A Success Story: The Etafeni Trust Fit for - SAfAIDS

It is further imperative to remain mindful that empowerment of young women to
be economically independent is only “half the battle won”, as long as their partners
still exercise control over these resources, particularly amongst married women.
This speaks to the need to balance empowerment of young women economically,
with empowerment of young men on gender and SRH issues, towards a behavioural
shift that exudes respect, partnership and responsibility, rather than dominance and
control.
While there is a recognised need to strengthen indicators that measure the link
between reduced risk of HIV infection and economic empowerment of women and
girls, evidence continues to reveal that increase in access to information, skills,
services and income access correlates with women’s increased abilities to protect
themselves from violence and poor SRH.
Within this milieu, the Etafeni Fit for Life, Fit for Work model stands as an example of
an attempt to close economic security gaps for young women (and their peer males)
in a community with adverse SRH, a high incidence of violence and high HIV infection
rates. Documenting it as a success story may facilitate scale-up of the programme
and thus provide access to better sexual and reproductive health for young women
- within neighbouring communities and similar contexts across the southern African
region.
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