TANZANIA: Kijana ni Afya "Youth In Health"
Tanzania has one of the highest national HIV and AIDS prevalence rates in the world. As the largest country in East Africa, it bears a large share of the global epidemic. The estimated HIV prevalence rate is 8.1% among adults aged 15-49 years. 60% of new infections occur among youth aged 15-24 years.
SPW Volunteer Peer Educators (VPEs) are placed in pairs (1 national, 1 international) who then work in secondary schools in rural communities of the Iringa Region. Each pair are close to at least one other school (the closest being only a 15 minute walk away), but vary in their proximity to the SPW office and nearby towns.
The main SPW Tanzania office is in Iringa, and there are additional offices in Mbeya, Njombe and Dar. Volunteers receive two scheduled visits from SPW staff during the course of the programme, and extra visits are made as necessary, e.g. to resolve problems or to give help and advice to volunteers.
 |
 |
Click here for more information on SPW Tanzania.
As an SPW Volunteer Peer Educator you may:
-
Teach non-formal timetabled health and social education modules
-
Empower young people, particularly girls to develop life skills they will need out of school
-
Raise awareness of social issues relevant to youth in schools and in the wider community
-
Facilitate a range of extra-curricular activities after school (e.g. sports, music, drama, art, newspaper and debate clubs)
-
Teach in Primary Schools
-
Organise health-awareness raising activities for in and out-of-school youth (e.g. high-profile festivals with performing arts competitions on health-related themes, inter-school events, community sports leagues and seminars, training for teachers, or educational trips to hospitals and local HIV testing centres
-
Establish a resource centre in the school to providing youth-friendly publications and offering confidential advice and informal counselling
Case Study
Makambako is a rapidly growing ‘truck-stop’ community, located on the junction of two major roads. Consequently it also has rapidly increasing HIV and STI infection rates. With this in mind, Volunteer Peer Educators co-ordinated an STI Awareness Campaign, with a special emphasis on ‘Youth and HIV/AIDS’ to run alongside a 3 week Football League for 8 different youth and community teams in and around Makambako town. The Makambako League involved seminars and talks about HIV/AIDS from health workers and experts before and at half time at each match. With at least 800 people attending each match, the campaign was able to reach a phenomenal amount of Makambako residents. Using football as a medium to attract people proved very successful. At the final of the football league, a staggering 3000 people attended the match.
“Truly, I’ve never known an NGO like this, who have the approach of going straight to the villagers, and living with them in this difficult environment. I would like to say ‘SPW, we need money,’ but this is not a solution. SPW, do your best to give us knowledge like this, which will endure.” ~ Ibrahim Chang'a, Villager, Kiwere
Country Information
Background: Tanzania is the largest country in East Africa, with borders on 8 countries, 3 lakes and the Indian Ocean. It includes Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Great Rift Valley, the exotic island of Zanzibar, the arid plains of Dodoma and the lush hills of the Southern Highlands. Tanzania is home to more than 100 indigenous tribes, mainly of Bantu origin.
Language: Swahili and English are official languages though many indigenous languages are spoken
Religion: about 40% of the population is Christian, 35% is Muslim, and the remainder follow indigenous beliefs
Food:
-
Staple - maize meal porridge, known as ugali, and rice
-
Meat - bananas are used in meat stews as well as with fish and poultry
-
Vegetarianism - accepted easily, feast on soups, eggs and vegetarian curry dishes, usually involving coconut milk and/or banana
-
Other - local liquor is a lethal white-rum-style concoction called konyagi.
