07-P0208 Ministry of Education school-based prevention.

This activity has USG Team Botswana Internal Reference Number P0208. This activity links to the following: P0206 & P0222 & P0224 & P0225 & X1309.

MOE: Curriculum Development and Evaluation Unit ($450,000)

The overall objective of the program is to impart life skills that will enhance the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV/AIDS among all learners in Primary and Secondary schools in Botswana. The target population includes about 350,000 learners at Primary, 160,000 learners at Secondary, learners with special needs and disabilities, as well as about 15,000 teachers at Primary and 4,000 teachers at Secondary who will impart the life skills to the learners.

A needs assessment of selected schools around the country was done in 2002 and found that, while there was a curriculum in place to address life skills and HIV/AIDS Education, standardized skills-based materials were needed to efficiently facilitate the provision of life skills for HIV/AIDS prevention to learners. With the assistance of HHS/CDC/BOTUSA, Education Development Centre, Inc. (EDC), and MOE, new materials were developed that are based on an interactive process of teaching and learning that enables learners to acquire knowledge and to develop attitudes and skills that support healthy behaviors. The materials will enable learners to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life, especially in the advent of HIV/AIDS. The materials' content also prioritizes abstinence, delayed sexual debut, and when appropriate faithfulness and partner reduction. The materials are age- and culturally- appropriate.

To date, Lower Primary Standards 3 & 4 have been printed and are being distributed to Primary schools around the country. Printing of the upper Primary Standards 5 to 7 will begin soon, with partial support from FY06 funding. Two hundred Master trainers have also been trained, who will launch the training cascade that will ultimately reach a majority of teachers.

For FY07, USG will continue to support the printing of the materials and the training of teachers. Specifically, USG will assist with printing materials for junior and senior secondary levels (Forms 1-3, and Forms 4-5) and will support the teacher training cascade, through, for example, stipends for Master trainers and assistance with training logistics. These inputs complement the various human and financial resources provided the program by the MOE. USG will support an assessment of the roll-out process through a separate contract (P0225, TBD).

MOE: HIV/AIDS Coordinator Office ($50,000)

Part of this funding ($50,000) will be used to further strengthen coordination/collaboration of HIV prevention activities at the District/school level through the MOE's AIDS Coordination Office. In FY06, USG provided the AIDS Coordinators Office with funding to begin to develop guidelines for any agency that intends to work in or with schools for HIV prevention, and these additional funds will help continue that activity, including workshops, printing, and/or consultant fees.

FY 2007 PLUS-UP ($400,000): The Ministry of Education will print, package and deliver all of the materials for studens ant teachers in the Junior Secondary Schools and Senior Secondary Schools, in addition othe Upper Primary materials. Some of the funds willb eused for training as planned, but the majority will be used for printing, packaging and delivery to schools.

As May 2007 we will no longer use part of the funds ($50,000) to fund the HIV/AIDS Coordinator Office of the MOE. The Coordinator's Office has under-performed in their utilization of the FY 2006 funds, and continuation is unwarranted. All funds will go towards the life skills project, which can still absorb more funds in support of printing, distribution and teacher training.

07-C0813: Ministry of Education- Circles of Support.

USG Team Botswana Internal Reference Number C0813. This activity links to the following: C0613 & C0805 & C0806 & C0807 & C0811 & C0815 & T1107.

HIV/AIDS has had a severe impact on children's ability to remain in school. As a result, more and more children are unable to attend schools and have fallen through the cracks of the education system. As the AIDS pandemic takes its toll on families and communities, psychosocial support is emerging as a vast and challenging area of programming for OVC service providers. The death of a parent or guardian has serious implications for child welfare, especially as regards education.

A child who has lost a caregiver is more likely to drop out of school or not have access to education for several reasons. First, the child may lack the funds for school expenses and fees. Second, older siblings may drop out of school to care for younger ones. Third, after the death of caregiver, children may be forced to move to stay with relatives in other locations. Finally, the death of a caregiver has serious psychological effects on a child. Children are often withdrawn, depressed, and lonely, and this in turn affects their school attendance and performance.

