Chief Executive Officer of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, Mary Mc Phail, says the tool-kit  is unique  and has qualities that will appeal to young girls.

‘€œIn this kit you will find a lot of games, a lot of challenges. It is meant to be used in small groups where girls are working together or with an adult leader and they can feel confident and comfortable using the games as a spirit of the conversation. The idea is that the games promote more open conversation, more challenging questions and sharing of information,’€ she said, describing the tool.

A member of the Soweto Girl Guides, Lerato Sello, welcomed the introduction of the tool-kit. The inclusion of the games has hit the right chord with her.

‘€œIt will make a difference. And because it has games inside most  young people will like it,  hence they do not like to be bombarded with ‘€˜boring’€™ information. So if you are bored you can just take the game and play it. And the more you play games the more information you gain,’€ she said.

Commenting further, Mc Phail expressed confidence that the information in the tool-kit will reach a wider audience.

‘€œOur girl guides and girl scouts groups are going to be in direct conversation with boy scouts, boy groups and  with other youth organisations. So’€¦ this information will be used in a much wider context,’€ she said.

Lerato, the young girl-scout, explained how they will share the information with others.

‘€œThe information in this tool-kit is not for us, the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts only. We will therefore pass it to others at school and to the community,’€ said Lerato.

However, she is aware that there might be challenges in that.

‘€œOf course we know that there will be some criticism when we start passing on this information. But that will not stop us from passing it to others because if you are a Girl Guide you are taught to do the right thing all the time, irrespective of the challenges,’€ she said.

In a country with a high HIV infection rate like South Africa, and where it is almost common to have young girls having sexual relations with men old enough to be their fathers, the tool-kit can  play an important role  in the fight against the pandemic.