The Academy for Educational Development (AED) began PEPFAR-funded prevention activities in the

Ministry of Education (MOE) in 2006. The goals are to reduce the number of new HIV infections among

teachers, learners and their families, and mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on these persons. This activity

links with OVC activity 3781.08 (strengthen education systems) and Strategic Information (SI) activity

16830.08 (information for implementation, monitoring, evaluation). The activity directly supports four of the

five key components of the Government's third Medium Term Plan for HIV and AIDS: prevention; creating

an enabling environment; treatment, care, and support; impact mitigation.

The MOE was the first Ministry with an HIV/AIDS policy, finalized in January 2003, to support teachers to

stay healthy or live positively with HIV/AIDS. Some workplace and life skills components have been

implemented. This activity builds on existing policy and activities. In FY 2006 - FY 2008, AED provided the

Ministry's HIV/AIDS Management Unity (HAMU) with technical assistance (TA) to review the policy for

timeliness, design and implement programs, and regularly measure success.

The Ministry is the largest public employer with 19,000 teachers and 4000 staff. In a 2002 study, jointly

funded by the USAID Education and HIV/AIDS program, HIV/AIDS mortality among the country's MOE

teachers was projected at about 8% annually. Teacher absenteeism has increased and negatively impacted

educational quality.

A generalized epidemic requires comprehensive prevention programs -- not only AB, PMTCT, blood safety

and the like, but a focus within these programs and others on strengthening appropriate behavior change

communication and linkages for support and treatment. Specific messages must also be directed to specific

groups, such as the education sector. To address MOE management, all 1,606 principals will receive

training on the MOE policy to be sure that they implement it as designed, with a focus on positive dialogue,

ongoing teacher training and involvement, and support for employees. For all MOE employees, policy and

activities will encourage employees and families to sign up for health insurance with access to both private

and public facilities, improving not only HIV/AIDS treatment but that for sexually transmitted infections

(STIs). Men's issues will be a focus of materials developed and used by other partners, the Ministry, and

UNICEF and will focus on: promoting respect for women and children; reducing sexual violence, coercion,

and alcohol abuse; and reducing the number of partners and cross-generational sex. To strengthen the

impact of the workplace activities, the National Union of Namibian Teachers (NANTU) will be a new partner

to help promote union support and delivery of some components via its 13 regional offices, all of which have

an HIV/AIDS desk officer. For example, to reduce alcohol abuse, which promotes risky sexual behaviors,

AED and NANTU will collaborate to give talks to teachers, covering topics like the dangers of alcohol abuse,

and inappropriateness of cross-generational sex, an especially relevant issue because teachers in a

number of communities are seen as authority figures with income thus increasing the opportunity and risk

for cross-generational sex. AEDcollaboratively with NANTU will promote social opportunities for teachers,

such as social clubs, writing clubs, and sports to promote healthy, positive living.

A package of prevention messages -- which includes promoting VCT, treatment for STIs, reducing risk by

abstinence and faithfulness, delaying sexual debut among youth, and support-seeking behavior -- will be

provided to reach 25% of teachers, principals and parents. Using social capital gained over the past 7 years

of working with MOE, and the Ministry professional development structure to which the USG has

contributed through the USAID Education program, training will be provided during semi-annual

teacher/principal/parents conferences held in 20 of the 54 country circuit offices. For parents, the training

will include equipping them with approaches and methods to talk with their children about abstinence, delay

of sexula debut and being faithful to reinforce messages from school. Circuit support teams (CST) will

deliver the training. AED's Center for AIDS and Community Health will train its cadre of six professional

development advisors who will then train all 200 CST members who already have considerable expertise.

Similarly, we will host semi-annual conferences to reach 140 teacher educators from the four education

colleges with prevention messages. To achieve the important aim of reducing infections by knowing one's

status, AED will work with NANTU to conduct national and regional teacher health days where the complete

package of prevention together with malaria, blood pressure, diabetes and dental facilities will be available

for teachers and their families. Linked to the teacher health days, AED, NANTU, and Lironga Eparu will

encourage the formation of 13 regional support groups of HIV-positive teachers so that they can participate

in Prevention with Positives.

