MAP COVID-19 Emergency Resp.Young Africa Young Africa (YA) aims to support 25,000 young people and their families in Sofala province during six months. The support will be provided through Young Africa training centres (Beira and Dondo) and community hubs in various districts of Sofala province. The activity is an extension to the current ‘Skills 2 Live’ activity implemented by Young Africa in 2019- 2020 (activity no. 4000002700). Expected results: At the end of the programme is the food intake of 25,000 people improved, are YA students capable of preparing nutritious meals and have teachers and trainers of YA enhanced their expertise and capacity to provide training on-line. In addition 500 students and their families have become knowledgeable and equipped to set-up and maintain nutritional gardens. Through the provision of psychosocial support to young people, are they motivated again to join classes or continue their education. The assistance focuses on ‘food relief and security’, livelihood support, psycho-social support, and training methodology (e-learning) development, in response to COVID-19. Last but not least YA invests in preventing the further spreading of the corona-virus. 1.   Food relief and security Soup kitchens: Eight soup kitchens will be set-up at the YA centres and at the community hubs in Beira, Dondo, Chibabava, Buzi, Nhamatanda and Gorongosa districts. The soup kitchen will be open 6 days a week with a food pack for day 7, for a duration of 22 weeks. Temperature checks (and referral to health facilities) will be done upon entering the centres. Beneficiaries will come in batches to ensure physical distancing. Food vouchers: To supplement feeding, target beneficiaries will receive monthly food parcels through the food voucher system. YA will engage with s upermarkets where beneficiaries will go and get food stuffs worth the voucher value. To ensure that the food support further builds the capacity of young people, students will be engaged as volunteers in the preparation of meals at the soup kitchen. 2.   Livelihoods – The lockdown negatively affects the livelihoods of most families. In order to restore this YA will conduct the following interventions: Nutritional gardens: YA will provide a 5 day training to a small cohort of target beneficiaries (preference will be given to agriculture students enrolled at YA Agri-Tech) on small scale conservation agriculture (organic farming) so that they can effectively produce horticultural products from their backyards. The YA Agri-tech trainers and government Agri-Tex Extension officers will be engaged to train beneficiaries so that they can maximise production on their very small portions of land. As follow-up to the training, trainees (beneficiaries) will be supported with implements such as seed, tools, fertilisers so that they can set-up the gardens. It is envisaged that if these gardens are productive, surpluses will be sold as a way of generating income. This intervention provides an opportunity for sustainable livelihoods. Nutritious food: Project beneficiaries and their household heads (HH) receive training on how to prepare nutritious or a balanced diet using locally available foods in the community to prevent malnutrition. Modules on food preservation are included. A qualified and seasoned nutritionist will conduct the training. Fund for start-ups: A small fund will be set-out to assist franchisees and young people coming up with project ideas. Support will be given in form of starter up kits rather than in monetary form. YA centre in Dondo has chicken runs that can be used to revive a chicken project that will potentially bring about sustainability. 3.   Psycho-social support – To promote psycho-social well- being of youths, a toll-free helpline will be managed by professional co unsellors. A clini