The goal of the USG Public Affairs Section (PAS) small grants program is to support small-scale, community based prevention efforts, as well as increase the capability of the media in covering, raising awareness, and educating the Mozambican population on prevention activities, moving towards "Mozambicanization" of the response to HIV. The projects aim at promoting a comprehensive HIV prevention program focusing on Sexual Prevention and Health Systems Strengthening. Prevention programs will also address issues related to MCP, tradition and cultural norms that support or hinder HIV prevention. Target groups will be young boys and girls in or out of school, adult men and women,. Gender issues will also merit attention through the empowering of young girls through HIV training sessions and life skills. Peace Corps grantees will play an important role in implementing programs with young boys and girls in and out of school.. They have managed successful HIV awareness and life skills programs for young girls and boys, which had a positive impact on their lives and communities. Peace

Corps Volunteers are often well-integrated into communities that are difficult for traditional programs to reach, and understand local needs in a way that allows them to propose projects that have lasting impact and a high likelihood of community ownership. Community radio stations, broadcasting in local languages, will also play an important role in disseminating HIV awareness programs in the rural areas where access to TV and internet is very difficult, if not impossible. Local associations, including traditional leaders will also play a role in educating community members on the use of preventive measures, including the use of condoms. The geographic focus of the activities will be the south and central regions, taking into account the higher HIV prevalence in these two areas.

In line with the Partnership Framework, the project intends to support local civil society organizations to reach sustainability through staff training and institutional capacity-building. In order to achieve cost efficiency goals, the project will encourage a closer working relationship among partners that work on different fields. For example, associations that provide counseling and testing activities in a given area will be matched with other organizations doing similar work to capture economies of scale.

The focus will be on organizations that work in the following areas: 1) Organizations with local reach and creative prevention strategies, with grants up to $75,000. PAS will run a competitive application program, seeking out repeat grantees who ran successful programs in prior years, also placing priority on new organizations and innovative programming; 2) The media and media training and facilitation institutions, such as the Media Institute of Southern Africa, the Journalism School, the School of Communication and Arts, and the National Journalist Syndicate, are an additional focus group.

PAS activities relate primarily to PF Goal 1, -reducing new HIV infections in Mozambique; ; Goal 2 objective 2.4 by strengthening capacity within civil society to implement prevention programs; and Goal 3 of strengthening the Mozambican health system by training and rewarding journalists for achieving high standards of reporting and promotion of accurate information,. The small grants program addresses the overall PF goal of sustainability by working primarily with Mozambican professionals and organizations

To avoid duplicating costs of prevention activities, PAS collaborates with other USG partners to make professional tools and training available to partners. Program beneficiaries include local sub-grantees (staff and members of local organizations) and people served by partners.

PAS' key contribution to health systems strengthening is strengthening the role of civil society, communities, and the media in the health system. Overall the capacity of civil society organizations will be increased to contribute to the health system and be valued partners that offer their services, experience and ideas. These activities cut across the health system building blocks, but are especially relevant to

leadership/governance.

The results of the project will be: 1) Increased capacity of Mozambican organizations to develop and manage effective programs that improve the quality and coverage of HIV prevention services; 2) Partners expand HIV prevention behaviors among adult men and women, as well as youth; 3. Partners increase the numbers of youth, young adults and adults in sexual relationships who are avoiding high risk behaviors that make them vulnerable to HIV infection.

USG monitoring and evaluation (M&E) procedures measure the quality of interventions implemented by its partners. Results are reported throughout the year, as USG-supported activities do not follow a strict calendar. The USG requires partners to develop M&E plans specific to their activities, and assists them in monitoring quarterly (at a minimum), evaluating, and adjusting their programs. Data collection is completed primarily through routine monitoring processes, participant surveys and focus groups.

The USG will provide institutional strengthening and grant support to local organizations to develop and manage effective HIV prevention programs. The small-grants program is designed to be flexible and responsive to emerging ideas and institutions, while also supporting ongoing projects and longer-term institutional development of selected partners.

Activities will focus on identifying and assessing new partner organizations; providing institutional capacity-building for implementation of activities; creating partnership mechanisms among partners; increasing capacity of local professionals to respond to organizational development needs of local organizations.

This activity addresses the system barrier of a weak civil society and media institutions which pay insufficient attention to the issue, which contributes to weak participation in the health system. Media associations and individual journalists will be strengthened to play a leading role in the HIV response - as reporters and advocates - thus strengthening the health system. National and community-based media are well-placed to publicize relevant HIV activities and ensure that the voices of PLHIV and those affected by HIV are heard, including addressing issues of stigma, constructive engagement of men to revisit the influence of accepted gender roles in HIV infection, and locally-identified barriers to effective communication around HIV. The program envisions the embedding of U.S. experts into Mozambican media associations and institutions, as well as providing U.S.-based training for select journalists who have a demonstrated track record in effective HIV coverage.

The USG provides grants and capacity building to local organizations to design, implement and adapt evidence-based and audience-appropriate HIV prevention programs in the southern and central provinces.. The partners target youth aged 15-35, young men and women, girls at risk of sexual exploitation, and youth associations. Activities focus on working with already-existing institutions, (schools, churches, community leaders), to reduce multiple concurrent partners, cross-generational and transactional sex. The target groups are equipped with the understanding, skills and motivation to

recognize and avoid high risk behaviors that make them vulnerable to HIV infection. All messages are monitored for appropriateness.

All activities encourage linkages with counseling and testing facilities, as well as promotion of increased economic and educational endeavors. In many cases, partners are integrating HIV prevention with populations with whom they already have a relationship - farmer associations, churches, associations of professors and educators. Activities include HIV/safety activism with vocational skill-building, training to conduct adult HIV and survival skills workshops, such as advanced vocational training for teenagers girls in graphic products, including electronic embroidery and advanced sewing, computer-aided graphic arts, silk screening, construction and installation of bio-sand water filters, and HIV educations and activism; organization of Girls Clubs; community workshops by teenage girls on safety, hygiene, family law, and HIV prevention; distribution of visual training products created by teenage girls in the vocational skills component: posters, bio-sand filters, T-shirts, and HIV training kits; training of people living with HIV on prevention plus methods to address the issue at schools, private companies and in the community; organization of World AIDS Day events and publicity; testing and counseling campaigns; round tables on HIV at schools; participative meetings with community and religious leaders, traditional healers for exchanges on HIV prevention; recreational and sports events with HIV messages; workshops on HIV prevention; musical contests on themes about HIV prevention.

Small grants enable organizations to use innovative approaches to engage the harder to reach

populations and strengthen links to other preventive activities. Thecapacity of local organizations will be

strengthened to develop and implement programs targeting boys and girls, primarily over 15 years old.

Local partners will be supported in community outreach and interpersonal communication interventions,

e.g. discussion groups and peer education, are engaging and effective. Activities include training

sessions on HIV biology for PLHIV, those close to them and key HIV activists; equipping PLHIV and

those close to them to facilitate community members who come from groups at high-risk to develop their

own personal prevention action plans; improving the economic welfare and vulnerable status of selected

sex workers; train former sex workers in broad prevention activities; promotion of correct and consistent

condom use by PLHIV, on ART and prophylaxis; training and debates on HIV prevention.