoring the involvement of young people and children in the development, planning, implementation and evaluation of our projects and running the youth programmes, the content and implementation of our projects will be more successful on the following levels:
   
• Project content will be tailored to meet the needs of the relevant target audience.
• Project outcomes will be made more achievable and relevant.
• The young people involvement will result in empowered young people who then become valuable assets to both the communities and the projects themselves.
  
   

22 August 2007

CHILDREN'S VISIONS AND VOICES: RIGHTS AND REALITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA - SOUTH AFRICA

This project presents photography by children in South Africa representing situations where their rights are threatened or violated. The Children’s Rights Centre’s documentary researcher Alex Fattal asked children to document their lives through photography, and used the pictures as the basis for oral histories. The material was synthesised in an exhibition titled "Children's Visions and Voices: Rights and Realities in South Africa" that has traveled throughout South Africa.

Main Communication Strategies
The project seeks to communicate the lived realities of a wide range of South African children by providing them the opportunity to document their daily lives.

The project has been carried out in close partnership with community organisations, which helped to supervise and support the children’s efforts. All participants and their caregivers consented to the activities involved in the project, and remain anonymous in the exhibition.

The organisers maintain that the "public eye" renders this project an advocacy campaign for children’s rights. The idea that children have identified violating circumstances, documented them, discussed them with their peers, and understand the dangers that they involve emphasises the usefulness of this communication strategy. Granting children the opportunity to participate in advocating for their rights empowers them to take part creatively in their own and their community’s development.

While the children were improving their social and artistic skills, the project co-ordinators were also interested in how effective the children’s photographs would be in communicating the significance of children’s rights. "The goal of this strategy is to provoke viewers to pay attention to situations that violate child rights." This communication strategy attempts to convey the children’s visions for an improved, child-friendly society that recognises their rights as children.

Development Issues: Children and Rights.

Key Points
The organisers aim to create awareness about child rights violations in South Africa by exhibiting the work of the participants, and allowing the intimate nature of the photographs to inspire activism, debate and a greater understanding of children’s rights.

Partners
Bernard van Leer Foundation, Ibis Foundation, Lewis Hine Documentary Fellowship.

For more information, contact:
Alex Fattal
Children's Rights Centre
480 Smith St.
1 st Floor
Durban
4001
South Africa
Tel: +27(0)31 307 6075/6
Fax : +27(0)31 307 6074
info@crc-sa.co.za
alex@ajaproject.org
Children's Rights Centre website

Source
Children's Rights Centre: Visions and Voices, Rights and Realities websiteon January 21 2005 and courtesy of the Soul Beat Africa site.

 

23 July 2007

SUMMARY OF THE W.H.O. TECHNICAL REPORT

Click HERE to download the Technical Report

GAP IN TREATMEMENT IN SA

South African Antiretroviral Programme Treatment Gap

This graph shows the estimated number of people on treatment in the public health system (source: Department of Health). It also shows the number of people that the Department of Health's Operational Plan of 19 November 2003 committed to treating. We call the difference between the two numbers the treatment gap.

25 November 2006

DURBAN EXHIBITION CENTRE

I would like to thank the Dance4Life South African Chairperson, Wayne
Alexander, for his kind words of welcome. I was very excited when I
heard that Dance4Life was coming to South Africa and that I had been
invited to officially welcome them to the most beautiful country on
earth!

Our beautiful country is also the worst affected by HIV and Aids, with
the prevalence rate in this province, KwaZulu-Natal, tipping the 40
percent mark. Young people, especially girls, are bearing the brunt of
this disease. This epidemic is mercilessly mowing down are youth and
hollowing out our communities. Dance4Life offers a shining ray of hope.

The brilliance of Dance4Life is that it actively involves young people
by dancing for life and to fight back against HIV and Aids. I was amazed
to hear that there is Dance4Life event taking place the Pyramids in
Cairo on the very same day we having our own Dance4Life concert here in
Durban. So from the top to the tip of Africa, young people are taking
responsibility for their own destinies by promoting HIV and Aids
awareness in this popular form of entertainment.

