ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION This activity also relates to services such as ARV Services 6703, VCT 6702, 6687, and PMTCT 6685, 6706

This HVAB project addresses HIV risks associated with early marriage/early sexual initiation for adolescent girls in the north where it often occurs within the context of arranged marriage to older partners. The project will operate in eight states—Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, FCT, Kano, Nasarawa and Niger.

In COP 06, multiplier partners conducted Days of Dialogue (DOD)—two day trainings—educational sessions/discussion with women, community and religious leaders (Christians/Muslims) on issues related to child marriage, RH, HIV risks, etc. Subsequently five-day intensive advocacy training workshops were held with committed leaders identified in the two-day training to raise awareness among parents, youth and husbands on HIV risks associated with early marriage and promote premarital and couples' VCT as a way to prevent the potential transmission of HIV between discordant couples and promote behavior change—faithfulness—within marriage. During these trainings demand creation for VCT services and appropriate referrals are also covered and subsequent VCT training is provided to lay counselors who train new advocates in premarital counseling and further demand creation.

In COP 07 activities will be carried out which promote fidelity, address male norms and behaviors that put both men and women at risk, and increase risk perception. Married and unmarried adolescent girls, their often older husbands or fiancés, other wives of the husbands and other significant influencers will be targets for broad based community mobilization activities aimed at creating more supportive normative environment for the practice of abstinence and fidelity. Adolescent Health and Information Projects (AHIP) conducts advocacy training for adolescents while the Federation of Muslim Women's Association/Nigeria (FOMWAN) and Islamic Education Trust (IET) provide training to community/religious leaders, parents, and husbands at community meetings. Religious leaders include messages in Friday/Sunday sermons while messages are conveyed to youth in Islamic schools. In COP07, 600 additional community/religious leaders will be trained to reach communities with prevention messages and promote VCT, including premarital couples' VCT. Newly trained participants and those trained in COP06 will reach 375,000 individuals with AB prevention and premarital/couples counseling messages as well as messages related to the risks associated with early marriage. Counselors trained in COP06 will counsel and refer 4,800 individuals for pre- and post-test services. Implementing partners in the community will recruit and train 120 mentors to facilitate married girls' and husbands' groups. Through the groups, 2,400 married girls will be reached with HIV information, prevention messages and referrals for PMTCT, STI, VCT and other RH services. The girls' groups include livelihoods activities—financial literacy, savings opportunities, and skills development—to increase women's access to income and productive resources; and discussion about ways to increase gender equity in HIV/AIDS programs and how to ensure that women know their legal rights.

In order to meet the targets (COP 06/07) by the end of COP07, these activities/techniques will be used: DOD training; advocacy training, VCT training, intergration of prevention messages into religious services, community meetings, married girls' meetings, expert lectures, couples counseling and VCT/referral. Educational radio spots/messages will be developed and aired for hard to reach low literacy groups. Training and contact registers are used to record those trained and contacts made with AB messages.

Sub-awards to AHIP, FOMWAN, and IET in the amount of $55,000 will be made and activities begun in six sites in COP06 will extend to two new states—Benue and Borno—in COP07.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO OVERALL PROGRAM AREA This activity will contribute to the Emergency Plan Five-Year Strategy in preventing new HIV infections among vulnerable youth—especially unmarried adolescent girls and those engaged to be married—who are most at risk and underserved. This is accomplished by promoting the delay of sexual initiation premarital C&T, and abstinence to avert HIV infection. Specifically, the project will reach 375,000 individual community members with community outreach prevention programs that promote abstinence and faithfulness and

safer marriages. At least 4,800 individuals will be counseled or referred, increasing uptake of VCT services and contributing to the Emergency Plan goal to increase counseling and testing. Some 2,400 married girls will be reached with prevention messages for a total contribution of 382,200 prevention interventions in Nigeria.

LINKS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES This project increases demand and creates linkages for services such as ARV Services 6703, VCT 6702, 6687, and PMTCT 6685, 6706 through education, promotion and referral by community advocates and married girls'/couples' clubs. Linkages between existing ART (3.3.10), VCT (3.3.09), and PMTCT (3.3.01) centers will be strengthened in northern Nigeria, particularly with remote rural populations who may otherwise have limited access to services. Information sharing among other IPs will also provide HIV prevention information and ensure that appropriate referrals are made. The project promotes premarital and couples' VCT as a way to prevent the potential transmission of HIV and create the demand for VCT services.

POPULATION BEING TARGETED The project targets rural, unmarried and out of school adolescent girls who are less knowledgeable about HIV and those engaged to be married. The project will therefore reach a vulnerable population group that is at high risk, and underserved. Other vulnerable youth and potentially discordant couples before marriage will also be targeted. Other target population groups include the husbands and parents, religious leaders, women and community leaders who are major influencers of the primary target group.

KEY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES ADDRESSED The major legislative issues addressed by this activity are gender—increasing gender equity in HIV/AIDS programs, addressing male norms and behavior, reducing violence and coercion; increasing women's legal rights; and increasing women's access to income and productive resources through livelihoods activities, such as financial literacy, savings opportunities, and skills development.

EMPHASIS AREAS Major emphasis of the program will be Community mobilization and minor emphasis will be team building with local partners, religious leaders and collaborators identified through the three sub-partners. IEC will be addressed through the development of radio messages featuring community/religious leaders and their weekly sermons. Strategic information—M&E, IT, reporting—will be addressed through the MIS to track project outputs while the BSS will measure the project's impact.