"Young People We Care!" – Making a difference in Zimbabwe
07 June 2007
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Zimbabwe country profile
| Millennium
Development Goal 6: HIV, AIDS, malaria & other diseases
 Seventeen-year old Martha has grown up in an era of HIV and AIDS. While
prevention programmes exhort her and other young Zimbabweans to ‘fight AIDS’,
Martha and her siblings live with the effects of the disease every day. After
all, they took care of their ill mother and father before both passed away.
Martha is still grieving for her parents, but, thanks to an innovative
DFID-supported programme known as Young People We Care! (YPWC), she no longer
feels that she must cope on her own. “Young People We Care! made me feel that
although I am orphaned, I am not alone,” she says.
Through YPWC, young people are trained to support members of their own community
whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS. At the heart of the programme is
a belief in facing up to such adversities, refusing to be discouraged by them,
and instead getting on positively with life. The care offered by the programme's
volunteers has proved especially valuable to those orphaned by AIDS, helping
them practically on a day to day level, and giving them hope for the future.
Getting the community on board
By focusing on how communities can help themselves from within, YPWC has unlocked the potential of local youths to lend an enthusiastic
hand to their neighbours. This approach has been heartily endorsed by community
leaders, teachers and parents. As one headmaster noted, “YPWC has helped youths
to become responsible community members.”
Having received their training, YPWC volunteers pay regular visits to
child-headed homes and to children with chronically ill parents. The assistance provided can
be anything from carrying out household chores to helping with homework and
playing games. When asked what they do with the children, one volunteer
poignantly commented, “I make them laugh.” As well as children, volunteers visit
and give help to the elderly.
Those volunteers who are also orphans learn coping skills through YPWC, such as
dealing with their own grief and bereavement, while volunteers who are providing
care to an ill parent are supported during a very stressful and traumatic time
in their lives. As one young man who lost both his parents stated, “YPWC changed my life.”
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Hands-on help
A key part of the volunteers’ work is to bring material benefits to the
households they visit, and they achieve this by organising assistance from
within the community in the form of food, school fees, nutrition gardens and
other necessary items. In particular, orphans have benefited from this help.
The volunteers also play an important role at funerals, in a change to the
tradition that young people and children be excluded from the bereavement and
grieving process. One significant contribution is the making of Memory Boxes,
which commemorate the lives of those who have died by gathering together some of
their belongings. These can prove very comforting to surviving family members
during their grief.
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Young people – part of the solution
 YPWC has given many youths the opportunity to address HIV and AIDS in a way
that also prepares them for adulthood, encouraging them to develop mutually
respectful relationships and teaching them how to communicate effectively. Young
people have said that, because of the programme, they now understand about
responsible sexual behaviour, realising the advantages of delaying sex and
maintaining healthy relationships. In fact, some volunteers have even said that
they would only marry a fellow YPWC volunteer!
Florence and Joseph, two volunteers working in Mutasa district, agree on how
YPWC has helped them. “We have gained a lot since we joined the programme. We
now know how to support affected families and other young people who need us in
our community. We have also gained a lot of confidence and we feel we are making
a difference here in Mutasa.”
Young People We Care! has shown that, when a community taps into the human
potential that exists within it, life can be enriched for the community as a
whole. Reducing the risk of HIV infection is one of the programme's goals, but
providing care and assistance to those who have been affected by HIV and AIDS is
another crucial objective. YPWC's volunteers are bringing help, and hope, to
those around them, and are feeling the great benefit of this to their own
lives. Martha is now eager to discuss her plans for the future. “I want to help
other orphans and vulnerable children," she says, "and to take care of the sick.
Someday I will be married to a supportive spouse, and our children will be YPWC
volunteers!”
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Key Facts
- DFID supported this programme from 2001-2006 under a £20 million sexual
reproductive health programme.
- Of the 5.6 million children in Zimbabwe, 1.6 million are orphans.
57% of these orphans are 10 years or older.
- The appeal of YPWC has been far-reaching and attracted the support of
other donors, including
 UNICEF, as well as the
National AIDS Council.
- YPWC is currently being implemented by 15 non-governmental
organisations throughout Zimbabwe, with
approximately 4,000 young volunteers.
- The programme has also been replicated in other countries in the
region, such as Malawi, Zambia and Swaziland.
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