By World AIDS Day 2012, I understand, Dance4Life plans to have at least
one million people dancing all over our planet, connected by satellite,
making a powerful statement of hope.

As many of you will know, I lost two children to Aids in 2004.  When I
remember Nelisa and Mandisi, my overwhelming memory is that they never
succumbed to a victim mentality. They fought the disease to the last day
with the courage and spirit of those who never gave up hope. In the end
their bodies gave in, but their young spirit's triumphed.

There is no need for young people to get infected and die from Aids. As
a father and a leader of my people, I would to take a few moments to
speak about the importance of young people, like you, leading empowered
lives.

There is no room for stigma and silence.

It is vital that you seek the best possible standard of sexual health,
including access to sexual and reproductive health care services,
contraceptives and medication. Information is power. You cannot afford
to be timid, embarrassed or squeamish. Your teachers, health workers,
doctors and nurses have all been young once too! You must actively seek,
receive and share information with each other about sexuality,
contraceptives, sexually transmitted infections and HIV and AIDS.
Most importantly, perhaps, you must develop respect for your bodily
integrity. As I look around today, I can see that each one of you is
unique. When God made you, He broke the mould! You are beautiful and
priceless. A once off.
It is therefore important you choose your partner carefully. If your
partner does not want to use protection, he or she does not respect your
body or, honestly, love you. If you choose to be sexually active, you
need to know your partner's status and be even extra careful to practice
safe sex.
I personally believe that the best way to pursue a satisfying, safe and
pleasurable sexual life is within a consensual marriage. But, as I said,
I am also a dad with lots of experience of dealing with young people!
Faithfulness is essential if you are sexually active. Promiscuity not
only starves your self-respect, it is a dangerous game that can end in
sickness and death.
I particularly want to say to the young ladies present, you have a right
to say "no" or "no further". The decision if you and your partner decide
to have children or not should only be made after very careful
consideration.
With these serious words said, it is now time to enjoy ourselves.
Tonight we are going to have a lot of fun to convey a life and death
message.
It is my privilege to officially welcome Dance4Life to South Africa and
say "let's dance"!
 

15 November 2006

Dance4Life South Africa recently welcomed new partner, CHOICE, in their mutual bid to contribute to the sexual and reproductive health of young people world-wide, and development of meaningful youth participation in this field.

Hosted by the World Population Foundation, CHOICE consists of a changing group of approximately 10-20 young people between 16 and 28 from the Netherlands. Strategies used are advocacy and lobby-based and include awareness raising activities and training in the Netherlands, as well as abroad. Their main activities consist of participating in conferences, facilitating workshops and trainings, and active participation in different networks.

CHOICE considers youth participation indispensable in achieving sexual and reproductive health and rights. CHOICE believes that when given the possibility to make informed choices, young people are receptive to positive change, which in turn has long-term and wide-ranging benefits. Without youth and using the positive input of youth, the decision-making, implementing and evaluation of policies and programs on sexual and reproductive rights and health, will just not be that successful.

Past achievements

2004 was the year of 10-year review of the International Conference on Population and Development, commonly referred to as ICPD+10. CHOICE paid special attention to the processes around ICPD+10 and stood strong to safeguard progressive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) language despite strong opposition. CHOICE participated in the UNECE and ECLAC meetings for ICPD+10, the Global Roundtable Countdown 2015 in London and had a youth representative in the official governmental delegation at the Commission on Population and Development in 2004.

