FOUNDATION

2006 Award Winners

It was tough but we finally got there… After reading through, and assessing, over 700 applications from countries all over the world, we finally made a decision as to who would be receiving 2006 Staying Alive Foundation Awards. There are 18 winners in total, some are inspiring, determined individuals, others are youth-focused or youth-led community organisations - regardless of who they are, they all have one thing in common - they're all doing a fantastic job at a grassroots level in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

CHINA: The China Youth Network

The China Youth Network won a 2005 award for the life-skills training that Hang Can, a young volunteer, conducted for ethnic minorities. With their 2006 award, one of Hang's peers, Liu Chenghao will expand the Youth Network's reach by developing a peer education system in the hard-to-reach, ethnically diverse communities of Guizhou and Qinhai that will include culturally adapted HIV/AIDS education materials for at risk youth.

ETHIOPIA: Meaza Woubishet Feissa, Joy Development Association

Meaza is the manager of The Joy Development Association which provides food, clothes, and hygiene products to 100 young people living with HIV/AIDS in and around Awassa. They also establish HIV/AIDS prevention clubs in schools and community centres, and convene panel discussions on HIV/AIDS awareness, HIV discrimination, and the impact of the epidemic on youth.

GHANA: Joy Hardt, Hardthaven International Orphanage

Joy is an American nursing student who is starting an orphanage in northern Ghana with 5 local volunteer workers. The orphanage provides potable water, meals, mosquito nets, toys, towels, school uniforms, and shoes for 27 children who have lost their primary caregivers to AIDS. The orphanage is also engaging in inter-school competitions (quizzes, football matches, etc) to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV.

GHANA: Elvis Morris Donkoh, Alliance for Youth Development

With his 2005 award, Elvis volunteered with the Passion for Life Project to train youth as peer-to-peer HIV prevention counselors in his community. He developed a strong network of young people who work and live among the highly vulnerable and under-served Cape Coast fishing community of young men and sex workers. In 2006, Elvis will establish his own youth-led NGO, Alliance for Youth Development, and their goals are mighty: train 25 youths to provide and promote free VCT services in 2 rural districts; promote and make condoms available in the districts; and provide care and treatment for young people living with HIV and AIDS.

GUATEMALA: Helcon Omar López Hernández, Six Seeds

Helcon created Six Seeds with five other young gay men to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS within an ancient, traditional culture: the Mayan K•iché, who are highly vulnerable to HIV due to their remote lifestyles and obscure language. Helcon and his friends will conduct a series of workshops and radio programs on stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV; Mayan indigenous sexuality; condom awareness and the proper use of them; and general information about the prevention of HIV.

INDIA: Raju Sharma and Rahul Singh, The NAZ Foundation

The Sukhad Yatr Project and the Naz Foundation offers HIV testing and condoms at trucking staging sites on the outskirts of New Delhi. However, the young boys who ride with truckers (the clean-up boys) are not been permitted by the senior truckers to receive condom education. These clean-up boys are between 10-15 years old and have little or no formal education; many are forced to perform sexual acts with the senior and junior truck drivers. Raju and Rahul have added a video component to the existing outreach program in which the youth create 30-second video clips with no dialogue, only music, and are not sexual in nature. The videos subtly promote discussions of condom use that help the truckers understand the need for the clean-up boys to learn about and use condoms.

NIGERIA: Hanatu Bawa, Unique AIDS Control Organization

Hanatu’s NGO, Local Voices, was started with her 2005 Staying Alive Award and her 2006 award will be used to expand their program of peer-to-peer counseling to fight the stigma of HIV/AIDS, and the myth that the disease is caused by witchcraft. They will translate education/advocacy publications into local languages as well as train counselors in the community. Local Voices will also distribute mosquito nets, food, nutrition, and clothing to orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS.

NIGERIA: Ibiye Lawson, Community Empowerment Initiative

Ibiye’s 2005 Staying Alive Award was used to organize inschool and community health trainings on HIV and AIDS, and to build a network of peer educators. In 2006, she and her team are embarking on the "Girls to Mothers Initiative," which aims to reduce the number of girls involved in commercial sex in the community by: creating awareness through the use of stickers, banners, billboards and rallies; promoting the use of condoms and VCT; counseling; vocational training; and the development of micro-credit programs.

NIGERIA: Journalists Against AIDS Nigeria

Eight youth leaders will be identified and placed in JAAIDS’s six-month youth internship program where they will undergo formal training on leadership and project management, covering research and communication, policy and advocacy, training and institution-building, fundraising and accounting, and monitoring and evaluation. Each of the interns will be required to design and implement two youth-focused projects with small seed grants. In addition, forty emerging youth leaders (including at least 10 youth living with HIV) will be identified in Lagos and Abuja to participate in a 2-day workshop that will teach them skills on how to produce youth media and communication messages on HIV and AIDS. They will receive training on basic health journalism skills, HIV/AIDS reporting, online writing, newsletter production and message development.

