dance4Life

Situation

UNAIDS’ and UNFPA’s latest figures illustrate that half of the new HIV infections every day are among the under 25’s. As the single largest group infected and affected by the virus, a huge part of the potential solution lies with young people. That’s exactly why dance4life involves them. Through our programmes we therefore strengthen their voice, involve them and empower them to push back the spread of HIV and AIDS. The dance4life schools programme is effectively linking HIV prevention with sexual and reproductive health and rights for young people.

Goal

dance4life is powering a movement that creates social change at global and community level by taking action to: • improve young people’s sexual reproductive health and rights, and in particular: improving access to sexuality education and improving access to youth friendly services • challenge stigma and discrimination and break down taboos that surround sexuality, especially focusing on HIV and AIDS.

Main activities

The dance4life schools project has four steps: • First dance4life INSPIRES young people aged 13 to 19 to become involved. Our local tour teams travel to participating schools to INSPIRE young people through music, drums and dance. We promote an open discussion about HIV, which breaks down the stigma and taboos regarding sexuality and HIV. Young people living with HIV are part of the tour team and their stories form the heart of the performance • Once inspired to become part of dance4life, we EDUCATE young people about sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV and AIDS. Skill building workshops are organised to increase their knowledge and self-esteem. They also learn the skills needed for better communication, negotiation, decision-making, leadership and entrepreneurship. All of which empowers them to make positive decisions about their futures. • Equipped with these empowering skills, almost half of the young people we meet are motivated by dance4life to take ACTION. They change the way their family and friends view HIV and AIDS and make a positive change in their community. We call these young people AGENTS4CHANGE, as they are making a difference to the world. • To CELEBRATE the achievements of the agents4change, a powerful global dance event is organised every two years on the Saturday before World AIDS Day. Only those young people who took action are invited to attend. United by one cause and connected live via satellite, they dance together to inspire and gain support from the rest of the world, and to remind the world leaders of the promises they made with the Millennium Development Goals.