CHOICE has been actively involved in the creation and development of the Youth Coalition after the ICPD+5 Youth Forum in The Hague in 1999. The Youth Coalition is an international youth organisation whose mission is to recruit, train and support young people to promote their sexual and reproductive rights at the regional and international levels. The YC works with governments, NGOs representatives and other youth groups to ensure that systems and policies will be developed that not only protect youth's rights, but also help and encourage young people to exercise their rights. The Youth Coalition struggles to make the world acknowledge that SRR are human rights and give the tools/services/laws that will safeguard these rights. The Youth Coalition does this through advocating for these rights in international UN documents, and training more youths with advocacy skills so that they can also advocate for their rights at the regional, national and international level. The Youth Coalition counts on the financial support of the MacArthur Foundation, the Summit Foundation, Population Action International, the Ford Foundation, UNFPA, and the Directorate General for International Co-operation (DGIS) through the World Population Foundation. In the past, the Youth Coalition has also received funding from the Packard Foundation, the Compton Foundation and the Turner Foundation. CHOICE and the Youth Coalition work in close collaboration at international conferences and exchange information and strategies regularly.

In the international arena, CHOICE noticed that the voice of European youth was almost completely lacking at UN conferences. To improve European youth participation and advocacy, CHOICE initiated and supported the establishment of a European Youth Network (YouAct) on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. YouAct was officially launched in May 2004, during a three-day youth conference in Portugal. A General Meeting for all members followed the launch in the summer of 2004. YouAct focuses on national and international advocacy, awareness-raising, capacity-building of YouAct members and training of young people and other relevant stakeholders on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues, as well as youth participation. The creation of YouAct has been supported by the Directorate General for International Co-operation (DGIS), the Summit Foundation, the Aidsfonds, Cordaid, Face-to-Face, Organon and Glaxo Smith Kline.

With support from DGIS and WPF, CHOICE set up its own secretariat at WPF in April 2003. The secretariat supports and assists CHOICE in its activities, including awareness-raising, networking and advocacy and is responsible for liasing with WPF’s Overseas Project Department. This cooperation has led to volunteers of CHOICE planning and facilitating training workshops on youth participation and advocacy for young people in Pakistan and Vietnam, in collaboration with WPF field offices in Islamabad and Hanoi. In both countries, a youth advocacy group has been established as a result of this training.

In April 2005, a second full-time young staff member was hired to run the secretariat for YouAct. Since both secretariats are based at WPF, YouAct and CHOICE communicate regularly.

The work of CHOICE has effectively contributed to an increased awareness among policy-makers and donors on reproductive health issues faced by youth. The importance of addressing the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people slowly moves higher on the international agenda, yet considerable effort is still needed to consolidate present achievements and further build on past accomplishments.

This project will focus on training and supporting young people to advocate for SRHR and promoting meaningful youth participation. The focus will be on young people in underserved areas. As mentioned above, CHOICE has contributed to the establishments of youth advocacy groups in Vietnam and Pakistan. In Vietnam, CHOICE will conduct a follow-up activity to the training held in 2003 for the new youth group Hands-in-Hands. This new training will focus on organisational development and exchanging experiences. Because the youth group in Vietnam is actively supported by WPF in Hanoi and receives other funding through the World Bank, CHOICE believes this group can work independently after the second training and CHOICE does not expect more support will be needed. Therefore, in this project proposal, CHOICE will at first focus on Pakistan, Nepal and South-Africa and extend the programme to other countries over the years. These trainings can be co-facilitated with members from YouAct. CHOICE will continue its support for this European network of advocates.

CHOICE will work in partnership with the Youth Coalition to fulfil the goal of this project. The Youth Coalition has enormous experience training young people on advocacy skills and preparing them to participate meaningfully in important international and regional conferences. CHOICE will support the Youth Coalition to continue this important work by working with them on the national trainings and by supporting other activities aiming at promoting real youth participation in decision-making processes that affect young people in different areas and on different topics.

Goal

The goal of the project is to promote young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights by increasing meaningful youth participation in national and international decision-making processes on SRHR for young people, with a special focus on the global South.

