South Africa
Everyday life for young people in Willowfonteina township of Pietermaritzburg, is marked by poverty, violence, high HIV/Aids rates and teenage pregnancies. Together with our partner organisation Dlalanathi, we work to promote young people’s sexual health, improve their access to education and create better prospects by involving the people around them.
Hear from the people on the ground
Zenzele Biyase
25 years old
In Willowfontein, HIV/Aids is part of everyday life – the region has one of the highest infection rates in South Africa. Despite this, topics such as sexuality and HIV/Aids are taboo. There is a patriarchal distribution of roles and everyday family life is often characterised by violence. Young people suffer from a lack of prospects: they hardly participate in society, have little access to meeting places and do not have much chance of a better life.
The aim is to contribute to the reduction of HIV infections, teenage pregnancies, poverty and the lack of prospects in Willowfontein.
In the the last project phase, 11,000 young people, 1,600 family members, 600 community members and around 25 institutions have benefitted from our work.
Dlalanathi, works on issues such as parenting, communication between the generations and child and youth protection. The organisation currently employs 16 people. terre des hommes schweiz has been supporting Dlalanathi since 2009.
The project is being carried out in Willowfontein, a suburb of Pietermaritzburg, which is affected by poverty and unemployment. The current project phase covers the years 2023–2025 with an annual budget of CHF 118,000.
terre des hommes schweiz
Kasernenhof 8
4058 Basel