NIGERIA: Kingsley Essomeonu, Society for Adolescents & Youth Health International

With his 2005 award, Kingsley volunteered with The Youngies, a program that harnesses art and creativity on college campuses to curb the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. In 2006, Kingsley and his SAYHI colleagues will develop oncampus prevention advocacy programs with the formation of state level Campus Against AIDS teams. They also want to promote safe sex and harm reduction around campus, and safe intravenous drug use through drop boxes for used syringes.

NIGERIA: Oninye Belinda Ndubuisi, Economic & Social Empowerment

In 2005, Oninye used her Staying Alive Award to launch a series of peer-education programs that teach youth about HIV prevention and de-stigmatize AIDS. In 2006, she will extend her reach into remote rural populations conducting one-on-one and group campaigns, mentoring and protecting the rights of PWAs, and building the skills needed to develop selfsustaining income generating activities.

SERBIA: Milos Stojiljkovic and Ajsela Skrijelj, Y-Peer Serbia

Y-PEER Serbia is developing four theatre-based peer education trainings in four Serbian cities: Subotica, Loznica, Kragujevac and Novi Pazar. Each training session will last seven days resulting in 30-minute plays about various aspects of HIV/AIDS. The second part of the project will be translating Theatre-Based Techniques for Youth Peer Education: A Training Manual from English to Serbian.

TANZANIA: Charles Dingo, Teens Against AIDS

The Masai are nomadic tribes in Tanzania who are being forced to adjust their customs and migration traditions as modernity takes hold in Tanzania. They have been left out of previous HIV/AIDS education efforts, but Teens Against AIDS wants to change that by recruiting and training peer educators and youth leaders within Masai rural communities. Teens Against AIDS will produce easy to understand HIV prevention materials translated in several dialects used in the target communities with lots of pictures that illustrate the topic being discussed.

> TANZANIA: Makoti Edwin, 22, and Gregory Kamugisha, 24, Africa Alive!

Makoti won a 2005 award for his project which brings HIV prevention education into primary and secondary schools throughout Dar es Salaam. Partnering with Greg in 2006, they will build on last year’s work by training peer educators in multiple schools where they will develop anti-AIDS clubs. They will also convene public discussions and presentations to de-stigmatize AIDS and promote and provide referrals for VCT. They will produce T-shirts and brochures and seize opportunities to present Africa Alive! on TV and radio.

UGANDA and ZAMBIA: Student Partnerships Worldwide

SPW is a lean and effective youth-driven organization identifying at-risk youth who have ideas and potential, and imbuing them with skills and information that will turn them into effective HIV/AIDS advocates, counselors and educators. Their 2006 Staying Alive Award will continue the efforts begun in 2005 to recruit, train, and support 32 Ugandan and 120 Zambian professional peer educators. The PPEs will live and work in the target communities in pairs for 7 months. In Uganda, PPEs will work with 24 primary and secondary schools, reaching 10,000 students each week, plus 4,500 out of school youth and community members. In Zambia, PPEs will work with 100 schools, reaching 40,000 students each week. Just a few years older than the target community youth, the SPW peer educators will be compelling role models for them, as well as sources of accurate information and essential training.

VENEZUELA: Jose Rafael Guillen, Socided Wills Wilde

This 2005 Award winner has become a leader in youth-led HIV prevention programs throughout Venezuela, and they plan on staying true to their mission with their 2006 award. The Sociedad Wills Wilde create theater groups, composed of young people between 16-20 years old, which teach about the impact of HIV/AIDS, emphasizing awareness and prevention. All performances are presented in hard-to-reach low-income communities.

VIETNAM: The Youth Counseling Center

Vietnam is surprising the world with its grass roots mobilization against the tide of AIDS throughout the country. YCC used their 2005 Award to contribute to their in-person and telephone counseling services for youth seeking accurate, confidential information on a range of sexual and reproductive health concerns. In 2006, they will expand their Staying Alive Award activities to train peer educators, create information materials in local dialects, provide counseling to young PWAs and their families, and conduct advocacy with teachers and families of peer educators and young PWAs. They are also planning inschool activities for 14-15 year olds, teaching them HIV/AIDS prevention skills because that age group is often overlooked in their community.

ZAMBIA: Smukoko Phinehas, National Cultural Peace Workers Team

NCPWT addresses HIV/AIDS and youth psychosocial support issues through community facilitation and theater performances. Their theater group is deployed to educate communities on the dangers of defiling a girl child and to dispel traditional practices of forcing sex on virgin girls as a means to cure AIDS. The theater troupes live within the communities for 7 days, and they start by collecting information about the community’s thoughts and feelings on youth defilement and HIV/AIDS. The collected data is then translated into scripts that reflect the findings, so every theater piece is tailored to the needs of the community.

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