The Salesian Missions (SM) "Life Choices Program", is a Track 1 ABY (Abstinence and Be Faithful for Youth) program that aims to teach youth to avoid being infected with HIV/AIDS through healthy behaviors. The Life Choices (LC) Program reaches youth through peer education programs and peer outreach and is led by trainers and selected peer educators. The trainers have introduced youth ages 10-19 to the LC Curriculum at Salesian facilities across Tanzania. The curriculum is taught in group meetings during and after school through formal classroom sessions, weekend sessions and sessions during school leave. Youth living in communities impacted by HIV/AIDS have received life skills training and AB (Abstinence and Be Faithful) messages as well as coached to take responsibility for their health. The peer educators have been selected based on their commitment to volunteer for HIV/AIDS prevention activities and on the rapport that exists between them and their peers. These peer educators have been chosen from the entire spectrum of youth social niches and cliques to ensure that high risk groups of youth are reached, regardless of social standing. Therefore, to support and facilitate the education of their fellow peers at schools and youth centers with the AB message, the peer educators have been given more training sessions on the LC Curriculum.

The LC Program is being implemented in 11 Salesian urban and rural centers in Tanzania. The urban sites are located in Dar Es Salaam (Oyster Bay and Upanga), Dodoma (Seminary and Technical Training Centre), Iringa, Moshi and Temeke while our rural sites are found in Mafinga (Parish and Seminary), Makalala and Shinyanga. These facilities serve as the bases from which the trainers have been reaching out to the surrounding communities and schools. In addition to having our enrolled target population, we also have access to the rest of the youth community through the parishes and local public schools. SM also offers after-school recreation and educational activities as well as social programs to youth at our centers, which address the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

For FY 2007, all of our 11 targeted Salesian youth centers and schools will continue to be implementing the ABY prevention program using the LC Curriculum. In schools and youth centers where the curriculum is taught, we will reach 14,000 with our AB message, of which 5,500 will be in-school youth and 8,500 will be out-of-school youth. Moreover, at the end of FY 2007, we will reach around 10,000 youth with our abstinence only message. Our expanded volunteering counseling and testing (VCT) in FY 2007 is planned to reach 660 youth. We also have plans to reach around 200 OVC through our youth centers in the coming year. The monitoring and evaluation of our work has been on-going and it will continue in order to ensure that we are providing the services needed to the youth as well as meeting our targets. Furthermore, we plan to develop a secured website for FY 2007 that will ensure up-to-date exchange of information between urban and rural sites and thereby enhance our monitoring and evaluation capabilities.

To meet the need for our services, the LC Program intends to expand its activities by extending its outreach to more youth in public schools and remote rural areas. The program has been able to foster grass roots partnerships with influential members of the communities where it has been implemented, such as village elders, teachers, and parents. In one of our communities, Shinyanga, the program activities (life skills and AB message) have attracted the attention of several public schools headmasters. The headmasters' enthusiasm for the program and our local partnerships will certainly provide a solid foundation for the incorporation of the LC Curriculum within these schools. Also in many of our remote rural communities (such as Mafinga and Makalala - Southern Highlands) the large distances between each of the communities were making outreach challenging; however, the LC Program vehicles have recently been purchased, which will certainly enhance our ability to expand the program to these areas. These partnerships have been essential to the successful implementation of the program thus far, and coupled with the access to transport, will undoubtedly contribute to the sustainability of the project beyond available funds.

In Tanzania, poverty and the lack of job opportunities has placed many youth at greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDS as they look for work in larger cities or at local guest houses (brothels). To cater to these high-risk youth, the SM have offered youth friendly VCT services in partnership with YOPAC (Youth and Parents in Crisis counselling centre.). For FY 2007 we will continue to partner with organizations to expand these services to youth in other regions as well as during youth festivals and summer camps. Furthermore, since

secondary schooling is not compulsory to all the youth in Tanzania, many youth are not enrolled in schools and therefore are left on their own while their parents work. To equip these out-of-school youth with the skills necessary to escape many of these situations, the LC Program relies on the Salesians' commitment to provide primary, secondary and technical schools to many of these youth. Hence, the LC Program not only provides a venue to disseminate the ABY message, but also an opportunity for youth to stay in school and acquire income generating skills. This holistic approach will continue throughout FY 2007 and it will certainly contribute to curbing the effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in these communities.

The SM will also continue to expand its behavior change and communication (BCC) to disseminate the AB message through several venues, such as youth festivals, summer camps and radio programs. In June 2006 a youth festival and summer camp were organized and reached a total of 1,170 youth and community members. The youth festival and the summer camp served as a great platform for the youth in Tanzania to showcase their skits, plays, and songs as well as compete in several sports. Furthermore, the trainers also prepared a 60 minutes radio program that has been broadcasted every Friday at Radio Mwangaza (Dodoma). Through these radio presentation activities a number of questions have been answered by the two local trainers. In addition, given the importance of gender issues in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS, specific messages and curriculum materials have been developed that target issues affecting young women, such as cross-generational sex, pregnancy, violence and sexual abuse. The program activities and messages have been introduced to the residents of the Dodoma region and we hope to expand to other districts in FY 2007.

Hence, the SM is committed to decrease the burden of HIV/AIDS on the children it serves and thereby enable them to reach their full potential.