In Namibian schools, HIV/AIDS prevention messages are provided in-and-outside the formal curriculum as

part of life skills, either one hour a week or in an after school program. The two forms of these programs are

called "Windows of Hope" for younger learners and "My Future My Choice" for older learners. Their

effectiveness of in-school programs is questionable because they are not accorded the same importance as

other subjects. AED will advocate with the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED) to expand

and include as appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention messages in the formal curriculum in classes to be taught

as subjects like science and social studies. Meantime CST will provide focused workshops for life skills

teachers to improve prevention communication, and work with UNICEF and HAMU to conduct a rapid

assessment of the effectiveness and reach of the two current life skills programs. We anticipate scaling up

the programs to reach at least 20% (111,000) of students. Communication to students will be further

strengthened via media, including the Lifeline-Childline radio talk show and the HIV/AIDS safe-sex

campaign insert that appears in the daily newspaper, The Namibian.

Targeting older learners makes sense: in Sub Saharan Africa, the 15-24 age group accounts for more than

half of all new HIV infections (UNICEF). In FY2007-2008, a public private partnership with Johnson and

Johnson provided funding to run a sports program that targeted 5,000 older youth in 50 schools in

Ohangwena and Kavango regions. The program will be scaled up to reach 10,000 youth using role models,

including peers and sportsmen and women. For girls, studies (Vemoortele 2000, DeWalque 2004) attest to

the effectiveness of education as a way to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS; thus we will target vulnerable

girls to ensure that they have the support they need to stay in school. One thousand vulnerable girls will be

identified through the Forum for African Women Educationists in Namibia (FAWENA) OVC activity 3781.08

and provided with scholarships to remain in school and resist coercion and other situations in which they

are vulnerable. These girls will also be targeted with interventions at youth camps that will develop their self-

esteem as well as skills to avoid risky sexual behaviors.

In ensuring program quality, AED will build upon the system of monitoring that it helped the Ministry set up

and scale up. For teachers, AED will continue to use the pre-post test approach in all its professional

Activity Narrative: development workshops to measure change not only in knowledge and attitudes but also in behaviors.

Among older youth, the number of pregnancies will be monitored. To assess the delivery of prevention

messages to all students, AED will provide TA to NIED to revise the current classroom observation form to

include a component that monitors the delivery of HIV/AIDS age-appropriate messages.

The goal of this continuing program by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) is to increase the

resilience of the basic education system to positively impact the quality of life of OVC in school so that they

succeed and complete primary education. This activity links with prevention activities in the education sector

including workplace programs (8500.08). The activity will assist with the development and implementation of

the Ministry of Education's (MOE) OVC Policy and the HIV & AIDS OVC component of the Education and

Training Sector Improvement Program (ETSIP). The activity directly supports the implementation of three of

the five key program components of the Government of Namibia's (GRN) Medium Term Plan (MTP III) for

HIV/AIDS. These include (1) creating an enabling environment, (2) treatment, care & support, and (3)

impact mitigation.

In 2005, AED used PEPFAR funding to support 6,370 OVC to remain in and progress through primary

school. Under COP 2006, AED supported an additional 4,752 OVC, for a total of 11,122. Under COP 2007,

the number of OVC receiving support to remain in school jumped to nearly 22,000 (approximately 10% of

national OVC population). AED provided support grants to 118 schools for OVC uniform sewing projects,

nutritional support in the form of meals, and payment of school development fund to enable OVC to attend

class full time. This funding was complimented by USAID education funding under the mission's BES-3

program which will end in FY 2007.

In its third year of support, AED will endeavor to transition from providing direct grants to schools, to

supporting the education system, to better deliver services that will benefit all learners, but OVC specifically.