The MOE has clearly noted that services to OVC in schools have mainly focused on material support including food baskets. While this is important, it does not address the gap in the provision of psychosocial support services to OVC within the school environment.

The Circles of Support (COS) model aims to close this gap. COS places emphasis on provision of holistic and comprehensives services to OVC both at the individual and family level, with psychosocial services at the center. The Ministry of Education initiated the COS program for orphans and vulnerable children in FY06, following a pilot phase in FY05. The COS is a community- and school-based multi-sectoral approach to meeting the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

The pilot phase and an evaluation of this initiative indicated that the COS is a practical approach to addressing the psychosocial support needs of OVC. This model facilitates linkages with local networks in supporting retention and reintroduction of children into schools. It is also aimed at strengthening schools and community partnerships to meet the basic needs of school-going OVC to achieve their academic potential.

How does the COS model work? The model uses the school as an entry point where three members of staff (head teacher and two teachers interested in OVC issues) are selected to form a committee referred to as "School Conveners". In addition, in the community, three community members are identified from the PTA, OVC-serving organizations, and Social and Community Development office. This group is then referred as "Community Neighborhood Agents". The School Conveners and the Community Neighborhood Agents go undergoes a series of trainings to equip them with 1) skills in identifying needy OVC, 2) strategies for follow-up visits at home, 3) knowledge and skills related to child development, 4) skills for school-based income generating programs and 5) skills to organize and conduct community mobilization. After the trainings, both teams engage other relevant stakeholders. The school community is then mobilized and sensitized on the plight and needs of OVC to help reduce stigma and discrimination. The school community, especially the students, helps to identify their needy peers who may require support in accessing basic services. They also help to identify their peers who have dropped out of school.

The School Conveners review the school enrollment register to identify the number of OVC in schools. This number is then compared with that of the Social and Community Development Office to ensure inclusion of all needy OVC. Each needy OVC is then assigned a committee member for further follow-up to carry out an assessment of their needs and ensure that they have access to services. Regular home visits are conducted for each child using a standardized monitoring tool.

Another important feature of the COS is community mobilization. Communities are sensitized on the needs of OVC and are encouraged to mobilize resource to help meet the

needs of these children. Through community mobilization other community structures such as the District Multisectoral AIDS Committees (DMSACs) have been brought on board to ensure proper coordination and ownership of the program.

In FY06, the MOE started implementation of the COS model in 200 schools located in the South, South Central, and West regions, targeting 6,000 OVC. In addition to the 200 schools in FY06, the Ministry of Education will continue to implement and roll out the COS model to another 250 schools in the same regions, benefiting 8,000 OVC. By the end of FY07, the MOE will have facilitated provision of services to 14,000 orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS in Schools.

In providing psychosocial support services to school-going OVC, the MOE will continue to work closely with MLG's DSS, in training teachers, community members and other stakeholders on Psychosocial Support The MOE will use the National PSS manual developed by DSS to ensure standardization and quality in PSS training. The MOE will also work with NGOs/CBOs/FBOs around the school environment to establish referral and follow-up of OVC who may require specialized attention at the community level.

M&E of this program will continue to be a crucial component. Officers at the ministry level will undertake monitoring visits to schools and track program progress. In addition, the officers will continue to provide guidance in implementing the COS model. The MoE will also report relevant M&E indicators in the National M&E framework for OVC to DSS.

Institute of Development and Management (IDM) will continue to partner in the implementation of COP07 activities with the MOE

IDM Activities ($150,000) IDM provides training, consulting and research to private, public and civil society organizations. Its focuses public health management, human resources management, public administration and business management.

IDM helped to pilot a program initiated by Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) on COS. This pilot program was implemented in three SADC countries; Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland. IDM facilitated the implementation of the pilot program in Botswana, in collaboration with the MOE's AIDS Coordination Office. Following the successful implementation of the pilot program, the MOE decided to roll-out the program country-wide. For planning and logistical purposes, the program will be implemented in a phases. Phase 1 is being implemented using FY06 USG funds.

