07-P0223: Students against HIV/AIDS, University of Botswana.

This activity has USG Team Botswana Internal Reference Number P0223. This activity links to the following: C0801 & P0210 & P0211 & P0515.

This entry represents the OP part of the program. The program's funding is split between the two program areas (AB and OP), at approximately 50% and 50%, respectively. The reason for dividing the funding is to allow the program to address the HIV prevention needs of a wider range of beneficiaries than they would with funding from only one of the prevention program areas. The program's effort will reflect the funding proportions noted here.

Society Against HIV/AIDS (SAHA) is an organization made up of a group of concerned University of Botswana (UB) students who decided to form an anti-AIDS club. The group realized that youth in Botswana were hard hit by the epidemic. SAHA's mission is to foster awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention among the UB community and to foster attitudinal and behavioral change to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. SAHA was formally formed in 1999 and today has a membership of over 200 students. Some of the members have graduated and have gone to join the working world with the hope that they still continue to get involved in HIV/AIDS work outside the University system. Membership of the society is open to all registered students of the UB.

A priority intervention for the EP is ABY. University students and secondary school students require creative interventions taking into account current social challenges such as alcohol and drug abuse. These interventions need to ensure that the students are taken through the behavior change process. There must be a movement from awareness-raising to ensuring that students are directed to action.

Since 1999, SAHA has been working with students on HIV/AIDS prevention work in the UB campuses, the aim being to sensitize, inform and educate young people on HIV/AIDS issues. This was undertaken with the intention to encourage behavior change. Specific activities undertaken by SAHA in the past include: •Promotion of VCT •HIV/AIDS orientation workshop for new students •Involving University students during the Month of Youth against HIV/AIDS, Month of Prayer, and World AIDS Day commemoration activities •Conducting BCC campaigns •Distributing HIV/AIDS materials •Conducting outreach to secondary school youth.

In addition to continuing this work, in FY07 SAHA proposes to undertake three new activities: 1) Conduct a telephone interview with past SAHA members to track their post-graduation involvement in the HIV/AIDS field, 2) collaborate with Marang Child Care Network Trust to develop a "Big Brother/Sister" mentoring program which will link SAHA members who volunteer with one OVC (matched by gender) as a scale up of the secondary school outreach program. Research has shown that OVCs who receive direct psychosocial support cope better and stay in school longer than those not receiving such support. The SAHA members will pledge to provide tutoring at least twice a week for 6 months to an OVC, thereby providing educational, prevention, and psychosocial support to the child, and; 3) support SAHA to establish an alumni program or network for keeping SAHA members active in HIV/AIDS prevention programs post-graduation. Members of the "Active Alumni Program" can also participate with current SAHA members in the "Big Brother/Sister Program" as previously explained above.

07-P0515: Students Against HIV/AIDS, University of Botswana.

This activity has USG Team Botswana Internal Reference Number P0515. This activity links to the following: P0211 & P0223 & P0511.

Society Against HIV/AIDS (SAHA) is an organization made up of a group of concerned UB students who decided to form an anti-AIDS club. The group realized that youth in Botswana were hard-hit by the epidemic. SAHA's mission is to foster awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention amongst the UB community and to foster attitudinal and behavioral change to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. SAHA was formally formed in 1999 and today has a membership of over 200 students. Some of the members have graduated and have gone to join the working world with the hope that they still continue to get involved in HIV/AIDS work outside the University system. Membership of the society is open to all registered students of the UB.

University students and secondary school students require creative interventions taking into account current social challenges such as alcohol and drug abuse, in addition to sexual behaviors that put them at risk of HIV. These interventions need to ensure that the students are taken through the behavior change process. There must be a movement from awareness-raising to ensuring that students acquire behavioral skills to act on their knowledge.

Since 1999, SAHA has been working with students on HIV/AIDS prevention work in the UB campuses, the aim being to sensitize, inform and educate young people on HIV/AIDS issues. This was undertaken with the intention to encourage behavior change. Specific activities undertaken by SAHA in the past include: • Promotion of VCT • HIV/AIDS Orientation workshop for new students • Involves UB students during Month of youth against HIV/AIDS, Month of prayer and World AIDS Day commemoration activities • Conducting BCC campaigns • Distributing HIV/AIDS materials • Conducting outreach to secondary school youth

In addition to continuing this work SAHA proposes to undertake three new activities: 1) Conduct a telephone interview with past SAHA members to track their post-graduation involvement in the HIV/AIDS field, 2) collaborate with Marang Child Care Network Trust to develop a "Big Brother/Sister" mentoring program which will link SAHA members who volunteer with one OVC (matched by gender) as a scale up of the secondary school outreach program. Research has shown that OVCs who receive direct psychosocial support cope better and stay in school longer than those not receiving such support. The SAHA members will pledge to provide tutoring at least twice a week for 6 months to an OVC, thereby providing educational, prevention, and psychosocial support to the child, and; 3) support SAHA to establish an alumni program or network for keeping SAHA members active in HIV/AIDS prevention programs post-graduation. Members of the "Active Alumni Program" can also participate with current SAHA members in the "Big Brother/Sister Program" as previously explained above.

