The HIV Prevention for Vulnerable Adolescent Girls projects goal is to prevent new HIV infections and promote abstinence and mutual faithfulness by addressing the HIV risk among the most vulnerable adolescent girls and their partners. This project will address specific needs of married adolescent girls. Activities will support delayed girls marriage and support girls who are already married, outreach to husbands of adolescent girls, and support to poor urban girls, most of whom are migrants from rural areas. This activity is implemented in urban and peri-urban areas of Bahir Dar, Gondar, Dessie, and Addis Ababa, which are along truck routes. This program aligns with the PF Goal 1: Prevention intervention packages that reach Most at Risk Populations and the GHI woman- and girl-centered approach. PopCouncil works closely with Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs partnering ward administration offices and local NGOs to strengthen their capacity by leadership training, mentorship program so they can eventually take on activities currently supported by the project. An estimated 2 new vehicles are needed for scale-up as the project has a wide reach (36 sites) and is expanding, a vehicle is critical for project implementation, management and oversight at these locations. The M&E plan includes an evaluation using a quasi-experimental research design involving pre-and post- intervention surveys in experimental and comparison areas to measure changes in social safety nets and HIV knowledge, discussion and prevention capabilities, especially VCT. Descriptive and multivariate analysis was conducted to understand changes associated with the project. Though no COP12 funds are being requested for this project, the project will continue as described using pipeline funds.

This activity develops tools and training for OVC programs to meet the needs of adolescent girls escaping from early marriage and provides services and referrals to female OVC who have migrated to low-income urban centers. Services include emotional and social support; non-formal education; HIV prevention information; livelihoods training (including financial literacy and entrepreneurship); referrals to post-rape counseling, health services, VCT, PMTCT, and ART. The project partners with economic growth programs to provide guidance on entrepreneurship training and employment strategies and resources and with programs addressing exploitive child labor to leverage experience and capacity. The activity establishes girls groups for the most vulnerable, out-of-school, migrant girls, including domestic workers. The groups, led by adult female mentors, provide a safe space for girls to discuss their problems, obtain peer support, and engage with supportive adults. Livelihood skills training is provided to enable the girls to work and support themselves and therefore prevent them engaging in risky behavior. Over 7,500 vulnerable migrant girls will be reached in FY 2012 through 100 trained female mentors. Groups are managed by local ward administrations and local NGOs. Female mentors identify needs, provide support, and make and following up on referrals. Assistance to OVC programs includes provision of technical input on improving reach and depth of services to vulnerable adolescent girls. The activitys focus on vulnerable adolescent girls increases gender equity in HIV/AIDS programs. The program includes capacity building to partnering ward administration offices and local NGOs to help them recognize the impacts of girls experiencing early marriage and how to address their needs. The activity applies the Standards of Services for OVC in Ethiopia and conforms to the PEPFAR Ethiopia Prevention Strategy of targeting high-risk groups. Faith and community structures are engaged in identifying and providing support to adolescent girls their prospective husbands, their families and communities that support early marriage. The program will link closely with Pop Councils Safer Marriage activity in the Amhara Region.

HIV Prevention for Vulnerable Adolescent Girls Project focuses on the vulnerability of adolescent girls who are married early and those who are migrants from rural areas to towns in search of better opportunities, trafficked by relatives for domestic work and or escaping early marriage. They are vulnerble to varieties of abuses like sexual, rape, overwork, lack of education and limiting their movement. Their ages range from ten to nineteen. The Projects works in Addis Ababa, Amhara and Tigray regions. Female mentors are trained for married adolescent girls programs and male for husbands/boys clubs. HIV prevention messages are conveyed in mentorship programs for married adolescent girls and the husband and boys. Married adolescent girls clubs with a membership of 25-39 involves mentorship programs such as life skills trainings, awareness raising on HIV/AIDS, RH, GBV, service provision to GBV survivors, addressing harmful male norms, non-formal education and others. Husbans' clubs and market place agents activities include awareness on HIV/AIDS, use and abuse of alcohol, GBV and care for family. Abstinence and being faithful programs are given by religious leaders trained in curriculum based trainings. Days of Dialogue training for priests through Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) using Developmental Bible manual developed for the purpose. After the training the imams and priests conveyed HIV prevention messages to their congregations, and promote VCT, PMTCT and ARV. Rallies are held led by archbishops. In the intervention sites, many religious leaders make a policy that no marriage will be blessed without prior VCT testing by priests and imams. The project is monitored by way of supportive supervision at field and meetings with all stakeholders, site visits, standardardized materials. Services well integrated. Female mentors give awareness raising on GBV, encouraged to report as early as possible, and if encountered GBV, the survivor is linked to the Project's client health facility with a coupon where necessary support is provided. If the need is for shelter the survivor is linked to subpartner where she can access temporary shelter.

This activity addresses the HIV risks associated with early marriage, divorce and migration by implementing community awareness and premarital VCT interventions to promote later, safer, chosen marriage and marital fidelity. In view of unequal marital relationships, this activity develops interventions encouraging married men to remain faithful. Key faith and community leaders will reinforce these messages. Strategies include: 1) educating communities on the risks associated with early marriage, marital HIV transmission, and promoting faithfulness, 2) promoting premarital VCT for engaged couples and VCT for married couples, and 3) supporting and educating married adolescent girls and their husbands through clubs.1,000 religious leaders will be trained through Days of Dialogue, to reach congregations and community members with prevention messages, tailored to the nature of HIV risk in Amhara. Over 120,000 individuals will be reached with prevention messages related to HIV, delaying marriage, male norms and behaviors, faithfulness, and premarital VCT. 200 selected religious and community leaders from the new project sites will be trained as VCT promoters to promote premarital VCT and refer couples to VCT sites. Clients testing positive will be provided ongoing support and referral to existing care and support services. This activity will establish married girls clubs to reach over 15,000 married adolescent girls, providing venues through which girls can receive information, advice, and social support, including in instances where they feel their husbands pose HIV risk or when they are contemplating migration. The clubs will include livelihood and mentoring opportunities, as well as informal education and HIV information and referral. The activity will establish married mens clubs, reaching 12,000 men, as a venue through which to discuss male roles and gender norms, gender-based violence, and faithfulness, among others. Condom distribution and consistent and proper use is passed through male and female mentors in their respective clubs.