Agenda for Community Development (AFCODE)

AFCODE is an interactive organisation that encourages youth to look at the benefits of difference and diversity and helps them work together to promote and celebrate the values of respect, cooperation, and creativity. The organisation favours and stimulates creative, participative, interactive, experiential, and self-empowering ways of learning.

Activities focus on youth participation and communication. They include involving youth in community peace-building processes as well as building youth capacity for dialogues, problem solving, and improving existing mechanisms for effective participation in conflict resolution practice. AFCODE’s focus areas are service learning, youth education, faculty development, conflict resolution/violence prevention, human development, cultural diversity, and counsellor education. Specific AFCODE programmes include:

• AFCODE Theatre Factory: uses theatre to teach tough teen topics. The Factory is a cross-community theatre group where youth interact, meet and understand together. Drama is used as a tool to build trust and a spirit of teamwork, by fostering conversations about drugs, youth violence, HIV/AIDS, and other issues in a friendly atmosphere.
• Painting for Development Project (formerly called The CitiKids Project): encourages young people to use art as a medium of expression to campaign against drug and substance abuse as well as towards prevention of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
• ICT Skills Development Programme: focuses on building capacity among teenagers and adolescents and empowering them to be learners, developers, and entrepreneurs. The initiative aims to realise the potential of young people as leaders in using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to achieve sustainable development in their communities and around the world. The project offers training in word processing, desktop publishing/graphics, basic secretarial skills, and computer repairs.

Children, Youth, Technology, HIV/AIDS, Conflict.