The project will train 10 players at Livingstone Youth Football Academy (LYFA) to be Sexual Health Football Coaches. They will go into local communities to raise awareness and increase knowledge of HIV/AIDS & other Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) in vulnerable young people in Livingstone, Zambia. The players will undergo training before conducting weekly sessions in local communities in a 1-year project. We will also host football tournaments to promote voluntary HIV testing.
Young people in Zambia face huge challenges: 8,000 children became newly infected with HIV in 2018. Social, cultural and economic barriers to condom use and access to HIV testing have plagued the nation with the disease that takes the lives of over 20,000 people each year in Zambia. With no Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) taught in schools, young people simply don't have the knowledge to protect themselves.
The players will be trained as sexual health coaches to provide other adolescents in the surrounding communities with information and counselling on HIV/AIDS, family planning, free condoms and rapid HIV testing. They will deliver specially designed football sessions in a fun and engaging way to convey important health messages. By giving them the knowledge, confidence, smashing stereotypes & stigmas around HIV, young people will be empowered to make their own decisions and lead a healthy life.
Empowering the next generation of Zambian young people to take control of their sexual and reproductive health and make safe, informed decisions.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
