Joyce is from Ghana. She is representing the Guttmacher Institute's Protecting the Next Generation Project at the conference.

I believe strongly in the power of the youth that can make a lot of difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS. I take inspiration from the young South Africans my age or even younger who fought for the freedom of South Africa.

I just closed from a poster discussion section which focused on the "Power of the Youth". It was good to realize how much concerned organizations are doing for the youth. Issues addressed by the organizations included that of gender which deals with both males and females-also inspiring because many gender activists are sometimes tempted to focus on only females, forgetting all about males. This indeed is not Gender Equity as they claim.

My major concern is the fact that the youth power was not felt at all in this discussion. The projects were initiated by adults and implemented by adults, with the youth being the beneficiaries. As a youth volunteer, hearing 'THE POWER OF THE YOUTH' I would have wished to be challenged-especially in a time where there are limited funds and motivation for youth programmes-by success stories told by the various presentations.

Clearly, all the presentations were on youth oriented programmes designed and implemented by adults. I'm very much grateful for the efforts by the adults to help the youth. What then was the role of the youth – to benefit from them only? No, I believe it could be more than that.

However, where was the youth power that was exhibited in South Africa so any years ago and that of those in other countries such as the HuD group of Ghana and the youth Action Movement? Is it always the case that youth programmes have to be necessarily initiated and implemented by adults?