Strengthening Community Capacities in Prevention, Care, Support and Treatment of HIV and AIDS
Background
In July 2006, under USAID (Regional HIV/AIDS Program) funding received through Pact, SAfAIDS embarked on a Regional HIV/AIDS Intervention aimed at strengthening capacities of communities, through skills building of community based organisations, to enable their optimised and successful prevention, care, support and treatment responses. The programme addressed the following key challenges facing communities in the region:
- 1) Limited access and utilisation of Treatment Literacy Information and Community Preparedness skills for ART Uptake within communities
- 2) Low uptake of Voluntary, Counselling and Testing- VCT (or HIV, Counselling and testing - HCT), Antiretroviral (ARVs) and related services
- 3) Inadequate and inaccessible platforms enabling people living with HIV/AIDS, civil society, government representatives and other stakeholders, to collectively debate and deliberate HIV/AIDS policy-specific treatment and community preparedness issues
The primary focal countries of the program have been the Kingdom's of Lesotho and Swaziland.
In October 2007, the USAID Regional HIV and AIDS Program came to an end and SAfAIDS through the basket funding launched a follow-up program in January 2008. This follow up program will capitalise on, and consolidate, in-country relationships built with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare; Network of People Infected with, or Affected by HIV and AIDS; Community Implementers working towards the sale-up of VCT, ART and other prevention, care, support, treatment and mitigation at community level; as well as vital programming linkages identified with Global Fund partners and USG partners in the Kingdom. Follow-up programming will ensure sustainability of in-roads made with implementing and technical partners. It will further enable strengthening of program components within the mainstream of implementing partners' organisational culture, thus facilitating a grounded base for eventual program evaluation, and measure of program impact.
Program Activities
Follow-up activities under, this program, will ensure that ART community preparedness remains well-positioned within the implementing partners' organisational structures, as well as be creatively adapted to suit the ever-evolving epidemic at both national and community levels in Swaziland.
The follow-up programme aims to achieve the objectives to:
- Increase the capacity of 6 community based organisations in promoting and supporting Community Preparedness for Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) and Prevention efforts, within Swaziland.
- Promote the meaningful engagement of PLHIV, government and civil society stakeholders through Community ART Policy Dialogue (APD) Platforms a National ART Policy Dialogue in Swaziland.
Program Target and Coverage
The primary beneficiaries and partners for the program are:
- Community based organisations in Swaziland working towards national scale-up of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, support, treatment and mitigation;
- PLHIV networks, groups and organisations in Lesotho
- Governances Structures: MOHSW, including Swaziland National AIDS Program
Secondary beneficiaries will include:
- Communities within the constituencies of the CBOs and implementing partners
- Other stakeholders from civil society, private sector, members of the media fraternity, and other bi- and multi-lateral bodies engaged in concerted efforts towards executing national HIV/AIDS strategic plans.
Country Implementing Partners
SAfAIDS will primarily work with the six country implementing partners (SWANNEPHA, TASC, NATICC, ACAT, Cabrini Ministries and SHAPE) selected during Phase I programming. The implementing partners were selected following an assessment, and adhere to certain basic criteria including:
- o have a pool of community members/workers/volunteers to enable a multiplier effect of activity roll-out and sustainability;
- o have organisational structures within which ART community preparedness programming can be mainstreamed in a sustainable manner; and
The implementing partners, through their experiences, play a crucial role in providing SAfAIDS with necessary in-country guidance on optimal styles of activity roll-out. SAfAIDS will reciprocate this community-informed input by systematically providing implementing partners with the relevant technical support necessary to realise program objectives, including:
- o Skills in applying the Cascade Approach to empowering the community base with ART literacy skills, launching an expanded program of community trainings and door-to-door visits
- o Supporting monitoring and evaluation of program activities, and reporting writing
- o Skills in hosting meaningful community policy dialogues, within an advocacy strategy
Achievements
Community ART Literacy Training Workshops
Five implementing partners SWANNEPHA, TASC, NATICC, SHAPE and Cabrini Ministries have successfully conducted Community ART Literacy Trainings in their respective communities. The trainings comprised of participants drawn from the PLHIV support groups, Rural Health Motivators, Community Caregivers and teachers. The trainings were conducted in the communities that cover by all the four regions in Swaziland namely Manzini, Lubombo, Shiselweni and Hhoho
Community ART Policy Dialogue
Three implementing partners namely ACAT, Cabrini Ministries and SWANNEPHA have completed hosting the Community ART Policy Dialogues. These were successfully conducted with at least 50 participants being drawn from the community leadership, PLHIV and Community Based Volunteers. The Community ART Policy Dialogues focussed on ART related topical issues around the Treatment Continuum and/or ART community preparedness in their respective communities as guided by a core panel of triggering presentations on these topical issues. The implementing partners have produced a report, outlining proceedings and key discussion issues as well as the paved way forward as concurred during the event. Each report shall be circulated widely as an advocacy tool, as well as a document to inform policy-makers and programmers in-country. The recommendations generated will filter into the National ART Policy Dialogue and this shall also be followed through by relevant bodies.