AED is now concentrating on a sustainability project to ensure that lessons learned in managing grants to

schools can assist the MOE as it programs for OVC. AED's ongoing grants needs assessments are an

essential component to transition the activity from direct grants to support through MOE structures. Using

COP 2007 funds, AED continues to provide support to 20,000 OVC through school grants and empowering

communities to sustain projects through a number of strategies: AED and Project HOPE collaborate and

deliver economic strengthening for school boards to use micro-credit and continue the AED-initiated school

and community projects (3779.08).

AED will address system strengthening with MOE in COP 2008 in three areas: policy, monitoring and

evaluation, and targeted school feeding systems:

--AED collaborated with UNICEF to finalize the MOE's OVC in Education Policy and Implementation Plan

with COP 2007 funds. With COP 2008 funds AED will pilot key implementation plan activities. AED will

conduct an assessment of MOE OVC school and hostel fee exemption, fee usage and implementation

challenges, and review alternatives through the Education Development Fund (EDF), as well as the extent

of school manager policy awareness. AED, in collaboration with UNICEF, will use COP 2008 funds to

support the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED) and the Directorate of Program Quality

assurance (PQA) to conduct regional level trainings for 1,250 school principals on the understanding and

implementation of this policy.

--AED will also support the NIED research unit to assess the coping mechanisms employed by OVC.

Annual MOE OVC data (attendance, retention and performance) will be analyzed to measure the impact of

the two rounds of small grants and together with UNICEF's School Development Fund exemption pilot, it

will inform the MOE strategy for EDF scale up.

--AED is conducting nutritional assessments in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Service

(MOHSS) nutrition unit and regional MOE structures using the expertise of retired nurses to transition

schools from USAID BES 3-support to the MOE-funded school feeding program, currently serving over

100,000 OVC, and to ensure sustainability. An AED short-term technical advisor (TA) will strengthen the

MOE's ability to plan, implement, and monitor the feeding program and make appropriate referrals using

empirical data on OVC to scale up support to over 50,000 additional OVC. During the transition AED will

assist the MOE with transport of food to schools. AED with assistance from the MOHSS nutritional unit and

NGOs will help the MOE to design and deploy skills upgrading in basic hygiene and school meal planning

and preparation for caregivers and other volunteers who prepare meals at schools.

AED will address OVC psychosocial support (PSS) gaps with FY 2008 funds to reach parents and

caregivers directly and train education personnel. With COP 2007 funds, using African Network Children

Orphaned Or at Risk (ANCHOR) and HOPE's PSS training manual, AED will train 5,000 participating OVC

caregivers in PSS. Working with the MOE, the PSS program will be taken to a national level in 400 schools.

OVC PSS training will link with the AED prevention activity in-school curriculum and training of school

counselors will take place in both OVC and Prevention areas (8500.08).

In COP 2008, AED will continue to work with the Directorate of Program Quality Assurance (PQA) and the

diagnostic, advisory, training and support (DATS) unit in the MOE to help revitalize the Policy

Implementation Unit (PIU) to conduct an assessment to understand the ability of regional school counselors

to provide support and the challenges that hinder it. AED will support DATS to design and/or improve a PSS

training program for 700 teachers from 350 schools via a cascade model, which will ensure referral links to

services offered through the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare and MOHSS. Regional school

counselors will identify most at-risk learners and make appropriate referrals to health, social assistance

grants, legal and other services.

In COP 2007, AED implemented the Sports for Life program with NAWA Life Trust, funded by Johnson &

Johnson International through a public-private partnership agreement. It involved 50 schools and trained out

-of-school youth in basic sport types such as soccer and how to help younger learners with homework.

These trained volunteers then worked with sports teachers and conducted after-school homework support

activities for learners twice a week. Using COP 2008 funds, AED will target older, out-of-school OVC to

become volunteers while simultaneously providing them with support to complete their secondary

education.

AED's OVC TA will continue to support PQA and the Planning and Development (PAD) Education

Management Information Systems (EMIS) unit to deliver the infrastructure (computer software, hardware,

and deployment) while providing training at regional levels to enable school inspectors to collect, analyze,

and report OVC data. AED will provide TA to ensure that the existing annual school census form is revised

to contain data fields that can feed into the MGECW OVC national database. This will include information

on the MOE school feeding program to make data available on nutritional impacts, learner performance,

and retention. AED will continue to provide accurate and timely performance data using the annual

diagnostic assessments of samples of 4th and 6th graders that will include components to assess learners'

Activity Narrative: knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS to inform the program's prevention component.

