Thinking about the future
30 March 2007
The Alliance has joined partner NGO Saber Viver to work on a year-long project in Brazil with adolescents who have been living with HIV since childhood. The 13 to 18-year-olds will write about their experiences in a bilingual magazine Saber Viver Jovem (Youth Savoir Faire), to be distributed in Brazil and other countries where the Alliance has a presence.
Working with adolescents who have been living with HIV since childhood is an emerging programme area that will become increasingly relevant as antiretrovirals prolong life. Brazil is one of the few low-income countries where there are significant numbers of these young people.
The project Thinking about the Future, led by Saber Viver in collaboration with another NGO Pela Vidda, will focus on how young people encounter and deal with the challenges of living with HIV. This new project builds on the Alliance’s already significant role in HIV work with adolescents. There is also a possibility of collaborating with Save the Children UK in Brazil and Colombia on the work.
The project, which began in March 2007, will include 24 arts and literature workshops to encourage the young people involved to find out more about each other and how they cope with the challenges of living with HIV as adolescents. The workshops will focus on rights and responsibilities, including sexual and reproductive rights for both girls and boys. They will also cover planning for the future; social interactions with family, schools, institutions, health services, and non-governmental organisations and stigma and discrimination, including self-discrimination.
For more information contact Erika Paez-Manjarres on epaez@aidsalliance.org
