Delivery of the YAPL (HIV Awareness Programme) in Swaziland

The Commonwealth's 'Young Ambassadors for Positive Living' (YAPL) programme was initiated in Africa in 1993. Its success led to it being launched in Asia and the Caribbean in 2001 and 2002 respectively. The YAPL programme is designed to enable young women and men infected and/or affected with the HIV virus to share personal experiences with their peers. This raises awareness about HIV and AIDS among young people living with the virus, local communities, NGO's and governments.  Through support from the ARK Project, The concept of the YAPL programme is being expanded to Lesotho, Swaziland, and Northern Uganda.

CYP undertook a consultative mission to hold discussions on the modalities for delivering the YAPL/ARK project in Swaziland. The mission consulted with senior officers of the newly established Ministry of Rural Development and Youth Affairs (MRDYA) as well as representatives of various stakeholders including the Swaziland National Youth Council, UNFPA, the Youth Development Consortium and Local Government Authorities.  Hon. Chief Sipho Shongwe welcomed the mission and expressed his government's desire to ensure equitable youth development across the country.    As a newly created ministry, Hon. Shongwe expressed their willingness to learn from other best practices across the Commonwealth.

Discussions on a number of youth development issues centred on the delivery of the YAPL/ARK project in Swaziland.  The MRDYA is currently being supported by the UNFPA in implementing the Youth Menu Programme. This is the national vehicle for addressing HIV and AIDS issues among youth in Swaziland.  The programme was developed following a Behaviour Surveillance Study (BSS) undertaken by the National AIDS Council in 2002.  The programme currently targets in-school youth with HIV and AIDS awareness information and activities including life skills training.  A recent analysis identified gaps in programme delivery in relation to care and support, aw well as the mitigation of the impact of HIV and AIDS among young people in Swaziland as well as the integration of Adolescent Reproductive Health (ASRH) issues into HIV prevention efforts.  Whilst CYPRCA does not possess the financial and technical capacity to address issues related to care and support, it was felt that the CYP YAPL programme utilising the Student Partnership Worldwide (SPW) approach would help integrating ASRH issues into the current HIV prevention programmes with a particular focus on out-of-school youth

Since the establishment of the National Youth Policy in 2006, the MRDYA with support from UNFPA, has embarked on a process of reviewing the Swaziland National Youth Policy. A draft policy has been developed but requires further fine tuning and finalisation.  The Ministry requests support from CYP in finalising the NYP review process as well as the development of plans of action to ensure operationalisation of the policy.

Prior to the establishment of the ministry, youth development issues had been handled from the Ministry of Home Affairs.  With limited human resource capacity in the ministry, there was a heavy reliance on the Swaziland National Youth Council, (SNYC) to implement youth development initiatives across the country.  This arrangement resulted in a very good working relationship between ministry and the NYC. This relationship has continued with the SNYC playing a key role in the delivery of youth development initiatives in Swaziland.  However, one of the key challenges facing both the SNYC and the newly created ministry is inadequate technical capacities needed to respond to the increased mandates of the ministry. It is therefore important that training in leadership management, strategic planning and programme delivery is offered to staff of the SNYC and the ministry to enable them better deliver their mandate.

The mission was apprised of plans by the Ministry to establish a revolving fund for micro credit activities among the youth. Unfortunately, the ministry has not gone beyond conceptualising and identifying sources of financing for the fund.  The meeting discussed the possibility of CYP supporting the placement of a short term volunteer with assistance from CSAP to assist the Ministry in setting up a micro credit programme.

As a result of limited capacities, the SNYC and the MRDYA is keen on enhancing the technical capacities of youth officers through the delivery of short courses.  The short courses provided by the CYP Diploma in Youth Development Work are of particular interest to Swaziland.  The meeting concluded that CYP would follow-up with appropriate short courses in various aspects of youth work as well as the setting up of an Association of Youth Workers in Swaziland.

By the end of the mission, CYP and the ministry had jointly identified programmatic areas of collaboration that not only focused on the ARK project but broadly covered other areas of CYP work.  The mission concluded on the need for CYP to assist the newly created ministry in the delivery of its mandate to the young people of Swaziland.

In a final debriefing session with the Minster, Hon. Shongwe pledged the support of the Ministry in ensuing the successful delivery of CYP supported programmes in Swaziland and looked forward to the follow-up actions.