The Young People’s Initiative (YPI) is an intervention primarily focused on preventing the spread of HIV among the young adults of the age between 15-24. The project addresses these young adults who are out of school and living in the slums.  These young people lack the right kind of information on HIV/AIDS, with a low risk perception and surrounded by misinformation and misconception on HIV and STIs. Most of these young people are influenced by alcohol and are under pressure of the peers to experiment sex through paid sex networks, the sex circuits being at their proximity.  This has serious implications on their sexual health because of lack of information can result in unintended pregnancies, STIs or HIV.  Young people need affordable ‘youth friendly’ health services and they are  also not aware of different services which they can access for their problems. There is no specific service provision to cater to the needs of the young people. Taking this into consideration the Young People’s Initiative, under SPAD, will take the responsibility of providing the right kind of information, youth friendly services, life skills and create an environment in which young people can talk openly about the issues concerning them.

The Young People’s Initiative aims at approaching the issues of young adults through their own peer educators’. The entire edifice of the project is built on the strength of the peer educators’. The project plans to identify the peer educators from different segments who are at risk and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. The project provides the necessary skills, capacity and attitudes to equip these peer educators to effectively work with their community members to access the services both under SPAD as well as outside for risk reduction to HIV/AIDS.

The project proposes to work through sharing of resources between community, local government and other private agencies through an intensified peer intervention which will increase information on HIV and STD among the Young and Adolescent and enable them to access sexual health services – condom, VCTC, PPTCT and STD Treatment leading to decrees in HIV prevalence and  decrease in the parent to child transmission of HIV / AIDS. CLWHA will have more access to ART at the government centers and increase community based support programme for children affected. The District Multi-Sectoral  Advisory Committee will be in place to provide convergence of services for the youth and also   monitor the services. In the next 12 months the project to reach out 15000 young people in 15 slums through a well skilled, motivated and proactive peer educators who will act as harbingers of change in the youth population.