“Boston City Campus & Business College is thrilled to announce its partnership with loveLife – South Africa's largest national HIV prevention initiative for young people. The issues of social development and youth empowerment are of such paramount importance, and this partnership not only presents an ideal opportunity to give back to the communities who loyally support us, but also helps upskill loveLife staff members and loveLife’s young leaders known as groundBREAKERS,” says Craig Stollard, financial director at Boston.
Running nationally for a full year, and with Boston as the national education provider, 200 loveLife groundBREAKERs will undergo training in an accredited Business Administration qualification at Boston Campuses, while about 150 loveLife staff members are registered for the accredited Human Resource Management qualification.
For loveLife’s CEO, Grace Matlhape, this is indeed a proud moment: “In order for us to continuously grow in the ways we do to empower and educate young South Africans, we also need to ensure the continuous development of the loveLife team and volunteers. In the context of high levels of unemployment among young people in South Africa, the partnership with Boston is also a door opener; both for our staff in their personal capacity, but also for the young groundBREAKERS for whom these courses are hoped to facilitate access to opportunity”.
With its mission of building complete young leaders for an HIV free future, loveLife’s nationwide community-level outreach and support programmes promote healthy, HIV-free living among South African youth. Complemented by an integrated media campaign, currently loveLife is in partnership with more than 8,000 schools nationwide and works from almost 900 bases in loveLife Y-Centres, youth-friendly clinics, social franchises, and other loveLife outlets. loveLife’s toll-free helplines for young people and parents respectively reach an average of 60 000 callers a month.
“We really hope that by sponsoring these courses the potential of the loveLife groundBREAKERS and staff who were selected will reach new heights. We also hope that others will take note – as a society we should remind ourselves of the role such organisations play and the impact they have on bettering our communities. We cannot take the work they do for granted, but should rather find ways to support them and encourage them,” adds Stollard.
Ultimately, for Boston, this partnership applauds loveLife’s whole HIV prevention strategy which goes beyond mere safe sex messaging. “Any HIV prevention strategy should, after all, address the social determinants of HIV: poverty, unemployment, lack of access to health care and education, low social solidarity, lack of self-worth, belonging and identity. These are the realities that so many of South Africa’s youth face on a daily basis, and our aim with this partnership is to indirectly address these issues through the best available means to do so - Education for Life,” says Stollard.
Members of the public who would like to offer a helping hand in their very own communities should enquire about, and enrol for, Boston’s HIV/AIDS Counselling and Management course. This course is also targeted at professionals in the health and social sciences, nurses, social workers, psychologists, teachers, religious workers, and more. It aims to equip participants with the necessary skills to deal with HIV/AIDS in different care, counselling, corporate and educational situations in the multicultural South African context.
It offers students the opportunity to: disseminate correct and relevant information on HIV/AIDS in the community; facilitate the breakdown of negative attitudes, stereotypes and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS; promote HIV/AIDS prevention strategies in the community; counsel clients on various HIV/AIDS aspects; provide pre- and post-HIV test counselling; deal with cultural and sexual diversity; apply basic legal and ethical issues in various contexts; understand the basic principles of home-based care; use resources and be able to participate in networking; develop and facilitate educational programmes.
Students that apply for admission at Boston City Campus & Business College will get a response to their applications within two working days. And those that apply long in advance for their 2016 studie…
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