Program Regions

Africa

• Ethiopia
• Ghana
• Madagascar
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• Nigeria
• Regional HIV/AIDS
• South Africa
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• Zambia

Asia

• Bangladesh
• India
• Indonesia
• Nepal
• Pakistan

Latin America

• Haiti
• Honduras
• Nicaragua

Near East

• Egypt
• Jordan

Community Mobilization/Participation

• Overview
• Objectives
• Audiences
• Community Action
• Supporting Activities
• Distance Education Radio
• Community Support Print Materials
• Participatory Life skills Package

Overview:

As noted above, community mobilization is at the center of HCP 's Nambia program. At the heart of this is a participatory action process in selected catchment areas through which communities undertake a peer assessment and feedback process, followed by the establishment of community action forums and action plans, and implementation. This community action process, reinforced through other community mobilization/participation activities – radio distance learning, community support print materials, and a participatory life skills package – will contribute to the achievement of the following objectives:

Objectives :

• Increased community knowledge and awareness of HIV/AIDS and the availability of HIV/AIDS related services;
• Increased capacity of communities (selected catchment areas and others) to identify, prioritize and respond to HIV/AIDs related issues; and
• Reduced HIV/AIDS related stigma and socio-cultural norms (alcohol and drug abuse, gender violence) that impact on HIV prevention and treatment.

Audiences:

Community members, specifically including youth, men, women and Community Action Forum members. Secondary audiences will include community leaders, church leaders, local community and development NGOs.

Community Action

Using a dynamic method of participatory assessment, HCP has assisted 11 communities in identifying and acknowledging the extent of their HIV problem as well as the community norms, attitudes and behavior that contribute to the spread of the disease. The outcome of the community analyses is the creation of Community Action Forums (CAFs) that are responsible for developing and implementing action plans. In FY04, HCP established CAFs in 11 communities and assisted them with the development of action plans. In 20O5, HCP will begin the community action process in 8 new sites as well as developing the capacity of both existing and new communities to implement their action plans. The 8 new sites include: Engela, Outapi, Otjiwarongo, Grootfontein, Gobabis, Omaruru, Lüderitz and Swakopmund. HCP will support the three-step community action process - (1) community participatory assessment, (2) development of Community Action Forums (CAFs) and action plans, and (3) implementation of these plans - by providing ongoing technical assistance and through the placement of a Peace Corps Volunteer in each community. Although HCP provides the technical assistance, the community is responsible for implementing each step. HCP will also continue to work with local partners, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church AIDS Programme (ELCAP), Catholic AIDS Action (CAA), and local community and church leaders to carry out these activities.

1. Participatory Assessments

   Participatory assessments will be used as an information-gathering tool that helps to sensitize communities to the challenge of HIV in their communities and to provide them with a comprehensive picture of the socio-economic factors that contribute to HIV infection. This exercise involves a series of community meetings: an initial meeting with community leaders to get permission to work in the identified community, training of trainers and facilitators to facilitate peer group sessions in each community, and a community feedback meeting, where results of the sessions are shared with the larger community. HCP documents this information and writes a report for each community to use as platform from which to develop their action plans. Although time consuming, this participatory and collaborative process ensures that communities become active, responsible partners in the social change necessary to fight the HIV epidemic in Namibia . The outcome of the community assessment is the creation of Community Action Forums (CAFs).

2. Community Action Forums

   The CAFs are made up of men and women elected by the community, during the community feedback meeting, to represent their respective peer group. Typically a CAF has at least 6 members, including a man and a woman from the age groups 16-25, 26-45 and 46+, and several representing local community organizations. The CAFs are responsible for developing action plans outlining how they propose to respond to the key problems identified during the community assessment. HCP will assist the CAFs with the development of action plans and will ensure they are realistic, achievable and ultimately meet HCP and the Emergency Plan's overall objectives.

   Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), placed in each of the selected communities, will be members of the CAFs and will provide on the ground technical assistance. They will also liaise with local organizations including ELCAP, CAA , Lirgona Iparu (local organization supporting HIV+ people), and other community-based and development organizations. HCP will serve as technical advisor to the PCVs by providing training and supervision.

   The CAFs are expected to coordinate HIV/AIDS activities in their communities, initiate new ones and act as an HIV/AIDS monitoring body that regularly informs their community of the progress being made in the fight against AIDS. In this way the C AFs serve as a dynamic, reflexive mechanism whereby community members, clinic and hospital staff, faith-based and community organizations, and local and regional government agencies can meet to share experiences, problems and solutions as well as provide a forum for feedback to VCT, PMTCT, ART , palliative care and OVCs programs on what is working and what isn't.

   These forums thus become advocates and change agents. In addition to the impact the CAFs have within their own communities, HCP envisages that the success of the CAFs will encourage other communities to undertake a similar process, thereby facilitating the expansion of this approach beyond the initial sites. HCP intends to support this scaling up through a distance radio program described in more detail below.

Supporting Activities

In 2005, HCP will develop a variety of activities to support the ongoing processes in the communities. These activities include:

Distance Education Radio

HCP will develop an entertaining distance education radio program to support ongoing CAF work and to scale up the initiative by reaching communities outside of the selected sites, which will include information on the community action process and responses to key issues identified by communities during the participatory assessment and subsequent planning and implementation.

Community Support Print Materials

The community assessment tool kit and other materials will be made available to communities wishing to initiate community action. They will be able to access these materials through the CAF's and through promotions in the distance learning radio program. These materials, in conjunction with the radio program, will provide communities with a step-by-step guide to community action.

Participatory Life skills Package

HCP will develop a Participatory Life skills Package that includes a variety of resources communities can use to respond to issues related to HIV/AIDS. Understanding these issues are complex behavioral and social issues, the HCP Participatory Life skills Package will include best practices and State of the Art approaches adapted from the global HIV response thus far. HCP will support the CAFs and other relevant community groups to use elements of this Life skills Package to address issues such as alcohol abuse, gender, care and support, and prevention to achieve desired impact. Each element of the package will be tailored to the Namibian context.

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