The AJAN HIV&AIDS Prevention Programme for Youth (AHAPPY) is a unique education package created by AJAN for Jesuit schools and other educational institutions in Africa.

Building on Gospel values and on the long and respected pedagogical tradition of the Jesuits, AHAPPY aims first of all at integral development, to equip young Africans with the knowledge, skills and values to develop their potential and to be healthy and happy people capable of withstanding HIV.

With close to a hundred educational institutions in Africa, Jesuits and their collaborators are in contact with thousands of young people and well placed to carry out HIV prevention. At a meeting organised by AJAN in January 2011, Jesuits working with youth in 12 African countries called for a customised programme and prepared a blueprint.

Throughout 2011 and 2012, AJAN worked with a team to develop the programme, which caters to three age groups spanning 10 to 24 years. There are five modules in the course, each with a clear end result in view:

• Be attentive
• Be intelligent
• Be reasonable
• Be responsible
• Be proactive

A set of manuals has been prepared for each of the modules of the course, and training of trainers is part of the package. Means used consist of workshops about life-skills and values; peer education; Youth Against AIDS clubs; and recreational activities like camps, contests, plays and sports.

In the words of a document on Jesuit education, the overall aim of AHAPPY is to help young people “to reflect on personal experiences so that they can understand their own experience…; while they accept their gifts and develop them, they also accept limitations and overcome these as far as possible.”