07-C0617: Nurses Association of Botswana.

This activity has USG Team Botswana Internal Reference Number C0617. This activity links to the following: C0601 & C0801 & X1411.

The Nurses' Association of Botswana (NAB) is a non-profit NGO addressing issues around professional growth and integrity. Since the advent of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, nurses have experienced increased levels of stress, burnout, and despair. In 2001, the USG responded by organizing training on "Understanding Grief and Loss: Caring for the Caregivers." In FY04/05 NAB developed a manual and provided training for their members. Six thousand copies of the Caring for the Caregivers manual were produced and distributed, one for each nurse across the country.

Strengthening care and support services through an expanded network of care providers is essential to meeting the needs of nurses. Currently, the health care sector cannot cope with the demands for hospitalization of patients with AIDS, many of whom have to be sent home when they still need care. Many gaps remain in palliative care services, including problems with coverage and the quality of services offered. There is a lack of comprehensive palliative care services, which should encompass a continuum of care from symptom and clinical care to preventive care, psychosocial and spiritual care, and end-of-life support.

To meet the current health crisis, health workers must be competent, compassionate, and confident in caring for AIDS patients. Policies and service delivery guidelines need to be revised. NAB aims to establish support groups for nurses and other health care workers throughout the country. The purpose of the support groups is to provide and receive emotional, spiritual, social, and practical support from each other in health and professional issues, with an emphasis on, but not limited to, HIV/AIDS. Nurses will be trained to organize and run a support group and assisted to establish support groups at their facilities and health regions.

NAB plans to use existing materials from Botswana and the southern African region to develop guidelines for formation of support groups for nurses. A project completed in South Africa, by POLICY Project in partnership with the National Department of Health, developed guidelines to establish groups to give psychosocial support for people who are living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Based on this established resource and in follow-up to the Caring for the Caregivers program, NAB will work with the USAID/Health Policy Initiative to adapt these guidelines for NAB to provide psychosocial support to nurses who are experiencing increased stress and loss due to HIV/AIDS. Nurses with increased psychosocial support will provide better care for those who are in need.

These guidelines will be developed under the supervision of a Support Group Guidelines Committee made up of NAB members and other key stakeholders such the Tshedisa Institute- a wellness center for health care workers, hospitals, the IHS, and the MOH Caring for Caregivers program. Once developed, NAB will train 80 nurses throughout the country in various health care settings, who will in turn train 800 other nurses (each nurse will train 10 nurses) in the use of the guidelines and the development of support groups. At the end of the workshop, participants will develop their own work plans to start support groups. After feedback has been obtained by NAB, successful support groups will receive support to facilitate running the initial 2-3 meetings of their new groups.

NAB will follow up with workshop participants by phone and fax and an evaluation form on the implementation of their work plans. This will ultimately result in the establishment of support groups to assist NAB members to support each other in the context of HIV/AIDS and ultimately, improved and more compassionate care for people living with HIV/AIDS.

07-C0801: Ambassador's HIV/AIDS Initiative: Marang Childcare Network.

Activity links to the following: C0613 & C0617 & C0802 & C0811 & C0817 & C0818 & P0223 & T1107 & T1115 & T11O1 & X1406.

The Marang Child Care Network Trust is the only umbrella body for organizations serving OVC in Botswana. Currently, the organization has a membership of 21 CBOs. The main purpose of Marang is to strengthen the organizational, management and technical capacity of its members. Marang works to equip partner organizations with relevant skills and capacities in OVC programming. Over the years, Marang has been able to implement a number of interventions aimed at ensuring quality provision of services to OVC through its partner organizations.

Marang will continue scaling up past activities to further develop the NGO/CBO/FBO capacities to provide skilled support to OVC through community-based initiatives. In FY05/06, Marang made significant strides in transforming its operational structures by putting in place a technical team composed of 2 program officers, 1 finance officer and a bookkeeper. Marang has also managed to procure a computer, laptop, printer and a multi-functional photocopier to back up its administrative and coordination function. In FY07, Marang will hire three additional technical staff: a M&E Officer, a Capacity Building Officer and a Program Officer.

In FY05/06, Marang provided support and built capacity of its 21 partner OVC-serving organizations in 15 districts in the following areas: organizational development, day care training, advocacy, and community and resource mobilization. Monitoring and follow-up activities with these organizations have demonstrated improved programming for OVC.

