THINK TWICE HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAMME, CAPE TOWN Current project CRY was asked to fund the beginnings of this project in 2001, and continues to be closely involved as the work has expanded. From small beginnings the Think Twice Programme is now impacting on the lives of tens of thousands of children and young people throughout South Africa and in neighbouring nations. The project basically develops health educational materials for use in schools, to address the ever growing problems of child abuse and HIV/AIDS. Through direct work with children, training sessions for teachers and contacts within the state education service, these materials are used to change lives. In a nation and continent where abuse and HIV/AIDS is widespread, the teaching programme sets out to help children understand about themselves, how they can stay safe and the risks of inappropriate relationships.  These materials are shared in an open and forthright manner, laying emphasis on healthy relationships and underpinned with Christian principles.

In 2010, the programme saw a change in the management structure as the director left and a new one was established. The team continue to provide a comprehensive programme directly to a range of schools in the Cape Town area, impacting on the lives of over 12,000 young people a year. In addition the team have continued to train hundreds of educators, bringing them up to over 400 support staff and teachers trained per year, who will use the programme materials in a number of schools, and other programmes aimed at training school teaching staff. The programme is now replicated in a number of other provinces and other African nations.

New programmes continue to be developed, and requests have been received for new programmes accross a range of age groups. Think Twice has a vision to increase the numbers of young people who are impacted through the programmes. To this end, there is a strategy to train other organisations to facilitate the programmes. In 2010 many more school teaching staff were trained and this continues to be a priority in 2011.

To develop the current programmes in partnership with other NGO’s and schools. CRY has supported this project for a number of years. CRY’s commitment is relatively small and this will continue. However without CRY’s support the work would be significantly inhibited and efforts will be made to increase the funding through grant applications.

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