Providing economic opportunities are a critical way to reduce the vulnerability of adolescent girls and young women, both to coercive or transactional sex, as well as to HIV infection. The Training Unit was able to assist the PPPrev Programme to put this idea of economic strengthening into action to help protect AGYW.
The Training Unit provided an accredited learnership programme for 71 young women in the eThekwini district. The customised learnership equipped the participants to become facilitators, whose role includes providing structural programmes as well as acting as mentors to adolescent girls and young women in local communities. The learnership training curriculum was designed to cover all the necessary requirements for a facilitator, in line with the organisation’s job specification. These included:
• Accredited training in HIV counselling and testing
• Accredited training in facilitation and presentation skills
• Workplace readiness training
• Stepping Stones facilitator training
The intensive training phase took place over two months and was followed by their placement in the field as trainee facilitators, with work integrated learning, mentorship and supervision provided by the programme staff. The programme also integrated soft skills and personal development, which are all essential to the facilitator role. The learnership project culminated in the appointment of the participants as facilitators in the PP Prev Programme.
