Detailed Mechanism Funding and Narrative

Years of mechanism: 2007 2008 2009

Details for Mechanism ID: 5319
Country/Region: Côte d'Ivoire
Year: 2007
Main Partner: Hope Worldwide
Main Partner Program: NA
Organizational Type: FBO
Funding Agency: USAID
Total Funding: $500,000

Funding for Sexual Prevention: Abstinence/Be Faithful (HVAB): $500,000

This activity relates to activities (#9706), (#10161), (#10059), and (#10295).

Hope Worldwide (HWW) began its EP-funded HIV prevention activities in Côte d'Ivoire in FY06 with Track 1 support. This program is now going to scale and will continue to receive additional country support. The HWW AB prevention program is aimed at promoting abstinence and faithfulness and reducing risky behaviors among youth (10-14 years), parents, and monogamous couples, and addressing social norms with men through behavior change communication (BCC) activities carried out in partnership with academic and religious organizations.

The program operates in the southern, central, and western-central regions of the country. FY06 funds continued and improved the quality of activities at 10 sites (nine in Abidjan and one in Bassam) and financed activities at two new sites (Daloa and Yamoussoukro). Activities were implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Education (MEN) and in partnership with 40 schools and other academic programs and 37 religious organizations.

Project activities complement and are coordinated with other initiatives, including EP-funded efforts such as Ministry of the Fight Against AIDS and JHU-CCP activities to develop effective BCC approaches and mobilize faith-based communities and opinion leaders; MEN and Ministry of Family and Social Affairs activities in support of youth and OVC; CARE International and HIV/AIDS Alliance support for CBO/FBOs and PLWHA; and MOH and EGPAF/ACONDA support for expanded PMTCT, CT, and treatment.

FY06 funds supported the following activities: • A situational analysis • Policy and community advocacy • Administrative office set-up and launching of the program • Identification and selection of academic and religious organizations as partners • Training of peer educators for youth and the establishment of 77 community action teams for youth to implement a wide range of community-based activities

HWW also trained 1,508 youth as peer educators, who in turn reached 46,182 people with HIV-prevention messages, including an estimated 27,285 with stand-alone AB messages. In addition, 5,512 people were prompted to go for HIV counseling and testing services. The program also revived several health clubs and facilitated the opening of new clubs.

With complementary central funding, HWW in FY06 supported building youth solidarity for abstinence and established community action teams in accordance with the Ministry of the Fight Against AIDS' new National Strategic HIV/AIDS Plan (2006-2010).

The program benefited from financial and in-kind contributions by the partner academic and religious organizations and technical assistance from PEPFAR partner REPMASCI (network of journalists and artists fighting HIV/AIDS).

In FY07, HWW will expand activities to the regions of Savannah (Bouaké) and Zanzan (Bondoukou). Working mainly in the emphasis areas of IEC, local organizational capacity development, and community mobilization/participation, and on the key legislative issues of gender and stigma/discrimination, FY07 activities will reach 20,000 people with AB messages and 6,700 people with "A"-only messages and will train 1,500 youth to provide AB-oriented HIV prevention.

Specific FY07 activities will include: 1. Conduct a situational analysis of new sites to identify opportunities for collaboration with nongovernmental, academic, and religious organizations. 2. Conduct a KAPB study within eight academic and religious organizations, to be selected based on predefined criteria. The study will help HWW better orient its interventions. 3. Train youth peer educators from selected organizations in HIV-prevention education focusing on abstinence. 4. Reinforce the capacity of parents involved with the selected organizations through exchange workshops on parent-to-child communication. 5. Reinforce the capacities of monogamous couples in each community through couples counseling and provide additional training in CT for youth.

6. Develop eight action teams for youth and two action teams for parents to facilitate youth/adult community activities. HWW will also establish a network for the action teams to promote information sharing. 7. Develop media campaigns for two districts. 8. Strengthen the organizational capacity of selected organizations to expand their reach to additional youth in the community. 9. Expand to reach 4,000 more youth and parents in Bouaké and Bondoukou with abstinence and/or faithfulness interventions and activities aimed at reducing risky behaviors.

In FY07, HWW will also reinforce ongoing activities at existing sites by: 1. Providing refresher training for partner organizations based on their needs. 2. Organizing training for community action teams in monitoring/evaluation, project evaluation, and resource mobilization. 3. Providing materials and IEC support to community action teams. HWW will continue to monitor and evaluate its programs based on EP, project, and national indicators and will continue to assess its progress against the sustainability plan developed during the project's first year. The project will contribute to implementation of an integrated M&E system in collaboration with national and international stakeholders.