In several districts in Kenya, Unicef has launched a football project for girls who attend school as well as for those who do not, plus a component for adult women. This project serves two purposes:

• Unicef aims to use football to make girls and women more self-sufficient and to teach them to take carefully-considered decisions about their sexual activities and other important choices in their lives.
• Unicef hopes to use football to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the communities in the different districts.

Achieving these objectives requires:

• Setting up an active football association for girls who attend school and for those who do not and for women in local organisations, so that girls and women may participate in football practice. sessions, games and tournaments
• Building capacity among girls and women to organise tournaments, referee matches and coach teams.
• Building capacity among girls and women to act as peer educators about life skills and HIV/AIDS.
• Forming a few active youth associations in each district through community theatre, videos and the like to raise awareness about how to stay HIV negative.

Unicef intends to realise this format by working with local NGOs such as the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) and grassroots organisations such as Moving the Goal Posts, which is dedicated to empowering girls through football and is already active in one of the regions and with the Kenyan authorities.

The most important activities in the project are providing services that cater to young people (especially supporting girls' football), teaching 'life skills', and offering optional HIV advice and testing for young people. The project is aimed at mobilising and raising awareness among the community as a whole, especially among parents, teachers, community leaders and clergy, about HIV/AIDS. Specific project activities include:

• Training young girls to play football and to serve as referees and coaches.
• Teaching life skills and HIV/AIDS peer education.
• Training people to develop information, education and communication materials that cater to young people.
• Organising district tournaments.
• Supporting friendly matches between project areas.
• Assisting youth clubs in organising theatre productions.
• Acquiring the necessary sports materials, such as sports attire, footballs and whistles.
• Providing information, education and communication materials, such as HIV/AIDS information posters and videos.
• Arranging for the project to be monitored continuously and providing administrative support.