PARTNER: Academy for Educational

Noted April 23, 2008: Adjusted to 2nd CN approved level (see Namibia FY08 COP memo for details).

This is a continuing activity from FY 2007 and seeks to generate strategic information that will evaluate the

impact of information, education, and communication programs in the education sector.

One important goal of the Academy for Educational Development's (AED) overall program in Namibia is to

increase the resilience of the basic education system to cope with the HIV/AIDS epidemic by improving the

quality of life of OVC in school so that they can succeed and complete their primary education. This activity

links with prevention activities in the education sector, including both workplace programs and OVC

systems support to the Ministry of Education (MOE). AED began implementing its PEPFAR-funded program

in Namibia in 2005, mainly in the area of OVC support through direct grants to 118 schools, which provided

support to >20,000 OVC. In 2006, for the first time AED received PEPFAR funding to provide technical

assistance (TA) to the MOE's HIV/AIDS Management Unit (HAMU) in their attempts to design and pilot a

workplace program for teachers to encourage them to seek counseling and testing, engage in prevention,

and understand the principles of HIV/AIDS care.. Thus, AED's Namibian activities directly support the

implementation of four of the five key program components of the Namibia's Medium Term Plan (MTP III)

for HIV/AIDS-namely, (1) creating an enabling environment, (2) providing treatment, care & support, (3)

mitigating the impact of AIDS, and (4) preventing new infections.

With COP08 funds, AED will address Strategic Information with MOE in three areas: (1) developing,

implementing, and monitoring HIV/AIDS policies; (2) building capacity within MOE for monitoring and

evaluation of its HIV/AIDS activities; and (3) conducting targeted operational research to guide program

planning. For instance, AED will conduct an assessment of school-fee usage, review alternatives through

the Education Development Fund (EDF), as well as the extent of school manager policy awareness of MOE

fee exemptions for OVC. Information from such an assessment will help to identify training gaps that can be

filled through training of school principals. This activity will be supported by funds from the OVC program

area.

In the case of prevention, and using FY06 and FY07 funds, AED has provided TA to HAMU to strengthen its

capacity to design and implement the workplace program in order to empower teachers to protect

themselves from HIV infection and to model responsible HIV-related behavior to their studente. In designing

this intervention AED has used an evidence-based approach that involved the use of data to direct the

design, implementation and monitoring of the activity. Also in FY07, a survey of knowledge, attitudes, and

practices (KAP) among educators was conducted and used to establish baseline indicators for targeted

outcomes and to identify training gaps in prevention through behavior change communication (BCC).

Working closely with UNICEF, AED has supported the Namibia Institute for Educational Development

(NIED) to conduct an assessment of the life skills curriculum for students aged 15 to 18 known as "My

Future, My Choice" and its impact on learners as well as the extent to which the program is being

implemented properly. This evaluation (a PHE w/ its own entry in COPRS; see AED HVSI) is the first of its

kind since the program was initiated in 1998. A similar approach will be employed using FY08 funds for the

"Windows of Hope" program targeting learners aged 10-14. This information will allow for a program review

of the training content to ensure that it is evidence-based, theoretically sound, and culturally appropriate.

Using COP 08 funds, TA will be provided to HAMU through the research unit at NIED to conduct the second

round of an assessment on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector. This assessment will include a

review of the progress made in implementing the MOE HIV/AIDS policy as well as recommend strategies to

ensure better implementation. Finally, also with COP08 funding, a KAP survey will continue to be conducted

every 2 years to measure program impact and identify gaps that need to be addressed. Similarly, AED will

work with the University of Namibia HIV/AIDS unit to conduct a study of learners' KAP to provide a proxy

measure of the effectiveness of the life skills education.