Results

1. Increased advocacy skills of young people, to promote adolescent and youth SRHR

2. Establishment of well-functioning and sustainable national Youth Advocacy Groups on SRHR

3. Increased capacity, training skills and sustainability of existing youth networks on SRHR

4. Increased meaningful youth participation in national and international high-level events and conferences on SRHR
    

5. Increased networking and collaboration between youth activists at the national, regional and international level
    

6. Increased youth-adult partnership in advocacy for SRHR
    

7. Increased awareness of decision-makers on the need to include youth on decision-making process and on the importance of you SRHR

Activities

1. Training young people to increase their advocacy skills related to SRHR, focusing on under-served areas

   • National training on advocacy for SRHR for young people in countries in the South, beginning with Pakistan, Nepal and South Africa
   • Capacity Building workshop –either thematic or regional - to increase young people’s advocacy skills on SRR, which will prepare young people to advocate in relevant international or regional conferences. The first activity will be a training for young HIV/AIDS activists to improve the visibility and effectiveness of youth advocates on HIV/AIDS issue at the national, regional and international level
    

2. Providing young people with the opportunity to participate to relevant regional, national or international decision-making processes on SRHR issues, beginning with the AIDS UNGASS
    

3. Training young people on organisational development to establish national youth advocacy groups on SRHR
   
   • National training for young people in countries in the South, beginning with Pakistan, Nepal and South-Africa
    

4. Organisation of national high-level events in partner countries in the South with trained young people and decision-makers on SRHR issues, beginning in Pakistan, Nepal and South Africa
    

5. Supporting existing youth networks by yearly training on advocacy, training skills, organizational development, and SRHR of young people
   
   • Yearly training YouAct
   • Yearly training Youth Coalition
    

6. Supporting newly established national youth advocacy groups by providing small grants for their activities

Detailed description of activities

Training and supporting young people in the South on national level advocacy

CHOICE will train young people in the South on advocacy for SRHR and establish and support youth advocacy groups on this issue in a series of steps and in cooperation with a local partner organisation. In each country the programme takes several steps. In general these steps are the following, but they may differ slightly per country depending on the local situation.
 

1. General 5-day training on youth participation and advocacy for SRHR for young people, already active in this field, in partner country, developed and conducted by CHOICE and a local trainer, selected by the partner organisation. This training will be organised in collaboration with the local partner. If desirable and possible the training will be co-facilitated by a member of YouAct. The result of this training will be the establishment of a local youth advocacy group on young people’s SRHR.
    

2. About 8 months later a follow-up on this first training will take place. The content of this training will be decided upon according to the needs of the youth group. This training will be organised in collaboration with the local partner.
    

3. About 8 months later a national high-level event for the new youth advocacy group will be organised. This high-level event will be organised in collaboration with the local partner and attended by members of the youth group and local / national decision-makers and/or parliamentarians. Prior to this event, the young participants in the event will have a preparation day, to make sure that every-one knows what will happen during the event and is fully involved. At this preparation a young facilitator of CHOICE will be present to offer guidance to the young people in their preparations. This facilitator will also use this visit to discuss future activities and collaboration with CHOICE of the youth advocacy group.
    

4. After these two trainings and the high-level event, the youth advocacy group should be able to function on its own with support from the local partner and, if necessary, financial support from CHOICE. The youth advocacy group will write a work-plan for a year, based on a log-frame, which is a good practice for writing proposals to other donors. Depending on the content and quality of the work-plan, CHOICE will financially support the youth advocacy group in their activities. CHOICE and the local partner will help the youth group to look for other donors, so that eventually the youth group becomes totally independent from CHOICE and is self-sustainable.
   
   Between the first and the second training the youth group will communicate through a list-serve set up by our partner organisation in the South. The partner and CHOICE will communicate regularly with the group and will keep them informed on interesting events and activities in the field that they can participate in. Additionally, between the first and second training, the group will develop their own principles and values and work on an information brochure about themselves that can be distributed to other national NGO’s active in this field. The partner organisation will support the group with providing contact details of other NGO’s. These are the first steps for increased networking and youth-adult partnerships. Between the second training and high-level event, this networking will continue and alliances will be built. Furthermore, the group will make the necessary preparations for the high-level event.
   
   During the last steps of this programme, CHOICE will start looking for other suitable partners in other countries in the South to start the same programme. These partners are selected based on criteria as described in annex 10.9 and CHOICE will use the NGO questionnaire for selection.