Annual Report 2004
Text-only Version
Youth Leadership & Participation
The Firelight Foundation encourages and supports youth leadership and participation. We fund organizations that actively engage youth in decision-making and involve them as partners rather than as mere recipients of services. Children and youth are the experts on their own lives.
Just as youth must be heard in their own communities and by the organizations
they work with, youth should also have an opportunity to share their insights
in larger forums. In July 2004, Firelight sponsored Siphelile Kaseke (see
page 69) to attend the XVth International AIDS Conference in Bangkok.
Siphelile participated in the conference’s Youth Committee as a formal
representative of young people who have been affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan
Africa. In 2005, Firelight will join with other foundations and partner
organizations in the Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS (CCABA) to
ensure that children are well represented at the next International AIDS
Conference, which will be held in Toronto in August 2006.
| The Convention on the Rights of the
Child is a universally agreed apon set of standards spelling out the
basic human rights that children everywhere have. Participation
is one of the guiding principles of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child.
“The principle affirms that children are full-fledged persons
who have the right to express their views in all matters affecting
them and requires that those views be heard and given due weight
in accordance with the child’s age and maturity. It recognizes
the potential of children to enrich decision-making processes, to
share perspectives and to participate as citizens and actors of
change.” |
Youth as Advocates and Leaders
Youth, especially young women, are at the highest risk of HIV infection.
Their participation is crucial to the success of community efforts to
create awareness, reduce discrimination, and prevent the further spread
of HIV. Firelight supports a growing number of organizations that sponsor
peer education, youth leadership training, and youth-led HIV/AIDS awareness
campaigns. Several of our grantee-partners are founded and led by youth.
In 2004, one of these organizations, Tanzania Teens Against AIDS, held a youth leadership development workshop for 97 young people affected by HIV/AIDS. The youth “agreed not to sit down and lament, but to work hard to avoid situations that compromise our future.” They reported that, “It was the first time that orphans and vulnerable children were able to get together in one place without the interference and intimidation from parents, caretakers, and instructors. There was total trust. Our greatest achievement was the determination and commitment to our education and avoiding behaviors that lead to young people’s vulnerability to AIDS.”
Firelight’s Partner, Youth Philanthropy Worldwide,
Reports on Youth Together Against AIDS
Pen Pals Across Borders
As you read this, letters of friendship are traveling between California
students and young people in Cameroon, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda.
The letters are brightly colored, are decorated with stickers or drawings,
and have a photo of the author enclosed. They offer a unique glimpse into
the life of a young person living in another country and culture. Even
more powerfully, they demonstrate the interests, challenges, and joys
shared by young people worldwide. They are seeds of friendship.
These letters form the foundation of Youth Together Against AIDS (YTAA),
a project that inspires young people to take action in the global fight
against HIV/AIDS. Based on a pen pal exchange program initiated by Firelight
in 2000, YTAA has been coordinated by Youth Philanthropy Worldwide (YPW)
with the support of Firelight funds since 2002. The project now includes
over 375 young people in 5 U.S. high school classes and 4 African countries,
involving them not only in a pen pal exchange, but also in work to mobilize
their peers and elders in HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, and care activities.
| Youth Voice is an extracurricular group at Pacific
Collegiate School in Santa Cruz, California. They describe the motivation
for their YTAA project:
“We decided that we really wanted to create something that would connect the youth here with our brothers and sisters in Africa. We came up with the idea of compiling a book of poems and artwork from both our Pen Pals in Africa and youth here at home. With the help of YPW and the Firelight Foundation, and the inspiration from our African Pen-Pals, our project has come to life… Our hope is that this project will spread awareness of AIDS by bringing the voices of those affected by the AIDS pandemic to as many people as possible. By opening the minds and hearts of people who haven’t experienced the affects of AIDS, we wish to offer a peace to Youth that at least their Voice has been heard.” Youth Voice plans to host book release events for their poetry
collection. Proceeds from book sales will support the HIV/AIDS prevention
efforts of their pen pal partners. |
From Awareness to Action
In partnership with Firelight, YPW aims to “grow and strengthen YTAA
as a pilot for comprehensive youth engagement that develops well-rounded,
globally-minded activist-philanthropists.” In addition to coordinating
the letter exchange, YPW leads participants in a youth-driven grantmaking
activity. Each YTAA student group works together to develop and propose
a service project that tackles some aspect of the AIDS pandemic.
Each participating group – both those in Africa and those in the U.S. – reviews the proposals of all the other groups and votes on the ones they think deserve funding. Every group receives some funding weighted by votes received. Recent grants of $250 each were awarded to CETRUD’s “Youth for AIDS Awareness in Kasese (Karusandara)” and NACWOLA’s “The Hope of NACWOLA,” both in Uganda. CETRUD’s Karusandara group brings youth together and uses games and fun to teach them HIV-prevention strategies. The group also produces and distributes HIV-prevention materials and constructs nutrition gardens for families affected by AIDS. NACWOLA writes that they “raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and its effects on children and youth … through drama. Theatre is a very important way of passing information or messages in Ugandan society since most people have no access to radios, TVs, newspapers and cannot afford paid concerts.”
Expanding Youth Involvement Through Activist-Philanthropy Kits
With Firelight’s support, YPW is now working to bring YTAA to a much
larger number of young people through the development of HIV/AIDS Activist-Philanthropist
Kits. These kits will be made available to classrooms, activity clubs,
service clubs, and individuals as an easy-to-follow guide to the many
ways young people can make a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The kits will provide ideas and resources for advocacy, fundraising, organizing
community events, and connecting with allies on this issue.
Name of organization or school, location, and coordinator(s)
Association Francois-Xavier Bagnoud – Houghton, South Africa
– Grace Mnguni
– Sonto Manyathi
– Eric Duma
– Maki Makunyane
Benishyaka Association – Kigali, Rwanda
– Jolly Ntungire
Cameroon National Association for Family Welfare – North West Province, Cameroon
– Jude Boja
– Belack Jimbam Ernest
Centre for Environmental Technology and Rural Development (CETRUD) – Kasese, Uganda
– Godfrey Kasozi
National Coalition of Women Living with AIDS (NACWOLA) – Kampala, Uganda
– Cecilia Ajom
In the United States
Anzar High School San Juan Bautista, California
– Marilyn Breiling
Pacific Collegiate School Santa Cruz, California
– Michele Hutton
– Darrell Steely
– Alan Graves
– Sarah Baumgart
Please note that this Annual Report covers the period from October 1,
2003 through September 30, 2004.
If you are interested in receiving a copy of this report, please send an email to Cheryl Talley-Moon at Cheryl@firelightfoundation.org.
