RUKARIRO Youth program: The youth program started in 1997 within the churches as a means for youth peer education and to allow them to have a voice on issues that concern them. Within the African cultural context, women are more disadvantaged than men. Several factors that affect young women include gender imbalance, societal expectations that make young women have less personal control, lack of negotiation skills, lack of confidence and empowerment over their lives and basic human rights such as freedom from gender-based violence, women’s right to property inheritance, social recognition and equal access to health care, education and trans-generational sex that contribute to high risk of HIV infection. To address this Kubatsirana introduced a “Girls’ Café” groups for 12 to 25 year olds socio-economic down trodden women with the objective to create a strategy to promote gender equality, reduce girls and young women’s vulnerability to HIV, by raising their self esteem and empowering them to make decisions about their sexuality and have a curriculum based discussion around issues of identity, sexuality, reproductive health, abuse, masculinity and femininity in traditional, cultural and modern society. The group is mentored by “role model women” or co-promoters who share their life experiences on an occasional basis.Kubatsirana also introduced a “Young couples friends Club” to support one another in their engagement in marriage relationship. Couples meet to promote healthy relationship through discussions on issues around gender, sexual abuse and reproductive health, using peer approach and mentored by “Role Model couples” or co-promoters in traditional, cultural and modern society. Lessons learnt: Ø Being a member of a well run youth group can reduce a young women’s chances of becoming infected with HIV;Ø Age appropriate balance of life skills development, reproductive and sexual health information and discussions of attitudes and values empowers girls to decide about their own sexuality;Ø Effort to prevent the spread of HIV need to focus both on individual risk behaviour and on the broad structural factors underlying exposure to HIV such as gender inequality, social norms and attitudes on masculinity and femininity to help people control the risk they take and thereby protect themselves; andØ Initiating young couples’s friends club for newly married couples before they have established negative culture and attitudes within their relationships is proven to be more successful. Statistics: - 78 churches are involved and have each a male and female member receiving training on youth leadership, in 5 districts;
- 62 churches enrolled with ABY program;
- 37 schools enrolled with ABY program;
- 17 Women groups and Café de Rapariga clubs formed;
- 6,852 men and 5,347 women enrolled under Abstinence;
- 648 men and women enrolled under Fidelity;
- 303 men and 230 women are mentors;
- 9 promoters and 74 co-promoters;
- 261 men and women enrolled under sexual abuse.
Major challenges: -
- Funding to expand and replicate models to other districts within Manica province;
- Funding to set up information and network centres within the Bairros to access internet, literature and meaningful occupation;
- Youth already positive but not using preservatives and developing retrogressive attitudes when they feel better when on ARV or natural medicine treatment;
- Father parent still resisting to have open discussions with their children about sex and HIV and AIDS; and
- Cultural practices that force young women into early, forced or arranged marriages thus breaking their ABY commitment.
Current funding partners include: - Food for Hungry international (FHI)
- Tearfund
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