ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION Hope Worldwide, a Track 1 ABY partner, implements activites in Nigeria as part of a multi-country award. Hope Worldwide will reach 52,000 individuals through community outreach that promotes HIV/AIDS prevention through abstinence and be faithful activities. Hope Worldwide's community outreach interventions include workshops, seminars, campaigns and peer education. Hope Worldwide will implement activities in 54 secondary schools, 38 religious outlets (churches and mosques) and various community outlets at four sites in the densely populated state of Lagos.

Partner and Peer Educator training will be conducted at four sites. Eight hundred peer educators (PEs) will be trained using a standardized peer education curriculum within schools, religious bodies, and community structures. Workshops will be arranged for skills acquisition on how to practice abstinence and fidelity. One of the sites, Badagry, falls within the border area where high rates of sexual activity are coupled with a high HIV prevalence rate. In these sites, school students will be targeted with messages on abstinence to prevent new infections. In other sites, such as Shomolu, schools have been underserved. In these sites, students will be reached by FBOs and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to promote HIV/AIDS prevention with abstinence and faithfulness messages.

Community Action Teams (CAT) are used to reinforce the AB messages promoted through partner and peer education. The HWW program will pursue the CAT methodology to ensure that there is support for the program and young people making healthy choices. Significant changes have been recorded in this activity. In 2005, 24 CATs were formed operating out of 24 service outlets. In 2006, 64 CATs operate out of 54 outlets that include schools, churches, mosques and community centers. The increased number of CATs has contributed to the spread of the messages in the communities by supporting the CAT members to become agents of change in their respective communities.

Special school and community events promoting mutual faithfulness will be organized. The events will involve parents and youths, emphasizing the need for parents to communicate with their children, and teaching them to communicate sensitive matters of reproductive health. Care will be given to contextualize the messages to promote better community acceptance without compromising program goals.

To address the influencers of youth, such as parents and community leaders, the Men As Partners (MAP) approach will be employed to engage young people and parents. MAP workshops will be conducted in schools, churches and communities. Issues contributing to violence, cross-generational sex and coercion will be discussed during the workshops. Twenty workshops with a total attendance of 500 will be conducted. The men who attend the workshops will be invited to participate in the formation of CATs. CAT meetings will be held to constitute and organize the teams.

HIV testing will be promoted during community, school, church and clinic-based sessions through counseling and testing (C&T) awareness raising to encourage knowledge of status. At least 3,000 people will be reached with these "know your status" C&T messages. Churches, schools and the community at large will be encouraged to get tested and to make decisions about faithfulness and abstinence. The campaign will be conducted in conjunction with the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency and State Hospitals at our various sites.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO OVERALL PROGRAM AREA Hope WW's AB program in Lagos, particularly in Ikorodu, Epe, Badagry and Shomolu, will contribute to the overall Emergency Plan AB targets for Nigeria. The promotion of abstinence and fidelity to young adolescents, especially in-school youth, will encourage the adoption of healthy behavior change and ultimately prevent many new infections.

LINKS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES HWW abstinence and faithfulness activities in Ikorodu, Epe, Badagry and Shomolu will create synergies with C&T awareness activities, and will mobilize communities to access C&T centers. This will promote referrals to treatment, care, and support services for those who test positive.

POPULATIONS BEING TARGETED Hope WW's primary target audience is unmarried youth aged 10-24 years. With approximately half of all new infections occuring in the 15-24 year old age group (UNAIDS, 2004), delaying a young person's first sexual encounter can have a significant impact on his or her health and well-being and on the progress of the HIV/AIDS epidemic within communities. Hope WW's secondary target audience is influencers of youth, including parents, teachers and adults.

KEY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES ADDRESSED The C&T campaign activity will increase gender equity through linkages to PEPFAR C&T outlets within and around the communities in which Hope WW implements its abstinence and faithfulness progam. Male norms and behaviors and the vulnerability of young girls and women will be targeted through counseling messages. The MAP methodology will address gender issues like rape, child abuse, gender-based violence and cross-generational sex.

EMPHASIS AREAS The program activities emphasize human development through messages that help young people make healthy choices through training and skills acquisition as detailed in description in section 1 above.

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION This activity also relates to Abstinence and be faithful (6723), Palliative Care ((basic health care and support) (3.3.06), PMTCT (3.3.01), and HIV/AIDS treatment/ART (3.3.11) activities provided by PEPFAR partners

HOPE Worldwide Nigeria (HWWN) will strengthen communities and provide care and support to Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in 4 Program sites. Fourteen community/faith-based organisations (CBO/FBO) will be trained and mentored to serve 4,200 OVC from 840 households and 60 caregivers trained in caring for OVC. HWWN's capacity building for benefiting CBO/FBO will cover methodology for attracting more funding for programs, documentation and communication, services to OVC and networking. Trained organisations will provide services such as psychosocial support, counselling, income generation for OVC and care givers. Two trained CBO/FBO which have the capacity to scale up their activities will be selected to receive sub-grants to carry out these activities.

