Invest in Youth in Swaziland: Listen - Engage - Amplify  REMIX 

The Idea: 

A Swazi Youth Network - engaging youth in Swaziland, who are heading their households after losing their parents to HIV/AIDS - with innovative technologies that connect them to the knowledge they need to broaden their choices for the future.

YouthAssets recently convened a series of 12 weekly VOIP teleconferences with ten youth serving as YouthAssets' Youth Advisory Board.  Listed below are key outcomes resulting from these weekly teleconferences :

• Youth report that they feel more support and less isolation by communicating with other youth with similar circumstances. Before our official teleconferences began, youth were already "buzzing" each other every night just to check in. After one week, the youth called us and asked if they could come together for a funeral for one of the youth's aunts. And one youth offered a bag of mealie meal to another youth when she said her family was out of food.
• Youth earned money to cover basic needs. For their participation in our teleconferences, youth received a small stipend via SMS airtime transfer to their phone, which they either sold for cash or used to access their personal networks to obtain food or other resources.

Building on the momentum gathered through these teleconferences, we plan to take our work with the youth one step further.  We would like to bring these youth together for four days for an "Innovation Lab" where youth who are heading households can develop strategies for survival as well as explore how mobile technology can support implementation of these strategies.  Outcomes of the Innovation Lab are:

• Youth will develop strategies for improving nutrition and income generation.
• Youth will brainstorm ideas for how mobile technology can support them.

This network will allow us to continue to learn from youth and youth to learn from each other within their communities.  This network will utilize both VOIP and SMS to connect youth in similar circumstances providing emotional support and allowing them to share survival strategies.  Outcomes of this intervention will be:

• Increasing youth's support network so that each youth can identify several resources available to them
• Development of strategies for finding both food and income opportunities

YouthAssets: YouthAssets is currently working in Swaziland with youth most affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, within their communities.  YouthAssets' mission is to empower youth in Southern Africa, particularly those heading households, by engaging them with innovative technologies that connect them to the knowledge they need to broaden their choices for the future.  

Program Areas:  These initiatives - Listening, Engaging and Amplifying - are currently being implemented together in Swaziland, a country with the highest per capita rate of HIV/AIDS in the world. As a result of this epidemic, many youth have been orphaned by the death of one or both parents.  Young people now dominate the Swazi population with 46% under the age of 15 and only 3% over the age of 65, according to a recent UNAIDS report. The report also estimated that children run 15,000 households in Swaziland. Lacking the material and emotional support normally provided by parents, these orphaned youth have already started using mobile technology to access valuable resources and information. YouthAssets anticipates that providing greater access to these resources and information will allow youth in Swaziland to make informed choices about their future and achieve a more stable and sustainable way of living.

Key Achievements to date: 

Research on Youth: YouthAssets partnered with the Ministry of Youth and local kaGogo Secretaries to conduct interviews with youth-headed households in rural Swaziland.

• Conducted in-depth interviews with 54 youth on their dreams, resources, challenges, and access to information and communication technologies (ICTs).
• Analyzed data from the interviews to categorize strengths and challenges of youth-headed households and statistically assessed rural youth's access to information and communications technologies

BarCamp Swaziland: YouthAssets hosted BarCamp Swaziland, a technology conference, on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at the House on Fire in Malkerns, Swaziland.   YouthAssets' Youth Advisory Board worked at this event which was sponsored and supported by Swazi technology companies.  More information on this event can be found at www.barcampswaziland.org.  Outcomes included:

• Over sixty people attended, including local engineers, internet service providers, artists, music promoters, software developers, students, and non-profits including the Grameen Foundation.
• Attendees networked, demonstrated their newest products, and brainstormed ideas for future products.
• Nine youth received income and work experience at the event.
• Nine youth interacted with professionals, learned new technology skills, and were exposed to the technology field and careers.
• Local Swazi companies sponsored the event with the potential for income for YouthAssets in the coming years.

Thank you for considering us as an idea to address the challenges these youth are presented by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  We have a dedicated team of youth and adults in both Swaziland and the US with a broad range of experience and knowledge in international development, technology, youth education, and Swazi culture ready to work together to support these innovative youth.

We hope you support our vision for a world where orphans and other vulnerable youth in southern Africa have access to the knowledge, resources, and opportunities they need to create the future they choose for themselves, their community, and their world. 

 VISIT OUR SITE: http://youthassets.org/