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Life Skills Curriculum - HIV/AIDS Awareness

What Are We Doing and Why?

April 2003 marked the initial implementation of the Playing for Peace Life Skills Curriculum. This peer mentorship program involves each of our Playing for Peace coaches educating their kids on the many important social issues they face every day. Playing for Peace, South Africa is using the sport of basketball as a tool to grab the attention of the youth involved in our program, and in turn provide them with valuable life skills information necessary to leading long and healthy lives. It is well documented that the global AIDS epidemic has the most severe infection rates in South Africa, specifically where we are based in the KwaZulu Natal province. Thus, it is imperative that today’s youth have as much information as possible to prevent the continued spread of this deadly virus. Our learners need our help now, as this epidemic is showing no signs of improvement.

What is Unique About Our Program

What makes this program different from others is that our coaches have been given peer mentorship training, establishing strong relationships as role models/ peer mentors amongst their kids outside the classroom. The information from the manuals they are trained to present is done so through open discussion that encourages participation and interaction. Bonds of trust have been built, opening the lines of communication.


What is the Current Status

The HIV/AIDS awareness curriculum will be presented to over 1400 kids throughout the program from August to October 2004. From April to July 2003, the curriculum was initially presented to over 500 kids from downtown Durban and the Umlazi Township. We began this portion of the life skills program in 14 of the most desperate schools so as to maximize our resources. A great number of our learners from the Durban city schools also live in Umlazi. Our coaches have been trained to present our HIV/AIDS manual during their sessions, which take place for approximately 60 minutes before practice, once per week. This manual was developed with the assistance of various organizations in the Durban area including the Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa (PPASA), Focus on the Family and with the guidance and assessment of professor Steven Collings from the University of KwaZulu Natal. Coaches presenting the HIV/AIDS program attended an AIDS awareness workshop hosted by PPASA prior to speaking with their learners. Following this workshop, they were given the Playing for Peace manual and trained to present it. In addition to weekly sessions with their coaches, our learners participated in monthly coaching clinics throughout the year, which included valuable AIDS awareness workshops. Our coaches are getting through to the kids where other programs barely scratch the surface. We have seen significant gains in the information being internalized by our learners and great potential for positive effect on their future.

Program Goals

Playing for Peace, South Africa hopes to positively change the lives of each child in our program. We hope these children take the important information learned in our HIV/AIDS awareness program and use it to lead long and healthy lives. We also hope that this opens the lines of communication in a society where silence is the norm. In the future, we look forward to assessing what has taken place during the sessions to make necessary changes or improvements so as to provide our learners with the most effective life skills training. All of our coaches see the urgent importance of this taking place.

AIDS Awareness Program Goals for 2004:

  • In 2004, we will take the HIV/AIDS awareness program to all schools in Playing for Peace, reaching over 1,400 learners. Our coaches will have been trained to present the Playing for Peace HIV/AIDS manual during their sessions. As in 2003, these sessions will take place in an open environment for approximately 1 hour before practice, once per week. The HIV/AIDS program will cover the months of August, September, and October.
  • In July 2004, our coaches here in Durban will participate in a full day Life Skills training workshop. This will include “train the trainer” facilitation exercises and other important skills hosted by the Leadership Centre at the University of KwaZulu Natal.
  • Also in July 2004, coaches will have a full day AIDS workshop combining HIVAN (The Centre for HIV/ AIDS Networking) and the PfP Life Skills team training. The HIVAN workshop will give all 60 PfP coaches the necessary tools and background knowledge to pass on positive messages about the AIDS epidemic. The PfP training program will prepare our coaches to continue their role as peer mentors and will also serve as a chance to train our coaches on the 2004 AIDS manual. This training workshop will properly prepare our coaches to discuss HIV/AIDS by using alternate means to make the process more interesting and engaging.
  • Learners from different schools will be attending monthly coaching clinics from August to October. At these clinics, they will be participating in additional professional HIV/AIDS training.
  • We will increase our presence with our coaches, within the schools and in dealing with our professional contacts. Each coach will have small group workshops every 2 weeks, with the assistance of HIVAN, for additional training (more if need be depending on the coach) to continuously feel the support and assistance they need.

HIV/AIDS Awareness Curriculum Partners:

  • Harvard University School of Public Health

    Dr. Charles Deutsch has provided valuable assistance and support throughout the development and implementation of the AIDS program through his extensive professional experience in the fields of AIDS research and youth education.
  • Northeastern University’s Center for Sport and Society

    Committed to the continuing development of the Life Skills curriculum. Susan Leitao has shared the Center’s proven educational methods for the mentorship program, which have been added to the curriculum for 2004. Susan hosted a leadership workshop in Durban in September 2003 with coaches and learners.
  • HIVAN (Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking – University of KwaZulu Natal)

    HIVAN has supported Playing for Peace during preparations for our clinics and research for the manual. They will be hosting a full day AIDS awareness workshop for our coaches in preparation for the 2004 curriculum. HIVAN has also pledged their support with additional training and assessing our 2004 HIV/AIDS program.
  • Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa (PPASA)

    Has provided thorough training clinics for our coaches on HIV/AIDS awareness. These clinics have provided the essential learning tools for our coaches to take with them as they prepared to begin their sessions. (Coaches will attend specific clinics through October 2004.)
  • University of KwaZulu Natal

    Steven Collings, from the Psychology Department at the University of KwaZulu Natal, has a focus on race issues and conflict resolution/ crime & violence. He has lent his expertise when it comes to the development and implementation of the life skills curriculum, specifically for AIDS awareness, race issues & diversity, and drugs & alcohol awareness. He has provided an assessment of our 2003 HIV/AIDS program by analyzing samples of our questionnaires. We had distributed and collected over 1000 HIV/AIDS questionnaires from our children from the first session and a follow up questionnaire from the final session of the HIV/AIDS curriculum. We found several differences in what information these children had prior to our program compared to what they now have through these sessions. Steven Collings is now beginning an assessment of our Racism/ Sexism questionnaires from 2003 and the Drugs/ Alcohol awareness questionnaires from early 2004.
  • Focus on the Family.

    This local NGO has supported Playing for Peace during coaching clinics, giving effective workshops for the learners and our coaches. Also attended our Life Skills retreat to Shongweni Dam in July 2003 hosting an AIDS workshop for the learners. They have pledged their support in developing and assessing our 2004 HIV/AIDS program.

Measuring Our Success

Dr. Steven Collings, Professor of Psychology at the University of KwaZulu Natal in Durban, has completed an assessment of our HIV/AIDS program through a statistical analysis of a sample of our questionnaires. In 2003, we distributed and collected over 1000 HIV/AIDS questionnaire’s our learners completed prior to their first session and a follow up questionnaire during the final session of the HIV/AIDS curriculum. When we handed them over to Dr. Collings, we had hoped to find significant differences in what information these children had prior to our program compared to what they now have through our efforts. Dr. Collings’ assessment of these questionnaires has shown that we have made a positive impact on our learners. Dr. Collings has also helped to review session notes taken by our coach’s and those coordinators facilitating the sessions. Based on individual interviews with our coaches, we have found that they are getting through to their learners where other programs barely scratch the surface. We have seen significant gains in the information being internalized by our learners and great potential for positive effect on their future.