Dance4life Seeking Peer Educators

Dance4life the Netherlands is looking for 3 peer educators from the global south

As an HIV/AIDS peer educator for dance4life you are part of a tour team that will travel throughout The Netherlands for 5 weeks to visit all schools who are participating in the dance4life schools project.

Three tour teams will be formed, and each tour team consists of 6 people:

1. a facilitator

2. a drummer

3. a foreign peer educator (coming from a country where there is a high prevalence of hiv infections)

4. a young Dutch hiv-positive man/woman (between 18-30 years old)

5. a tour manager

6. a technician

WHEN

Period of stay in The Netherlands will be from:

27 August 2010 – 17 October 2010 (7 weeks)

The 3 peer educators will take part in the training days for all tour team members the first 2 weeks (30, 31 August and 1, 6, 7 8 September). The tour will start on 13 September and this will take on 5 whole weeks.

Note: The peer educators will not be in The Netherlands during the final dance4life event on 27 November. It would be great if they are able to attend the dance4life event in their own country so we can see them via satellite during the live connection at the event. This will make the connection with all participating dance4life countries even more impressive.

ACCOMMODATION

During the tour they will travel as a team and will be staying together with the team in hotels, bed & breakfasts or apartments near the schools where they perform. During the training days and in the weekends the peer educators will be staying in an apartment located in Amsterdam (the same city as where the dance4life office is based).

WHAT IS IMPORTANT WHEN YOU WANT TO BE A PEER EDUCATOR IN A DUTCH TOUR TEAM?

- Your story.

It’s important that every peer educator has his or her own personal story related to HIV/AIDS. It must be a story ‘from the heart’, something that touches you and will also touch the hearts of others. A story from the heart will make the HIV/AIDS disaster tangible and personal and will subsequently cause involvement and action under the students.

- Your age.

The Dutch students (age 12-19) have to be able to identify with the peer educator (so age preferably between 18-25).

- Your language.

Your English should be fluent and your voice strong.

- A passport.

You must have a passport that will allow you to travel to The Netherlands, or be willing to get one (in case of financial restrictions we might be able to help).

- Your performance/presentation skills.

You should like to dance (the dance4life drill) and speak up before crowds of youngsters (50-400 students at once).

- Your team skills.

You have to work as a team and be willing to invest in the team (and vice versa of course!).

- Your mental power.

You will have one of the key roles in the performance at schools in terms of getting the message across. At times this can be demanding and you should be prepared for some intense weeks.

-         Your support for dance4life.

You have to share the goals, vision and approach of dance4life.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM DANCE4LIFE?

- Tickets, accommodation and daily expenses will be taken care of by dance4life, as well as costs for purchasing visa/passport (if necessary).

- If a peer educator has to take time off from work for these 7 weeks and therefore miss out on a salary, a financial compensation for this needs to be discussed with Walter & Patrick at the time of the selection procedure. We will then discuss if and how dance4life can (partly) provide for this income. dance4life will need a proof from the employer.

- An amazing 7 weeks that you will never ever forget!!

Although the time in The Netherlands will be intense and quite ‘heavy’ (long days, early mornings, telling your personal story over and over again to large groups) the reward is immense. Mostly in terms of the ‘kick’ you will get from working with the students and bonding with the tour team mates. And from being part of a wonderful movement of international connection and solidarity where we all have one purpose: stopping the spread of hiv/aids and making everybody in the world aware of this need + challenging them to do something about it!

HOW TO APPLY FOR BEING A PEER EDUCATOR?

Fill in the dance4life peer educators application form[1] and include a picture!

The personal story is very important as is your motivation on why you think you should be one of the three peer educators in Dutch school tour in 2010.

All applications should be with Walter before April 1^st 2010.

Email: walter.odede@dance4life.co.ke

African Youth Leaders Introduce the youth Charter at a Social Media Forum

African Youth Leaders Introduce the youth Charter at a Social Media Forum

Friday 19^th March 2010

Venue: University of Nairobi Sports Ground Nairobi, Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya— At least 100 youth leaders from 24 African countries will introduce the African Youth Charter to the public today, 19^th March 2010, at a social media forum at 3.00pm at the University of Nairobi Sports Ground. Maina Kiai, the immediate former Chair of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), will officiate at the forum.

The youth have been attending a Pan African Youth Meeting at Lukenya Gateway since 15^th -19^th March 2010 to discuss new tools and effective strategies of youth participation in democracy and governance in Africa. The weeklong event culminates in a public social media forum today.

Dubbed the Youth AfriCamp 2010, the theme of the forum is: Youth, Media, and Governance. An initiative of Open Society Institute Youth Program, the Youth AfriCamp is the first of its kind in the region.

The Pan African Forum seeks to provide a platform for positive transformation of African youth by encouraging them to harness new strategies and tools to get their message heard. At the forum, the youth will showcase their work, share their experiences, discuss the African Youth Charter and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance; and learn how they can apply these important instruments in their work. Hon Cecily Mbarire, Kenya’s Assistant Minister for Tourism and Wildlife and Member of Parliament for Runyenjes addressed the youth on Wednesday 17^th March 2010, at Lukenya Gateway.

The Open Society Institute (OSI) is a New York-based organization with a presence in over sixty countries around the world. OSI is a non-profit operating and grantmaking foundation that aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to support the rule of law, education, public health, and independent media. Since 2005, OSI has been represented in East Africa through its Nairobi office, the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA).

