Mission

Vision:Strengthening community responses to adolescent health & development through the power of football Mission:To provide comprehensive, sustainable health and development initiatives for youthTo capacitate community responses which nurture and promote healthy, motivated, confident youth leaders capable of scaling up WKU programmes in their respective communities through the power of footballTo design services in partnership with the youth, community, partner NGOs and Government stakeholders To provide quality training, technical expertise and continual evaluation of all programmes in pursuit of excellence, in order to implement the WKU model globally

Category

Children and Youth

Additional Information

Africaid was established in 2002 by HIV Nurse Specialists Marcus McGilvray and Nicola Willis in response to the burgeoning HIV & AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Its primary goal was to deliver best practices in HIV & AIDS clinical care and HIV Health Education in Africa. As a result, Africaid became well known within the field of HIV for its development of innovative HIV training materials designed specifically for use within resource poor settings. Its award winning work with National and Local Governments as well as with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) further raised the profile and reputation of Africaid worldwide. In 2005 Africaid launched a pioneering new programme to address what were rapidly becoming the main casualties of HIV infection across Africa – young people. The programme, which came to be known as WhizzKids United, WKU, revolutionised the way in which youth HIV prevention is approached and delivered. Instead of the staid classroom setting which outlined awareness of HIV and the ABC (Abstain, Be faithful, Condomise) response, WKU ‘broke out’ on to the football pitch to use football as an analogy to teach the life skills youth needed(appreciating social and economic status)to remain HIV negative.  This interactive, fun approach culminated in the launch of WhizzKids United’s Health Academy in 2010, offering a complete football-led ‘package’ of prevention, care, treatment and support services for youth. Since its inception over 35,000 youth have benefited from the programmes. WhizzKids United’s relentless hard work in developing HIV interventions which are both Youth and Country specific has been rewarded by the number of high profile Organisations who have been keen to collaborate, partner and deliver WKU unique brand of programmes. These include FIFA  (Africaid has been an implementing organisation of FIFA’s Football for Hope initiative since 2008), UNASA  , UNOSDP  , Streetfootballworld, Oxfam, Harvard Medical School, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, Abbott Laboratories, AMREF   Italy and AMREF South Africa, plus many more. WhizzKids United has earned numerous awards and accolades and is regarded by FIFA as one of the best HIV prevention programmes using football. In addition, CEO and Founder Marcus McGilvray is a Director on the Board of the ‘Sport for Social Change Network’ of Southern Africa, funded by Nike and GIZ, and has spoken on HIV & AIDS in Africa and the UK, in the House of Commons. In 2011 Africaid was approached by the United Nations Association South Africa, in recognition of its good work, to become the UNASA Chapter for KwaZulu Natal in order to promote the Millennium Development Goals across the Region. Whizzkids United is situated in Umgungundlovu District, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa - arguably the most devastated District in the Country by HIV and AIDS. Among South Africa’s 52 district municipalities, Umgungundlovu has the highest HIV prevalence rate among antenatal clinic clients (42.3%), the fourth lowest condom distribution rate (5 condoms per adult male per year), and the fifth highest STI incidence rate (6.5% per year). A recent study conducted by WKU of 8,000 school kids aged 12-16 attending local schools in the area revealed that 4,500 kids qualified as either orphans or vulnerable children. Extended families are the norm for many youth and cases of sexual abuse and rape amongst adolescents is very high. The aforementioned issues lead to a vicious cycle of poor health and high mortality rates, alcohol and substance abuse, crime, sexual abuse and an aura of hopelessness prevails. WKU is committed to both completing and rigorously evaluating its community model of care of adolescent health and development. We are confident that having once successfully developed a successful model in a community most devastated by HIV we will be in a perfect position to replicate this in communities throughout developing countries.