FutureLife-Now! is a regional programme designed to address the scourge of HIV and the associated challenges related to gender and climate change. To achieve its goal of reducing new HIV infections and increasing adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) amongst children and youth in the SADC Region, the programme leverages the successful SADC Care and Support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) Framework—developed in the early 2000s and which, in 2018, reached over 30 million of the region’s learners with support services. What makes FutureLife-Now! unique? It combines three key ingredients necessary for behaviour change amongst youth: (1) knowledge; (2) access to …

Between May 2019 and February 2020, the FutureLife-Now! team conducted a context analysis and a baseline assessment to establish the status of learners’ knowledge and reported behaviour related to HIV prevention and SRH (sexual and reproductive health), and climate change. Data collection teams, comprising FutureLife-Now! team members and officers from the Ministries of Education, visited each of the 10 pilot schools in the four countries (Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe), where they conducted group interviews with management and teachers, and administered learner questionnaires. They collected data from 22 764 learners (10 391 boys, 12 322 girls and 51 unspecified) across the …

An important component of the FutureLife-Now! programme is the testing of a package of school-based HIV/SRHR services and support in secondary schools. The medical service fair, facilitated by Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in partnership with FutureLife-Now! and its local partner, the United Methodist Church, made a significant contribution towards this support package. Held at Murape Secondary School in Mashonaland East Province on 11 and 12 March, the aim of the fair was to bring medically-related services to the community. In such events, partnerships are key. Members of the United Methodist Church employed in various medical fields—from nurses, doctors, pharmacists …

According to the United Nations, the COVID-19 pandemic is a health and human crisis threatening the food security and nutrition of millions of people around the world. MIET AFRICA’s regional programme, FutureLife-Now!, recently provided food parcels to vulnerable learners and their families in Malawi through its humanitarian emergency COVID-19 response project. With the support of local youth facilitators, Malawi Future-Life Now! In-Country Coordinators provided food parcels to over 700 learners from the 10 FutureLife-Now! schools in Malawi. Food included maize flour, rice, beans, cooking oil, sugar and salt. Hand sanitizer was also provided. During the distribution, which took place between 3-7 July, COVID-19 …

In July, the FutureLife-Now! in-country coordinators and youth facilitator in Zambia visited the programme’s pilot schools, located in the Central and Lusaka Provinces. The purpose of the visit was to distribute 3 875 “dignity packs” to learners. The delivery of the packs—which included items such as soap, Dettol, toothpaste, sanitary towels and fruit juice—gave rise to much excitement and joy among the learners (and staff). The in-country coordinators’ visit to Mukobeko Secondary School to distribute the dignity packs provided the opportunity for feedback on the borehole that had been sunk through the support of FutureLife-Now! Various studies show that a …

During the FutureLife-Now! baseline survey that was conducted in the pilot schools in Lesotho, a scan of their infrastructure showed that all the schools were in dire need of improvement to their water, sanitation and hygiene facilities. For example, St. Barnabas High, a school with an enrolment of 670 learners, 21 teachers and 19 non-academic staff, has, for the last 18 years, been negatively affected by the shortage of water and in recent years has had no running water at all. The Ministry of Education and the British government had provided JoJo tanks to store water for day-to-day activities, but …

As climate change specialist, Dr Donald Kamdonyo has noted recently, “climate change has been recognised as one of the biggest challenges that humanity is facing today,” and negatively affects socio-economic sectors across countries. (Malawi Gears Up to Adapt to Climate Change -September 25, 2019). As a primarily agricultural economy that has seen numerous climate-related disasters in recent years, the government of Malawi is well aware of the implications that climate change has for the population’s livelihoods and development. Climate change adaptation is a key priority for the government and numerous civil society organizations to “to increase the resilience of its …