For more information on the Youth AfriCamp 2010 contact: www.idebate.org/africamp

In East Africa: Linda Ochiel, Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA), at Lochiel@osiea.org or + 254 727-642-193 or Ronald Rwankangi, Open Society Initiative for East Africa, at rrwankangi@osiea.org or +256772302979

On Zuma Leadership and Africa’s Youth

Leadership can be described as a process of social influence. It is not just the ability to lead a group of followers effectively.

The Greek philosopher, Aristotle cited character as the foundation of leadership – “to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way …” (Aristotle, Ethics II.9)

But for those who may say that Aristotle represents western values, what about African traditional leadership?

What made the chiefs of  Mali and Songhai, or for that matter Great Zimbabwe or Buganda leaders?

Traditional leadership was based on a centrally controlled hierarchy of authority. Leaders such as Shaka Zulu rose because they displayed charisma and valour in protecting their territory. For this protection, such leaders were often allocated land, livestock and of course brides!

That was the way. Today, we pay hefty salaries to our leaders, and even though democracy and good governance have emerged, we still demand that our leaders represent our national values.

Role Models

In the academic study of leadership, starting from behavioural theories of the 1950s, the focus on who or what is a leader has moved from what leaders do to how they act. In that way, the impact of their actions on their followers has been acknowledged as a way to assess the quality of their leadership.

Barack Obama is a recent example. Many youth even in Africa got inspired to believe that they could succeed in making change. In other words, he led by example.

Zuma Leadership

This week, it emerged that South Africa’s 67 year old President Jacob Zuma fathered his 20th child out of wedlock with the daughter of a friend, 29 years younger than him.

Though it is heartening that Mr. Zuma has publicly acknowledged his paternity, the question remains whether his actions have had repercussions on his leadership credentials.

The President was also quoted saying that his actions didn’t undermine his government’s efforts to combat AIDS. The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in South Africa is among the highest in Africa with the predominant new contraction rate being among the youth. This is the same throughout sub-Saharan Africa, with the scourge being mainly felt in the working age population. Then there is also the generation of AIDS orphans who are now in their youth.

When in May 2006 he was acquitted of rape charges with an HIV positive woman, Mr. Zuma who is a former head of South Africa’s National Aids Council, testified that he had not used a condom and took a shower after the act to minimize the chance of infection.  He later apologized for these remarks saying “I erred in having unprotected sex. I should have known better.”

And, the buck does not stop with Mr. Zuma.

His party, the ANC who held such clout they “recalled” former President Thabo Mbeki have in their remarks given a stamp of approval to Zuma, saying the media was making “a mountain out of nothing“. Even more disturbing the ANCs Women and Youth Leagues have also passed it off as private and disrespectful to discuss.

Apart from HIV/AIDS, South Africa has a major crisis in violence against women. In a study last year by the country’s Medical Research Council, one in four South African men in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces  said they had raped someone, and nearly half of them admitted to more than one attack. Even more alarming, practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.

So are President Zuma’s actions his business alone?

Personally yes, but as the President of South Africa and role model to the youth, – No.

Any leader wants to leave a lasting positive legacy. And now is the time for Mr. Zuma to make South Africa a success. Let not his legacy be promiscuity, irresponsibility with his wives health and a score of children claiming inheritance.

Today schools teach the history of Shaka Zulu who fought against western imperialists. Today the war for South Africa is different. The foreign intruder is the scourge known as AIDS. This scourge is killing the youth. This is the war that Jacob Zuma must lead his country. With all his might, discipline and zeal. And, from the front and not behind.

Lead the way and we will follow.

Youth AfriCamp: Building expressive advocacy capacity for youth participation

Themes: Youth and New Media; African Youth Charter and African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance

Open Society Institute, Youth Initiative seeks to empower youth to become active citizens who are willing and able to influence public life and promote open society ideals. The international initiative is an expansion of what began in 1995 as the Debate Program. While its work with debate continues, the initiative also provides small grants and technical assistance to build the capacity of youth-focused local organizations and encourage a broader range of youth-led projects that promote open society values. The Youth Initiative (YI) aims to build a community of networked, civically engaged young leaders who understand the underpinnings of a democratic society, and will therefore become its active guardians.- www.soros.org/youth

The Youth AfriCamp provides a forum that allows the participating youth to showcase their work in their respective regions.  In addition, the camp includes training segments that will allow youth to acquire skills in creative social messaging techniques that they can apply to their work. The YI sees added value in convening the AfriCamp to not only act as facilitator and sponsor, but most importantly, to raise the profile of the work young people are doing under challenging conditions.

The AfriCamp will bring young activists together so that they can learn from one another while we learn from them. It is integral for the YI to identify these local actors and collect this information to inform the OSI network. It will allow young activists to gain hands-on training in new media that could be translated to their advocacy efforts in their given fields. The participants will be recruited across the sub-Sahara Africa with ages ranging from 18-29 years.

Format

The AfriCamp will accommodate both Francophone and Anglophone participants.  The selection process will be competitive ensuring high caliber participants. The format includes a week long combination of presentations, training sessions and breakaway sessions for direct peer consultation for those working on similar issues or issues of interest. Training sessions will consist of outside facilitators procured by the YI as well as peer to peer trainings. The event will culminate with an afternoon long advocacy concert featuring local artists. The Youth Initiative has developed the following general themes for the Youth Camp: Youth and New Media, Youth and the Africa Youth Charter, Youth and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance

To register, fill in an application form online: http://www.idebate.org/africamp/ and for any inquiries please contact Ronald on email:  rrwankangi@osiea.org.

Application deadline 5^th March 2010.