HIV/AIDS, Rights, Education, Reproductive Health, Girls.

According to organisers, "Culturally in Malawi, the socialisation process victimises girls because they are considered to be the weaker sex. Spending valuable resources such as money to pay for their education is considered a waste because they are expected to get married and be supported by their husbands. Their profile in society has remained low and their voices have not been heard. Despite having rights as a child, obstacles exist that impinge on the fulfillment of the rights. As a result, girls' educational attainment has remained low, their health, especially reproductive health, has been poor, they lack training in most vocational skills and generally, their participation in development activities has been very minimal. In the past, some mechanisms were put in place to try and improve the participation of girls, such as through free secondary school education. However, such mechanisms have been short lived and did not solve the problem. This points to the need for the project to look into a more workable system of assisting girls to remain in school, healthy, skilled and economically empowered thereby improving their position in society and increasing their participation in leadership and decision-making processes in society."

SAY comprises 9 independent projects located in 8 of southern Africa's most severely affected countries, as well as a sub-regional technical support project (Telling the Story). Through the work of UN country teams, SAY aims to catalyse innovative and expanded national responses to the HIV and AIDS epidemic to meet the needs of the youth in southern Africa, especially girls, who are most vulnerable to HIV infection.