Urban Agriculture Program for HIV/AIDS Affected Women and Children

This is a continuing activity from COP05 and COP06. This activity is linked to community level response to palliative care (new 1114), Positive Change Children communities and Care (5578) and Integrated Community Systems to Mitigate HIV/AIDS Impact on children (APS). To date, the activity has received 100% of FY06 funding. The partner is on track according to original targets as per the annual workplan. Funding had been increased for FY07 based on achievements from COP05 and partial results from COP06.

Summary of FY06 Accomplishments: This activity reached 7,686 of the targeted 6,600, i.e. 116.5% achievement. Food production in DAI sites has proved to provide not only food but also income for urban gardeners. Approximately 70% of the food produced is consumed; the remainder is sold and on average provides 40 Birr ($5) per month to participating households. DAI has established a working relationship with a network of NGOs that are operating in the same target areas with the same populations to achieve comprehensive services. Partners include: Integrated Services for AIDS Prevention and Support Organization (ISAPSO), Hiwot HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Support Organization (HAPCSO), Emmanuel Development Association (EDA), and the Welfare for the Street Mothers and Children Organization (WeSMCO). The activity has established a respected presence in high HIV/AIDS prevalence areas and serves as an entry point for referrals within the PEPFAR network of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment. Beneficiaries, especially OVC guardians living with HIV/AIDS, have conveyed an improved sense of self reliance and connectedness with the community resulting from their urban gardening.

FY07 Plan:

The Urban Agriculture Program for HIV Affected Women (UAPHAW) is an urban gardening program in high HIV/AIDS prevalence areas that supports low-income women and children. The program introduces simple micro-irrigation techniques at household level that can reduce labor and water needs, increasing production for households with limited resources. The objectives of the project are to improve the nutritional status of food insecure HIV+ individuals and affected families, increase the income levels of these families through sales of surplus garden crops; and provide skills and alternative livelihoods, thus increasing sustainability.

The purpose of the program was to develop a nutrition and income support program for low-income women, affected and infected by HIV/AIDS, in selected urban areas of Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar and Amhara. The program introduces simple micro-irrigation and gardening technologies to reduce labor, water, and land requirements, which are the main limiting factors for food production. The drip irrigation system is a low cost, low-labor intensive technology, which has been found to compensate for shortfalls in labor productivity. It increases crop yields per area, consumes less time, energy and water. The drip irrigation systems use 50% less water and labor of normal gardens, allowing the sick and elderly to participate. The beneficiaries receive the drip irrigation kits, training in gardening and how to use and maintain the kits and are eventually linked to the markets for sales of their surplus produce.

Moreover, the activity contributes to assertiveness and confidence building of women and their families. Women work together, share their views and come to understand and accept each other as individuals. This contributes towards minimizing stigma and discrimination and leads to cohesive social acceptance of both the children and the female heads of households. In COP07, the activity will increase outreach to households with HIV/AIDS-affected orphans and vulnerable children, with particular emphasis being given to female and orphan-headed households, recognizing the increased vulnerability of these groups. Expanded partnerships with other PEPFAR and non-USG support OVC programs will help improve outreach to OVC. FY07 Activities will include: (1) Developing and implementing detailed targeting criteria to identify OVC beneficiaries, in keeping with the PEPFAR Ethiopia guidance; (2) Assuring linkages with ongoing PEPFAR Ethiopia OVC programs; (3) Maintaining and extending technical and community outreach partner networks; (4) Working with local entities (either commercial or development projects) to produce

drip irrigation and water containers in Ethiopia, continuing delivery of training and capacity building to technical and community partners; (5) Working with technical and community partners to identify, develop and deliver training inputs to target households and communities (areas of training and technical support to cover site selection, installation, use and maintenance of drip irrigation systems, gardening skills); (6) Continuing advocacy work with Kebele and other local government officials and private landlords in terms of access to and use of urban land to address long-term sustainability; (7) Identifying and developing linkages with markets to support the income-generating components of the program.

This activity will work with other PEPFAR Ethiopia partners working in the fields of OVC care and support, ART and PMTCT to improve referral linkages for OVC-headed households between the partners. The activity has established partnerships with seven sub-partners in Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar that have successful HIV/AIDS care programs and networks, and/or successful urban agricultural development and market development activities in the target communities. The extension of this program will enable these partnerships to mature and to build on lessons learned in the initial phase. It is expected that the activity will identify sub-grantees with multiple local partners in each new urban area. The program will expand to Bahar Dar, Gonder, Addis Ababa, Dessie, Nazareth and Awassa.

In partnership with other PEPFAR Ethiopia OVC partners, the activity will work with the new PEPFAR APS recipient to coordinate activities to achieve most efficient use of OVC resources in highest HIV/AIDS prevalence areas. This includes harmonization on indicators, reporting, and OVC standards of care in line with Government of Ethiopia national guidelines and policies and OGAC OVC Program Guidance, as well as achieving quality assurance in OVC programming. Data from the EDHS 2005 and the results of USG Ethiopia mapping will used to further identify geographic priority areas to reach areas ranked highest for children affected by HIV/AIDS and with service availability to meet OVC comprehensive needs.

Exit strategy: The sub-grant to the NGOs in the gardening program is designed for one year. NGOs are well oriented so that they can continue providing technical support to the beneficiaries after the project terminates. Beneficiaries will be trained in such a way that they will graduate after twelve months and the technical support is only provided once. After the grant period beneficiaries will continue to produce vegetables by themselves, with some technical support from the agriculture department and the NGO extension staff.