In FY07, IDM will continue to facilitate implementation of the second phase. IDM's role includes: •Design and implement the planned activities of the roll-out phase •Carry out orientation activities related to coordination of the program at all levels of implementation •Design and implement the training plan for teachers (school conveners) and community representatives (neighborhood agents) •Design and implement a M&E system that will inform the roll-out process. •Make frequent support visits to monitor implementation and address any issues that might arise •Design and facilitate a community mobilization plan to facilitate linkages with other community stakeholders •Facilitate the sharing of best practices from the implementing education regions with key national and international stakeholders. •Facilitate a process where policy issues and gaps arising or identified from the roll-out process are relayed to the relevant authorities for action.

All the above tasks will be done in conjunction with the MOE and in particular the HIV/AIDS Coordination Office.

IDM will engage the services of 4 (four) consultants who are well versed in OVC issues .

07-X1308 MOE: Behavioral Change Surveillance Survey.

This activity has USG Team Botswana Internal Reference Number X1308. This activity links to the following: P0208.

Botswana's population is young; 47.5% of Botswana's population (1,719,996) is between 5 and 24 years old. According to BAIS II, 9% of these young people are living with HIV; girls being more affected then boys. In HIV prevention, youth are a key population, since they are (1) at high risk for HIV infection; (2) starting out in their lives as sexually active adults, and adopting behaviors, which they may then maintain for decades; and (3) active in the economy as workers and in some cases as parents of small children.

Currently the majority of the young people in this age group are attending school, thus giving an excellent opportunity to equip them with skills to prevent HIV infection. The MOE in collaboration with various partners (UN family, NGOs, FBOs, development partners) has developed a number of prevention programs aimed at changing risky behavior of these young people. For example, the MoE/HHS/CDC/BOTUSA life skills curriculum materials will be introduced in schools very soon. Given the high HIV prevalence in this young population groups, it is very important to monitor the prevalence of risky behaviors. Reliable and detailed information on sexual risk will be pivotal for designing effective prevention programs for this key population.

The MoE, with technical and financial assistance and from HHS/CDC/BOTUSA and HHS/CDC/Atlanta, will establish and conduct an annual nationwide behavioral change surveillance survey (BSS) among students aged 15 and 24 years attending upper primary school, community junior secondary, senior secondary and tertiary schools in Botswana. Both public and private institutions will be included. Behavioral change surveillance surveys (BSS) have been shown over several years to make an important and useful contribution to informing the MOE's response to morbidity and mortality, and program impacts.

These serial surveys use reliable methods to track HIV risk behaviors over time as part of an integrated surveillance system. As noted in Botswana's National HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework, successful HIV prevention depends on changing risk behaviors. This includes promoting abstinence, delaying the onset of first intercourse among young people, reducing the number of sex partners, increasing condom use among sexually active youth, reducing needle-sharing behavior among injecting drug users, and reducing drugs and alcohol use. The MOE and the GOB will use information from these surveys to guide the design of appropriate prevention programs, and to monitor whether these efforts are successful.

The survey scope will be broadened to monitor the impact of programs the MOE has developed in collaboration with all its partners, including the life skills curriculum developed in collaboration with HHS/CDC/BOTUSA. This activity will be conducted in collaboration with HHS/CDC/BOTUSA (the M&E and the Behavioral Change Communication Sections) and all other stakeholders. For logistical reasons, the MOE will conduct the survey this year only in secondary and tertiary schools. The survey will be extended to upper primary schools in the future. Reference and technical working groups will be formed under the auspices of the MOE and will include all the key stakeholders. The technical working group will guide the process overall. These funds will be used to review and adapt the questionnaires so that they cover the scope of the behavioral change surveillance survey and their piloting. The funds will also be used to (1) print the questionnaires and dispatch then to and from schools, (2) hire and train about 300 research assistants, and (3) analyze collected data, write, and publish the report.

For this first year, the MoE will convene a sensitization and consensus meeting with all stakeholders, a reference committee and a technical working group to adapt and pilot different survey tools, and conduct a pilot survey in selected schools. This phase will be used to work out all the logistics and to train all key players in the survey. The technical working group will benefit from both the technical assistance from HHS/CDC/BOTUSA and HHS/CDC/Atlanta.