Our Work

What children and young people want

The children and young people who attend our programmes have articulated what a good quality of life would mean for them. They say they want to feel valued, happy and hopeful about their futures. They want to feel self-confident and to be able to make informed choices about how to lead their lives.

Children and young people want to:

  • Feel safe and live in spaces free from any sort of violence or fear of violence
  • Be included and treated as equals in all aspects of social, educational and work opportunities
  • Have the necessary academic and life skills, both to be able to protect themselves and to find fulfilling ways to earn their living
  • Be able to access and benefit from youth-friendly health services – including in areas of mental and physical health, substance abuse, gender-based violence and violence against children
  • Be able to access youth empowerment programmes, grants, vocational and other forms of training and education
  • Have the confidence and skills to stand up for themselves when they or their peers are not being treated fairly, to speak out against injustices and campaign for better access to services and treatment.
Health and Wellbeing - Sentebale

Health
& Wellbeing

We strengthen the health and social and emotional wellbeing of the most vulnerable children living with and at risk of HIV.

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Nurturing
Communities

We work with local and national partners to provide health and social services for children and young people in a friendly, safe environment.

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Youth
Advocacy

We believe young people should shape their own future and be given the opportunity to advocate for improved health, education and social protection.

Education and Livelihoods

Education
& Livelihoods

We work with young people so they are more resilient, self-confident and empowered members of their communities.

The impact of Covid-19

All around the world Covid-19 has impacted many individuals and communities leading to major socio-economic challenges, which will have repercussions for years to come. In Lesotho and Botswana, the impact on people’s livelihoods has brought about widespread suffering, particularly to the most vulnerable members of the society.

Children and young people across Lesotho and Botswana have been affected by the global pandemic in many ways including:

  • Poor physical health often due to increased poverty, lack of food and subsequent decrease in adherence to antiretroviral medication
  • Drop out in school attendance
  • Increase in gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy amongst adolescent girls
  • Disconnection with family and friends, schools and health services
  • Increased anxiety and a decline in mental health

Speaking on her mother’s mobile phone, a young girl who is her third year of secondary school said she was well and spends her time helping with cooking and washing dishes.

“I wish I could still be going to school so I can learn to be a nurse,”

the 17-year-old told the club volunteer.

Sentebale’s response to COVID-19

Our teams have rapidly adapted programme delivery to comply with Lesotho and Botswana’s national restrictions around travel, gatherings and social-distancing, these include:

  • Arranged transport and travel permits so children can continue collecting their medicine on a monthly or multi-month basis
  • Delivering youth clubs via mobile networks – in the absence of attending clubs in person, we have reached out to club-goers through mobile phone calls offering emotional and social support, referring at-risk children to social workers and health teams
  • Writing motivational letters to club members and giving them an opportunity to share any challenges. The letters included messages of support from three Let Youth Lead advocates
  • Virtual working and learning session – Operationally, we had to do more of our coordination and referrals amongst young people and healthcare facilities online and used virtual spaces and social media to maintain and deliver group-led programmes such as our Let Youth Lead advocacy network
  • Participated in several COVID-19 youth-related media campaigns across multiple TV, radio and online platforms
  • Targeted and Covid-19 safe home visits with our partner service providers to check on the welfare of the most vulnerable and hard to reach children
Sentebales Work Covid 19

The impact of Covid-19

All around the world Covid-19 has impacted many individuals and communities leading to major socio-economic challenges, which will have repercussions for years to come. In Lesotho and Botswana, the impact on people’s livelihoods has brought about widespread suffering, particularly to the most vulnerable members of the society.

Children and young people across Lesotho and Botswana have been affected by the global pandemic in many ways including:

  • Poor physical health often due to increased poverty, lack of food and subsequent decrease in adherence to antiretroviral medication
  • Drop out in school attendance
  • Increase in gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy amongst adolescent girls
  • Disconnection with family and friends, schools and health services
  • Increased anxiety and a decline in mental health

Speaking on her mother’s mobile phone, a young girl who is her third year of secondary school said she was well and spends her time helping with cooking and washing dishes.

“I wish I could still be going to school so I can learn to be a nurse,”

the 17-year-old told the club volunteer.

Sentebales Work Covid 19 response copy

Sentebale’s response to COVID-19

Our teams have rapidly adapted programme delivery to comply with Lesotho and Botswana’s national restrictions around travel, gatherings and social-distancing, these include:

  • Arranged transport and travel permits so children can continue collecting their medicine on a monthly or multi-month basis
  • Delivering youth clubs via mobile networks – in the absence of attending clubs in person, we have reached out to club-goers through mobile phone calls offering emotional and social support, referring at-risk children to social workers and health teams
  • Writing motivational letters to club members and giving them an opportunity to share any challenges. The letters included messages of support from three Let Youth Lead advocates
  • Virtual working and learning session – Operationally, we had to do more of our coordination and referrals amongst young people and healthcare facilities online and used virtual spaces and social media to maintain and deliver group-led programmes such as our Let Youth Lead advocacy network
  • Participated in several COVID-19 youth-related media campaigns across multiple TV, radio and online platforms
  • Targeted and Covid-19 safe home visits with our partner service providers to check on the welfare of the most vulnerable and hard to reach children