YDF in Lesotho: Life skills-based education for HIV-prevention

The Kingdom of Lesotho is a small country with an estimated population of 2 million. It is completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa and is one of the three remaining monarchies in Africa. Living conditions are tough: Lesotho, also known as "Africa's Mountain Kingdom", is made up mostly of highlands where many of the villages can be reached only on horseback, on foot or by light aircraft. During winter, temperatures below freezing are common. Arable land is scarce, infrastructure weak. Industry is largely limited to diamond mining and textiles. As a result, approximately two thirds of the people live below the poverty line. More than 23 per cent of the adult population are infected with HIV - the third highest rate in the world. There is widespread ignorance about the disease and less than ten per cent of the Basotho people know their status. According to the Ministry of Health, close to 18,000 children are infected with the virus and thousands have been orphaned by the pandemic. HIV and AIDS not only constitute a health problem, but also impact heavily on all spheres of day-to-day life.

Dedicated to bettering the lives of orphans and vulnerable children

In order to tackle HIV and AIDS in Lesotho, the Youth Development through Football project embarked on a partnership with the non-governmental organisation Kick4Life in 2008. Kick4Life was founded in 2005 and engages with the youth through programmes such as sports-based health education, voluntary HIV-testing, and life-skills development. In addition it offers support with regard to education and employment in and around Maseru. Its K4L curriculum educates youths of between 10 and 18 years of age about how to prevent HIV-infection as well as about the transmission of the disease, risk awareness and peer pressure. The partnership programme between Kick4Life and YDF focuses on awareness and prevention of HIV and AIDS through football. It aims to benefit the youth of Lesotho, particularly orphaned and vulnerable children, and has resulted in the establishment of the 'Maseru Street League'.

Opening up opportunities for the youth

The street league teaches the youths who take part in it a great deal more than just the rules and techniques of the game. It provides them with secondary education and achieves this through football-related activities. The objective is to develop skills and impart knowledge that will assist them in preventing HIV infections, in living a healthy lifestyle and in finding employment. The team members are encouraged to know their HIV status and are offered voluntary counselling and testing. The league concurrently creates a social network that provides young people with an opportunity to interact in a supportive environment. In addition K4L identifies and trains - with the assistance of YDF - school teachers, coaches, youth leaders and other community role models to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS among community members. The implementation of YDF's Toolkit in the K4L curriculum will offer further assistance in this regard. The partnership is supported by the Lesotho Government and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

Integrating street children into the labour market

YDF's support to Kick4Life also targets strategies to prevent or fight youth unemployment. The programme equips young people with the relevant skills to continue their education, undergo training or obtain employment by helping them with career-planning, applying for higher education and funding, CV-writing, job-hunting, budgeting, interviewing techniques, as well as communication and presentation skills.

Decentralisation as a powerful tool against HIV and AIDS

YDF and Kick4Life cooperate closely with the Decentralised Rural Development Programme (DRDP), which GIZ is implementing in Lesotho on behalf of the German Government. Together, they have established football-for-youth-development initiatives in some of Lesotho's districts. They also cooperate with DRDP where the prevention of HIV and AIDS is concerned, supporting the implementation of specific measures of prevention and treatment by all 128 of Lesotho's community councils.