Contributing towards lowering new HIV infections amongst AGYW
In recent years, Zimbabwe has made great strides in HIV combination prevention, resulting in a 45% reduction in new infections from 2015 to 2021. However, in areas with high rates of HIV, only 40% of treatments aimed at adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) were accessible. To address this issue, the Development Agenda for Girls and Women in Africa Network (DAWA) and My Age Zimbabwe have come together to implement the ViiV project known as ‘Connecting Adolescent Girls and Women for HIV Prevention.’
My Age Zimbabwe Trust is a youth-led organization that prioritizes the participation of young people in developmental processes, including addressing HIV and AIDS and promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in Zimbabwe. Over the past 5 years, My Age has successfully implemented the Girls Choose project, which focuses on improving access to SRHR, HIV, and gender-based violence (GBV) information and services in Masvingo Province.
On the other hand, DAWA is a feminist network founded and led by girls and young women in Zimbabwe. They have a strong track record of creating spaces for advocacy on various issues, including access to comprehensive SRHR and HIV information and services, as well as promoting reproductive justice.
Through the ViiV project, both organizations aim to reduce new HIV infections among AGYW in Masvingo Urban and Mwenezi, as well as promote health-seeking behavior among these girls and young women. This will be achieved through innovative methods of information sharing, generating demand, and mobilizing the community to improve access, utilization, and retention of HIV combination prevention methods. This project will ultimately contribute to a decrease in new HIV infections and increased knowledge on HIV and AIDS among AGYW.
The project aims to improve access, utilization, and retention of HIV prevention methods through innovative approaches to information sharing, demand generation, and community mobilization.
This project will complement existing efforts to revitalize HIV prevention for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) at the national level. Its aim is to showcase the feasibility of inclusive and comprehensive projects that are led by AGYW and focused on accelerating HIV prevention efforts. This project will harmonize with various ongoing initiatives, such as the Community-led Monitoring Program by UNAIDS, the DREAMS project, and the AGYW Prevention Self-Assessment tool by the South-to-South Learning Network, in support of the localized Global HIV Prevention roadmap.
With a primary objective of scaling up into districts with high HIV incidence among AGYW in Zimbabwe, the project will then proceed to engage with community-based, youth, and women-led organizations to foster collaborations and pool resources. Its ultimate goal is to expand the impact of its innovations, particularly the mobile application, to a wider group of AGYW. Additionally, the project will work closely with UNAIDS and the Ministry of Health in Zimbabwe to enhance access to accurate HIV prevention information and services for AGYW.
DAWA holds GBV sports tourney in Mwenezi Masvingo Mirror June 8, 2024
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MIRROR REPORTER
MWENEZI – Development Agenda for Girls and young Women in Africa Network (Dawa) held a sports tournament for girls and women aged 15 – 35 in Mwenezi on Wednesday to raise awareness on Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the district.
Five teams participated in the tournament held at Rutenga Stadium and attended by representatives from Mwenezi Rural District Council, Zimbabwe Republic Police, Mwenezi Ward 18 Councillor Tawanda Muza, Assistant District Development Coordinator (DDC) Mark Masiya and Ministry of Sport, Arts, Recreation and Culture Mwenezi District head Edson Kuseka.
The tournament ran under the theme: Tosirika (a Swahili word meaning silence is not an option).
DAWA is a resource hub for adolescent girls and young women to access information and technical support. It operates in several countries including Angola, Botswana, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania and Rwanda. It operates in Mwenezi wards 2 and 18.
DAWA Advocacy and Network Coordinator, Tendai Kunyelesa told The Mirror that the tournament was a platform to bring girls and young women together for them to be educated on GBV.
“We chose to have a netball and soccer tournament because we realised that most people love sports so it’s a way of crowd puling our beneficiaries so that we teach them about GBV,” said Kunyelesa.
She added that they are operating in wards 2 and 18 because GBV is rampant in the wards. Most women in the wards are not economically empowered and are dependent on their husbands making them vulnerable, she added.
Tsembwe FC won the soccer tournament after coming tops against Tavamo FC and Garavatata FC. The outfit won on penalties against Garavata FC in the final match. Only Garavata and Tavamo contested in netball and Garavata won 10 – 6.
Kuseka hailed DAWA for incorporating sports through their GBV teachings citing that it is an excellent way to crowd pull people because most people love sports due to limited entertainment.
“Using sports to teach GBV is an excellent move taken by DAWA, moat people love sports because they do not have enough entertainment,” said Kuseka.
Tsembwe FC won by a penalty shootout while Garavata beat Tavamo by 10 goals to 6 in the netball match.
DAWA representatives educated the players and other stakeholders about GBV after the tournament.
Masiya applauded Dawa for the initiative. He said it will also inspire girls and women to take up sporting as a career.
Ward 18 Councillor Tawanda Muza said such an initiative will reduce the number of GBV cases in his ward.
He added that his ward is close to a truck stop and most girls and boys who have nothing to do end up working as sex workers.
“My ward is the most affected in terms of GBV because it’s close to the highway which links South Africa and Zimbabwe. There is a truck stop and girls and boys who have nothing to do end up throwing themselves to these truck drivers so these kind of tournaments will occupy them,” said Muza.
Chidochashe Tizora, a beneficiary of Dawa hailed the tournament. She said GBV cases are decreasing as women can now identify the causes of GBV.
“I would like to thank Dawa for providing a relaxing platform to learn about GBV and to also host sports tournaments for us, we are learning a lot and GBV is decreasing,” said Tizora.