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As the current chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), 2023 was Angola’s turn to host the annual meeting of Ministers of Health. Held in the capital, Luanda, from 25–28 November 2023, the meeting was attended by ministers and senior officials from the Ministries of Health, as well as those responsible for HIV&AIDS in the respective Member States, and with the stated aim of noting progress reports and adopting decisions on key regional health initiatives and priorities for the region.

Over an intense three days, delegates listened to presentations highlighting important progress made in the region on malaria, tuberculosis and HIV&AIDS. Presenters also introduced various data-tracking tools and new “scorecards” that will better track health priorities such as reducing malnutrition, eliminating malaria, health financing and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

The meeting made specific and important references to the need for oversight of adolescents’ nutritional health and the necessity for ongoing HIV education and prevention programming,

David Ramushu Secondary School in Kabwe is situated in one of the most lead-polluted areas in Zambia. The effects of lead poisoning, coupled with other issues, have devastating effects on the health of, not only the learners, but also on members of the community at large. This is naturally of grave concern to FutureLife-Now! with its focus on the health and wellbeing of those in the school communities it serves. So, to support the school and its community, in May and October last year, the FutureLife-Now! programme organised health services jamborees for learners, teachers and members of the community at David Ramushu Secondary.

The relevance and importance of such events are summed up by Richard Ngoma, teacher and FutureLife-Now! focal point person at David Ramushu.

Through various presentations by health officials from Kasanda Health Centre, I was reminded about the realities of the gap that existed on crosscutting issues and how teachers and stakeholders are the driving force … when it comes to information dissemination. 

These days, young people are so often urged to “dream big”, yet for whatever reason—lack of opportunity, lack of the necessary skills, inadequate resources—for many the dreams sour and are left unfulfilled. But here is a story of a boy, a young man, whose talents were nurtured through the FutureLife-Now! Programme and, by grabbing the opportunity presented to him, is making his dreams come to fruition. At the age of 18, Graham Tinotenda Mushavi has become a published author. His book, Behind masculinity—The reality, was inspired by his experience in the Boys’ Mentorship Club that FutureLife-Now! started at his school.

Graham is a teenager who has just completed his A levels at Nashville High School in Gweru, in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. His early years certainly were not easy: he and his younger sister were raised by his mother and grandmother, yet he worked hard at school and was appointed head boy at the start of 2023,

As one of the FutureLife-Now! Phase 1 pilot schools, Fobane High School bears witness to the positive impact the programme is having on its learners. This is true for climate change, with many learners demonstrating improved awareness of climate issues, and importantly, now engaging actively to address some of the challenges. There is even evidence of positive behaviour change not directly related to their schooling.

Nkuebe Moshoeshoe, the FutureLife-Now! focal point teacher at the school, provides some background. The community where the school is situated has only recently (2019) been supplied with electricity: before that, the population was dependent on having to cut down trees to supply firewood for cooking and heating. This resulted in severe de-forestation: unfortunately, the cut-one, plant-two rule was unknown in these parts. The school faced the same challenges as the community: with trees gone, it was difficult to find firewood for cooking the daily meal provided to learners.

The effects of climate change are increasingly felt across the globe, not least in southern Africa. Malawi has been particularly badly hit, with, for example, the monstrous Cyclone Freddy having wreaked devastation across the country last year. So FutureLife-Now!’s focus on climate action has resonated in the schools where it has been introduced.

This was the backdrop for two exciting virtual interschool climate dialogues that FutureLife-Now! facilitated in October 2023. Under the theme, “Understanding Climate Change: Exploring its Impact on Different Sectors”, the main objective was to afford learners a platform to exchange experiences, share best practices, discuss challenges and propose solutions pertaining to climate change. Ngowe and Natola Community Day Secondary Schools engaged together in the first of the dialogues on 9 October, with Mbinzi Community Day Secondary School and Dowa Secondary School following the next day.

The comprehensive discussions were stimulating and varied, with learners engaging vigorously on the effects of climate change across pivotal sectors,

Exciting news for the FutureLife-Now! community and all those with a stake in gender equality in the education sector! At their annual meeting held this year in June in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ministers of Education adopted the SADC Boys’ and Young Men’s Vulnerability Framework as an addendum to the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning Policy Framework (CSTL PF).

The Boys’ and Young Men’s Vulnerability Framework  is a comprehensive planning framework that supports the Member States of SADC to implement interventions to achieve gender equality through the provision of prevention, protection and support services for boys and young men. Its development was informed by a regional study on boys’ vulnerability that was commissioned in 2019. The study found that there is an urgent need to strengthen the engagement of boys and young men to support gender equality and female empowerment,

Autone Mululuma, a young man growing up in a peri-urban area in the Chimbombo District in the Central Province in Zambia, faced a problem. In the community where he lives, many of the young people, both males and females, are disaffected and have little opportunity for passing their free time productively. As a result, many indulge in illicit activities and destructive behaviour. But Autone wanted more for himself. He sought for a skill that could empower him, while delivering him from the temptations his peers were falling prey to. But his aspirations seemed farfetched and likely to fail: at the time, there seemed to be no programmes in schools aimed at empowering young people with entrepreneurial skills.

Fortunately for Autone, he was a learner at Moomba Boarding Secondary School, where he encountered the FutureLife-Now! Programme. The programme provided Moomba with a hundred chicks and Autone expressed an interest in working with them.

Fort Rixon Secondary School in Zimbabwe provides just one example of how FutureLife-Now! has impacted a school and its community. Through the programme, much has changed for the better at the school. In the words of the school head, Lawrence Sibanda:

The implementation of the FutureLife-Now! programme has helped the school to work harmoniously with partners in improving the health of learners and community members through the services being offered by different partners.

So the school was excited when the FutureLife-Now! team suggested it organise a health services fare. A big responsibility, for sure, but the community leadership, led by the local counsellor, Jostinah Ndondo, mobilised the villagers to assist in the organisation. She set up a working committee comprising representatives from the 12 villages that make up Fort Rixon School’s catchment area.

About 590 learners, teachers and members of the community attended the successful event,