As a commitment to ensure that adolescent girls are empowered with knowledge and skills to prevent HIV infection, unplanned pregnancy, among others, risk behaviours that hinder their successful transition into productive and healthy adults, Youth Empowerment and Development Initiative, YEDI, with support from FIFA Foundation, carried out a one-week Christmas holiday camp in Abuja.

Tagged ‘SKILLZ Holiday Camp – December Edition’, the 5-day non-residential camp utilised YEDI’s girl-focused age-appropriate and gender-sensitive curriculum – SKILLZ Girl – that combines soccer metaphors, fair-play soccer and experimental activities with high impact health information that equips adolescents with the knowledge to live healthy lives and avoid risks.

The camp which opened at Junior Secondary School, Dutsen-Sagwari, Abuja admitted and graduated over 150 adolescent girls aged 13-19.

Topics centred on family life HIV/AIDS prevention education, sexual reproductive health, and rights education, self-awareness skills, physical activities, etc.

Speaking on the programme, YEDI’s Regional Head, North – Victor Nzenwa-Orji noted:

“School holidays are high-risk periods for youth, as they often have little supervision and few opportunities for structured activities.

So, to accelerate the reach of our programmes in building healthy youth and communities, “YEDI always convenes a weeklong, intensive non-residential community-based socio-behavioral health camps, which offer adolescents opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills on SRH, HIV and Malaria prevention and life coping skills.

Participants at the camps who have parental consent also have access to HIV testing services, counselling, and referrals for treatment and follow-up care.”

The camp sponsored by FIFA Foundation was meant to complement YEDI’s year-long in-school and out-of-school interventions as well as create linkages to specialised health support for at-risk adolescent girls in this community.

According to Victor, the SKILLZ Holiday Camp curriculum is modeled after Grassroot Soccer SKILLZ Curricula which builds young people’s SRH and life skills assets, facilitates access to health, social services, and support adherence to treatment and positive protective behaviours.

“It combines soccer metaphors and activities with high impact health information that engages youth and breaks down cultural barriers.

“The curriculum is delivered by young female Peer Educators called ‘SKILLZ Coaches’ in small groups of about 10 participants per Coach to foster a close-knit relationship between the Coaches and participants.

That way, the energy, mind, and creativity of participants are engaged through fun, sports and educational activities creating an environment conducive to learning.

“Apart from giving them daily breakfast and lunch, we also taught them some craft skills like soap-making, how to tie the traditional headgear (Gele) and Ankara/jean bags.

At the end of the camp, they were equipped with the knowledge to make self-determined life decisions,” he added.
One of the participants, Nasima Suleiman, 15, recounted lessons learned at the camp to include: abstinence as the best way to prevent HIV, and the three skills to say to sex when you are not ready.

Another participant, Joy Nnaji noted that she came to the camp a very shy person but returned with a boosted self-esteem. As for 13-year-old Zainab Abdulsalam, it was at the camp that she learned how to calculate her menstrual cycle

Source:- Vanguardngr

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