A sustainable pool of trained and skilled human resources is key to the ability of community-based organizations and actions to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS on children and their families. Marang will therefore, continue to invest in building the capacity of its implementing partners in many diverse areas including 1) leadership skills, 2) program planning and design, 3) implementation and management, 4) M&E, 5) local social and resource mobilization, and 6) advocacy. This skills mix is necessary to support the many EP-supported community-based activities that are aimed at providing direct support to OVC in accessing essential services such as education, nutrition, healthcare, psychosocial support and home-based care. These services are among those defined by government as the minimum essential services for OVC.

In FY07, Marang will build and strengthen the capacity of 29 additional NGO/CBO/FBO and increase the coverage from 15 districts to 25 districts (are these health districts or administrative, MOH only uses 24 districts). Marang will build the capacity of these organizations to monitor and provide quality services to OVC. Marang will promote sustainability of its partners by equipping them with resource mobilization skills that will foster relationships with community-based business councils to raise funds and promote public-private partnerships to mobilize resources for OVC. Those partner organizations trained in FY05/FY06 will serve as mentors to other OVC-serving organizations. In addition, organizations will continue to receive follow-up trainings in key focus areas.

Marang's major strategy for capacity building is through training. Marang will continue to make use of all available training curricula, guides, and manuals that will have been developed and/or approved by relevant Ministries or Departments. For example, in psychosocial support, Marang will train its members using the National Psychosocial Support Manual developed by MLG's DSS. Other relevant Government Ministries whose guidance and direction will be sought include the MOE and MOH. Marang will also liaise with other stakeholders to solicit relevant training materials.

More specifically, capacity building activities will focus on organizational development and day care training as described below: Organizational Development: Marang will equip new partner organizations with leadership and organizational management skills to ensure good governance and management of OVC programs. This will target 250 board members drawn from 29 NGO/CBO/FBO.

Day Care Training - The training will focus on child development and counseling, child

abuse and prevention, child bereavement support techniques such as use of memory boxes, interventions and referrals, parenting skills, childcare policies and support services. Marang will work jointly with DSS Services, Department of Early Childhood at the UB, UNICEF, and Child Line to produce basic information packs and train at least 60 participants from the 50 partner NGO/FBO/CBO.

In addition, the following new activities will be undertaken to further enhance the capacity of participating NGO/CBO/FBO:

Alternative Forms of Care Training - Marang will facilitate the dissemination of Alternative Care Regulations developed by DSS. These regulations will be introduced to guide both the development and delivery of related childcare services. The training will target 300 program managers, coordinators and supervisors. Marang, in partnership with DSS and MOE will coordinate and facilitate the training workshops. Training of Trainers (TOT) for caregivers of OVC with Disability - 50 participants from the 50 partner organizations will be trained, as trainer of trainers in emotional and psychological needs of OVC with disability. The MOE- Special Education Department, Regional Health Team, and District Social Service Departments will be the main partners in this intervention.

Community and Resource Mobilization workshop - 500 stakeholders will be sensitized on the need to support OVC programs and OVC-serving organizations and trained in the skills to provide needed support. This training is geared at promoting local resource mobilization to ensure sustainability of OVC interventions.

The 50 partner NGO/CBO/FBO whose capacity will have been strengthened, will provide psychosocial support services and other basic services to 10,000 orphans and vulnerable children. We anticipate that the partner organizations will also be able to increase their scope, reach and ensure sustainability of their OVC programs Marang will also work closely with the District Social Welfare Services to expand the coverage of services to the most needy children and hard-to-reach villages.

Marang, as the only OVC umbrella network in the country will collaborate with relevant government departments and other stakeholders to ensure effective coordination and quality of services to OVC. Marang will collaborate with DSS, UNICEF, and other stakeholders in promoting and strengthening coordination committees such as the District Child Welfare Committees and Village Child welfare committees. Where applicable, Marang will collaborate with HWW in establishing Community Child Care Forums (CCCF) among its partner organizations. The CCCF will serve as the "watch dogs" for OVC services at the community level.

Marang will facilitate improved monitoring of OVC services by supporting the partner organizations to develop community M&E systems. The community level indicators will be in line with the national core indicators on orphan care and support. Marang will take a lead role in coordinating and monitoring the activities of its partners to ensure application of skills acquired.

Some of the major indicators to be tracked by Marang will include: •# of organizations trained by type of training •# of people trained by type of training •# of OVC reached by partner organizations by type of service •# of organizations applying acquired skills •# of organizations with improved service provision to OVC (quantitative and qualitative data)

Marang will document lessons learned and best practices emerging from partner organizations in improved OVC programming.