PEPFAR funding will be used to establish 5 new OVC and caregiver support groups through CBO/FBOs, and will continue their support for the existing ones. A Child Care Forum comprising key community stakeholders such as village chiefs, youth leaders, local government and health workers as well as any other relevant stakeholder will be formed in each of the program site to ensure that OVC have access to the essential services. Technical assistance will be provided by one of our Anchor partners (Emory School of Public Health) to carry out Household Surveys at the sites. They will also assist in setting up the monitoring of services provided directly by HWW, by referral from HWW, by another organisation independently and by services leveraged by HWW and its sub-grantees. IEC materials will be produced to further sensitise the communities about the OVC situation and how to respond.

Departments of Health at the local levels which have already been mobilized and trained will be mentored to continue to provide support to OVC in COP07. The departments of Education and Agriculture and Rural Development have been identified as key stakeholders needed to provide the multi-sectoral response outlined in the OVC National Plan of Action. These Departments will be mobilized under this program. Social workers and teachers will receive trainings to provide care and support to OVCs and set up kids clubs within the communities and the schools and to step down training in the Education department and in community development associations. People trained will be constituted into a group and be mentored and monitored throughout COP07. HWWN will work closely with the Agriculture and Rural Department Departments and the local arm of the Federal Ministry of Women's Affairs that is responsible for OVC response in Country, and facilitate their active involvement in OVC response at the local level. These departments' capacity will be strengthened to spearhead the community child care forum that will be set up in various communities.

3,700 OVC from 740 households will be reached directly with psychosocial, educational and vocational/economic strengthening and 40 caregivers will be trained in caring for OVC. HWWN's psychosocial support includes kids clubs, support groups, preparing memory books, life skills and counselling services. The vocational and economic strengthening strategy primarily targets child headed households and facilitates the acquisition of marketable skills by OVC in carpentry, tailoring and other areas through internship with professionals and volunteer entrepreneurs in the communities. The formal education and school based programs cover school enrolment (especially girls, who are most at risk of leaving school in order to care for sick family members), school supplies and free uniforms. HWWN local partners under the program (Coca Cola and the Rotarians For Fighting AIDS) will assist in upgrading public schools that will in turn provide levy free education for OVC. The program will leverage National Programs like NAPEP, UBE, NDE and school feeding programs and other USG ABC programs. HIV positive OVC will be referred to other USG partners for appropriate treatment while the program will continue to provide psychosocial support. In COP06, 2,034 OVC were reached in the 4 sites where HWWN program existed. A total of 7,900 OVC will be served and & 1,580 Caregivers reached along with 100 providers/ caretakers trained in caring for OVC in COP07 in the 4 sites in Lagos State.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO OVERALL PROGRAM AREA

The program will increase the number of multiplier organizations receiving capacity building and collaborate with other partners to provide care and support to OVC and caregivers, which will contribute to COP07 overall Emergency Plan OVC targets for Nigeria. Planned activities will increase number of community partners including FBOs providing OVC services, increase community understanding of OVC needs and concerns and help decrease stigmatisation of OVC. This will contribute to improving the quality of life of OVC and their caregivers, increasing the number of OVC with life skills and resilience, and improving OVC access to educational, nutritional, medical and psycho-social services. We will undertake State level advocacy visits to Commissioners, religious, opinion, traditional, women & youth leaders to mobilize community about OVC issues. The activities mentioned above contribute substantively to USAID Nigeria's 5-Year Strategy emphasis of providing community support services to at least 25 percent of children affected by AIDS and the National Action Plan to scale-up the national response to OVC, building on previous and existing experiences to reach more children, with more services over a longer period of time.

LINKS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES HWWN OVC relates to Palliative Care ((basic health care and support) 3.3.06), PMTCT (3.3.01), Abstinence and be faithful 6723) and HIV/AIDS treatment/ARV services (3.3.11).

POPULATIONS BEING TARGETED This activity targets orphans and vulnerable children, caregivers of OVC and PLWHA and community-based organizations.

KEY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES ADDRESSED Stigma and Discrimination, Gender--especially increasing women's access to income and productive resources—and Wrap Around - including food, microfinance/micro credit and education will be addressed in this program, by creating linkages and leveraging private resources as mentioned above.

EMPHASIS AREAS The main thrust of the program in COP07 will be on Community Mobilization and participation, Local Organization capacity building. Efforts will be put into training, linkages with other sectors and initiatives, development of referral network, information, education and communication