Contractor: Academy for educational Development

Title of Study: Process and Outcome Evaluation of the Windows of Hope Life Skills Prevention Program for

Namibian Learners, Aged 10-14 Years

Time and Money Summary: This PHE activity is expected to take place every five years. From the baseline

assessment of 2002, a number of recommendations were made. Projected budget is $50,000 (additional

funding will be leveraged from Unicef).

Local Co-investigator: AED's in-country Monitoring and Evaluation technical advisor will be the local co-

investigator. She will manage all data collection and reporting. A local research company, Social Impact

Assessment and Policy Analysis Corporation (SIAPAC), will be responsible for data collection and cleaning.

Project Description: The design of Namibia's "My Future My Choice" (MFMC) life skills program -- targeting

learners aged 15-18 -- was based on the UNAIDS' goal of using education to promote behaviour that

prevents transmission of HIV and other STIs (and not merely to increase knowledge about AIDS).

Consequently, in Namibia, MFMC activities have been implemented with the view of: (1) increasing

learners' knowledge about HIV/AIDS, (2) developing their skills to live a fruitful and useful life, (3) promoting

positive and responsible attitudes, and (4) providing motivational support. The MFMC curriculum was based

on the ‘focus on kids' curriculum which was found to have increased rates of protected sexual intercourse

amongst African American youths aged 9-15 years in the United States. The curriculum was also based on

social cognitive theory and focused on: (1) basic facts about reproductive biology and HIV/AIDS, (2) other

risky behaviours, including alcohol abuse and violence in relationships, (3) communication skills, and (4) a

framework for decision making. The program was delivered in two-hour-long sessions over the course of

five weeks after school hours or during weekends. These sessions were facilitated by a volunteer -- usually

an out of school youth who has completed grade 12 or a student teacher. In its first evaluation in 1998, the

program was found to be linked with a reduction in behaviours that increased risk of HIV infection amongst

youth. It was further associated with a reduction in alcohol use, increased delay in sexual debut amongst

girls and an increase in self esteem. However, almost ten years have passed since the initial evaluation

was conducted.

Evaluation Questions:

• What effect has the MFMC Life Skills program had in improving learners' HIV-related knowledge, attitudes,

and behaviors?

• What aspects of program delivery are working well and what needs improving?

Programmatic Importance: Unfortunately, there are few studies that show Life Skills programs as effective

in preventing HIV transmission. As the Ministry of Education grapples with the need to scale up prevention

efforts, it needs to know whether the MFMC curriculum is effective and should be scaled up or not. It is also

considering whether or not to make the MFMC a part of the standard curriculum, rather than having it as an

extra-curricular activity. The evaluation will also assess program implementation and make

recommendations for improving service delivery.

Methods: The outcome evaluation will replicate the 1998 quantitative methodology as described in Stanton

et al (1998). Increased protected sex and abstinence among Namibian youth following an HIV risk reduction

intervention: A randomized, longitudinal study. AIDS 12 (18): 2475-80

The process evaluation will use mostly qualitative, rapid-assessment methods, including focus groups, key

informant interviews, direct observations, and a review of monitoring reports and other documentation.

Population of Interest: All learners aged 15-19 in Namibian schools

Information Dissemination Plan: The findings will be shared with key Ministry of Education officers at HIV

and AIDS Management Unit, the Program for Quality Assurance, and the Curriculum Division at NIED. A

stakeholder meeting will be held where results will be discussed and possible recommendations made. The

donor will receive the report and be part of all the dissemination exercises.

Timeline:

Jan-Feb. 2009: Meetings w/ stakeholders, study design, instrument revision/design, sampling, and piloting

March-April 2009: Data collection; document review

May-June 2009: Data analysis and report writing

July 2009- Feedback to key stakeholders and program implementers

Budget Justification: (for Year 1 Budget in USD)

• Travel, accommodation: 10,000

• Survey development: 10,000

• Data collection and entry: 15,000

• Data analysis and reporting: 10,000

• Feedback/programming conference: 5,000

• Total: $50,000