loveLife approached 2009 knowing that despite the fact that HIV incidence among teenagers has declined remarkably since 2002, HIV prevention aimed at young people should be sustained, especially now that there is a visible decline. In the past year, loveLife has continued to challenge the youth through its Make-Your-Move campaign.
This campaign cultivates the knowledge that in order for them to make their move, they first need to believe that they can, and for them to know which moves to make, they must first know who they are.
Among its many successful events during 2009, loveLife hosted 625 regional loveLife Games and Youth Festival events during the year, which were attended by approximately 301 265 young people. The number of young people who participated in the 2009 events increased by 80% from the previous year. A total number of 16 859 participants took part in the All Star Games and 2100 young people attended. The All Star Games is an annual culmination of hub level activities which enables large scale youth participation in structured activities promoting healthy behaviours through sports and recreation, arts and culture.
loveLife recorded 368 Born Free Dialogues (BFDs) with 25 860 participants that were hosted in 2009. The BFDs are community events where adults and young people discuss pertinent issues relevant to HIV prevention and youth and community development. There was a 12% increase in the total number of BFDs hosted from 2008 to 2009.
On the ground, loveLife reached 778 communities across South Africa through its community hubs where approximately 1552 peer mobilisors participated in the youth leadership development programme (groundBREAKERS). There were about 8956 youth volunteers (Mpintshis) - a 21% increase from 2008. Together the groundBREAKERS and Mpintshis reached approximately 906 787 young people through sustained implementation of modular programmes and sport and recreational activities.
loveLife continues to reach more young people through its programmes which are designed to empower and encourage youth to build a positive future for themselves.
The complete 2009 Annual Report for all programme updates, evidence of loveLife's impact plus how it continues to develop itself as an innovative youth brand can be downloaded from the loveLife website at www.lovelife.org.za.
