Adolescent Girl and Young Women (AGYW) Programme

The three-year programme is funded by the Global Fund through the Networking AIDS Community of Southern Africa (NACOSA) and is aimed at adolescent girls and young women between the ages of 15-24 years. The purpose of the programme is to provide key services to young women to assist them in choosing healthier lifestyles and increasing their access to health and additional layered services such as psycho-social, educational and economic support.

In the past year, there was an increased need for psychosocial support as anxiety levels were much higher due to increased levels of isolation, less access to work opportunities and feeding schemes, increased levels of gender-based violence [GBV] and fear around COVID-19 and its impact. Many young women and staff lost family members and friends over this period and highlighted the need for a more integrated response to mental health issues and grief counselling.

Despite the numerous challenges being faced by the AGYW programme and the world at large, 2272 young women were reached and were able to access comprehensive health services through the team’s efforts.

As the programme resumed limited activities, 243 young women received self-defense training, 12 young women completed the Abangane grief support sessions and 30 young women received Teen parenting training. These numbers were lower than planned due to all activities being halted during lockdown.