[afro-nets] African Regional Youth Initiative March 2005 Newsletter

[Neema Mgana <nmgana@yahoo.com>]

African Regional Youth Initiative March 2005 Newsletter
-------------------------------------------------------

The African Regional Youth Initiative (ARYI) is a collaboration
of over one hundred youth and community-based projects and or-
ganizations in Africa working to fight HIV/AIDS. ARYI addresses
HIV/AIDS in a comprehensive manner by engaging in activities
that mobilize and empower communities, increase women and youth
and participation, facilitate dialogue between organizations in
different countries, and other activities that build capacity of
especially those most marginalized to engage at community, na-
tional, regional and international processes. As such, ARYI
works with individuals and partner organizations that focus on
poverty, leadership and governance, youth employment, women's
rights, illness and disease (i.e. malaria and tuberculosis),
education, information technology, and reproductive health.

The mission of ARYI is to unite the work of youth and community-
based organizations in the various African regions by collabo-
rating on community-based initiatives, sharing resources, col-
lecting, analyzing and disseminating information, and learning
from each of our experiences.

Contact: Neema Mgana
Founder and Director
P.O. Box 11428
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
mailto:aryi_2002@yahoo.com
http://www.aryi.interconnection.org
List serve: mailto:aryi@yahoogroups.com

***********
ARYI Update
***********

ARYI Youth Policy Group

It's been less than a year since the Youth Policy Program began
and there already are active youth policy groups in eight coun-
tries, including Uganda, Liberia and Rwanda. Below are summaries
of recent activities in Uganda and Liberia.

Youth Policy in Uganda:

The policy group met in Kampala in March 2005 with the advisory
team comprised of representatives of the United Nations, univer-
sity professors, and youth and women's organizations. A strate-
gic work plan was developed for the year. This work plan summa-
rized findings and recommendations from previous ARYI youth pol-
icy meetings with other stakeholders in Uganda. The goal for the
year includes the overall inclusion of more trained youth to en-
gage at the policy level in advocating for reproductive health
and rights.

The mission of the youth policy program is to promote and advo-
cate for youth reproductive health policies and programs in Af-
rica while also empowering youth to participate in policy devel-
opment processes. Advocating for policy change and implementa-
tion will serve as cornerstone in the implementation of this
program.

Youth Policy in Liberia:

February 17, 2005 marked the formation of the ARYI youth policy
group in Liberia. A meeting was held on this date and involved
representatives from youth and women's groups, non-governmental
and governmental organizations, and other stakeholders to pre-
sent the goals and activities of the youth policy group. We are
thankful to the International African Students Association who
provided funding for this meeting.

The media was heavily involved in this meeting. Apart from in-
terviewing group members and having a press conference, the me-
dia will continue to be involved in promoting the youth policy
group through an on-going annual media plan developed by the
group to work with television, newspaper and radio profession-
als.

ARYI, working with the Policy Program Coordinator, will develop
youth policy groups in twenty countries in by December 2005. Ac-
tivities are coordinated at national, regional and continent-
wide levels. Organizations interested to collaborate/support in
this work should contact ARYI at aryi_2002@yahoo.com.

ARYI -Women's program

The Women's Program is working with TakingItGlobal HIV/AIDS Pro-
gram and Fair Fund (an organization based in Washington, DC) on
women's programs that have commenced in East Africa and will
spread to other regions in Africa. The work in East Africa is
being supported by two development interns, Dorcas Waithera
(d_waithera@yahoo.co.uk) and Hildah Ngugi (hilosn@yahoo.com).
Both are based in Nairobi, Kenya.

A needs assessment in Kenya of local women's organizations will
take place in May 2005. Results from the needs assessment will
guide the implementation of the program, which will include edu-
cation and capacity building activities, as well as the provi-
sion of funding for local projects by women.

ARYI Volunteer/Internship program

The Volunteer/Internship Program has been very active since its
start in January 2003. An addition to the program will be the
partnership between medical student associations and clinics in
Africa. Presently, a number of volunteers from the US and Europe
will be traveling to Africa to work in ARYI member organizations
in 2005. For more information or to participate in this program,
please contact Charles Xavier, Program Coordinator, at charlake-
ske@yahoo.com.

ARYI Video project

A great video project began in February 2005 in Nairobi, Kenya.
A videographer from the US traveling to Nairobi to work on a
joint project that highlights the use of the arts in addressing
issues around HIV/AIDS (i.e., stigma and discrimination, chil-
dren orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS, etc). The aim of this
project is not just to highlight the arts but give prominence to
alternative forms of education that are powerful in reaching a
large mass. The videographer had meetings with Zachary Ngare
(ARYI country representative for Kenya) to go over the project
and lay out a plan for future media projects.

With the video that was taken in Kenya, editing will be done and
developed materials (video and CD-ROM) will be used at meetings
and events in Africa and in the US. Another phase of this work
will be to build capacity of the organizations using the arts,
especially youth organizations, to produce similar documenta-
ries. ARYI and TakingItGlobal HIV/AIDS program are working on
this type of project with ARYI program representatives. It is
planned that a video company based in the US will travel to Li-
beria, Uganda and Kenya later this year to work with the youth
policy groups.

mailto:aryi_2002@yahoo.com for information about these media
projects.

**************************
Latest News and Activities
**************************

Award

ARYI's proposal for long-term development interns has been
granted through the Commonwealth Games Canada's Canadian Sport
Leadership Corps. ARYI developed a program for the Interns who
will work with the organization in Uganda and Ghana as HIV/AIDS
Youth Development Officers for eight months starting September
2005. The Officers will be involved in community activities de-
veloped by ARYI as well as assisting in the Youth Reproductive
Health program in those respective countries. Way to go ARYI!

International Day of action for women's health

May 28 is designated as the International Day of Action for
Women's Health. Since 1987, women's health advocates worldwide
have observed this day to raise awareness of unacceptably high
rates of deaths and illnesses of women related to pregnancy, es-
pecially in developing countries.

ARYI will hold events in Nigeria commemorating this day. Organi-
zations interested in working with ARYI on these events are en-
couraged to contact Bella Akhagba (ARYI West Africa Regional
representative at achildhealth@yahoo.com.

Latest ARYI Representations in Africa

ARYI is pleased to announce that five new country representa-
tives have joined the team since January 2005: Mohamed Hagi Os-
man (mosamtech@yahoo.com) who will represent ARYI in Somalia,
Narciss Lokwa (infogroupe@yahoo.fr) who represents the Democ-
ratic Republic of Congo, Samuel Navo and Bai Sanu (cher-
ishthekids_sierraleone@yahoo.com) in Sierra Leone, and Kana-
mugire Cleophas (kacleophas@yahoo.fr) representing Rwanda.

*********************
Up-coming Conferences
*********************

7th International AIDS Impact Conference (Apr 4-7 2005) Cape
Town, South Africa
http://www.aidsimpact.net/

2nd International Student Conference on HIV/AIDS and UNMDGs 2005
(17-23 July 2005) Lusaka, Zambia
http://www.isca.org.zm

10th International Women and Health Meeting, (September 2005)
New Delhi, India
HTTp://www.10iwhmindia.org

--
This newsletter is written by volunteers within the African Re-
gional Youth Initiative. To contribute articles, or to submit
comments or questions on the newsletter,
mailto:aryi_2002@yahoo.com