This activity also relates to 8365-Other/Policy.

The Strengthening Counselor Training project (SCOT) is a stakeholders' partnership for organizations involved in HIV/AIDS Counselor training and service delivery. The project is directly supervised by TASO Uganda on behalf of the partners and works closely with the MOH, AIDS care organizations, providers of HIV/AIDS counselor training services, PHA networks, Uganda AIDS Commission and Uganda Counseling Association. The aim of the SCOT project is to improve the quality of counselor training and at the same time respond to the increasing demand for training counselors to support expansion of prevention, care and treatment activities in Uganda. SCOT is focusing on standardizing training curricula, building the capacity of institutions to implement provider materials, facilitate the development of criteria for certification of counselors and work with partners to develop a system of accrediting institutions for training counselors. There are regular stakeholder meetings to determine strategy, work plans and budgets for the project. SCOT receives technical assistance from the California STD/HIV prevention training center (CAPTC) as a subcontractor.

In FY06, 40 people from stakeholder organizations were trained in curriculum development and have supported SCOT in reviewing the Home Based Counseling and Testing curriculum and the Routine Testing and Counseling curriculum. SCOT has also supported the MOH and the CPHL to customize the WHO/CDC HIV Rapid testing curriculum which is now the national standard for training in rapid testing. 25 trainers were trained in the use of the HIV rapid testing curriculum and these have rolled out training to laboratory personnel and other service providers nationwide. The HBHCT and RTC curricula have been updated and SCOT has trained 60 national level trainers in the use of the HBHCT curriculum. These trainers have in turn trained over 510 service providers from TASO, Mildmay, PREFA, Kumi District, ICOBI, Reach Out Mbuya, IMAU, and Ministry of Health. These service providers are involved in implementing Home Based Counseling and Testing. 20 national trainers have been trained in the use of the updated RTC curriculum and these will support the Ministry of Health and NGOs to scale up RTC services in Hospitals. SCOT will support MOH to train health workers from 2 regional hospitals to conduct RTC. A counselor training needs assessment to determine key areas for development of counselor training curricula has been conducted and the results thereof shall be disseminated in October 06. This assessment highlighted the need for curricula in the areas of Child counseling, ART counseling, Stigma reduction, discordance, sero status disclosure and counselor supervision. As a result of this, SCOT is developing the ART curriculum for counselors to improve the skills of service providers in providing counseling support to PHA receiving ART. Development of this curriculum shall be followed by a TOT for 20 trainers. SCOT will give out 200 scholarships in FY06 for staff of stakeholder organizations to attend short counselor training courses. 50 scholarships have so far been given out to TASO, AIC, NACWOLA, PIDC, JCRC, and Reach Out for child counseling and HBHCT courses. SCOT has provided support to the Uganda Counseling Association to set up a secretariat by procuring office equipment and to organize a National conference for counselors. SCOT has established a resource center with reference materials for counselors and counselor trainers in print and electronic form. The recently concluded review of the ART service delivery program highlighted the missed opportunities for integrating messages regarding prevention with positives, family planning, and STIs during care and treatment of HIV positive individuals. This review recommended an increased focus on the integration of prevention activities in care and treatment programs, an improvement in prevention and counseling activities in general, and increasing the availability of materials for use in client-provider interaction in addition to improving the quality of counseling skills of clinical and non-clinical staff. SCOT has received supplemental funds for developing training materials for positive prevention and integration of FP together with ACQUIRE. Additional staff have been recruited including PHA trainers to strengthen the technical team at the SCOT secretariat and extra office equipment has been procured. A performance needs assessment is being conducted to determine gaps in positive prevention among service providers in AIDS Service Organizations and Peer Educators and Peer Counselors. A curriculum for positive prevention will be developed and will be used to train 60 trainers and 500 service providers from various organizations implementing positive prevention, and 250 PHA peer counselors and educators to conduct positive prevention counseling and education.

This proposal for funding for FY07 shall further improve the quality and access of HIV

counseling services in the country by supporting training care providers in public and NGO health care facilities as well as PHA networks. The HBHCT, RTC and basic HIV counseling and Testing (HCT) curricula shall be reviewed and updated. The child counseling and counselor support supervision curricula shall be developed. For each curriculum, accompanying training materials will be developed. 1200 copies of the child counseling and RTC curricula and accompanying materials will be produced. 20 trainers shall be trained for each of the following curricula: HBHCT, Child counseling, RTC, Counselor support supervision, ART counseling. These shall support the training of 640 service providers for various organizations. 95 scholarships shall be given to individuals from stakeholder organizations to attend accredited HIV counseling courses. The resource center at SCOT shall be further equipped with reference materials and equipment to the benefit of counselors and counselor trainers.

This activty relates to 8363-CT.

The Strengthening Counselor Training project (SCOT) is a stakeholders' partnership for organizations involved in HIV/AIDS Counselor training and service delivery. The project is directly supervised by TASO Uganda on behalf of the partners and works closely with the MOH, AIDS care organizations, providers of HIV/AIDS counselor training services, PHA networks, Uganda AIDS Commission and Uganda Counseling Association. The aim of the SCOT project is to improve the quality of counselor training and at the same time respond to the increasing demand for training counselors to support expansion of prevention, care and treatment activities in Uganda. SCOT is focusing on standardizing training curricula, building the capacity of institutions to implement provider materials, facilitate the development of criteria for certification of counselors and work with partners to develop a system of accrediting institutions for training counselors. There are regular stakeholder meetings to determine strategy, work plans and budgets for the project. SCOT receives technical assistance from the California STD/HIV prevention training center (CAPTC) as a subcontractor.

In FY06, 40 people from stakeholder organizations were trained in curriculum development and have supported SCOT in reviewing the Home Based Counseling and Testing curriculum and the Routine Testing and Counseling curriculum. SCOT has also supported the MOH and the CPHL to customize the WHO/CDC HIV Rapid testing curriculum which is now the national standard for training in rapid testing. 25 trainers were trained in the use of the HIV rapid testing curriculum and these have rolled out training to laboratory personnel and other service providers nationwide. The HBHCT and RTC curricula have been updated and SCOT has trained 60 national level trainers in the use of the HBHCT curriculum. These trainers have in turn trained over 510 service providers from TASO, Mildmay, PREFA, Kumi District, ICOBI, ReachOut Mbuya, IMAU, and Ministry of Health. These service providers are involved in implementing Home Based Counseling and Testing. 20 national trainers have been trained in the use of the updated RTC curriculum and these will support the Ministry of Health and NGOs to scale up RTC services in Hospitals. SCOT will support MOH to train health workers from 2 regional hospitals to conduct RTC. A counselor training needs assessment to determine key areas for development of counselor training curricula has been conducted and the results thereof shall be disseminated in October 06. This assessment highlighted the need for curricula in the areas of Child counseling, ART counseling, Stigma reduction, discordance, serostatus disclosure and counselor supervision. As a result of this, SCOT is developing the ART curriculum for counselors to improve the skills of service providers in providing counseling support to PHA receiving ART. Development of this curriculum shall be followed by a TOT for 20 trainers. SCOT will give out 200 scholarships in FY06 for staff of stakeholder organizations to attend short counselor training courses. 50 scholarships have so far been given out to TASO, AIC, NACWOLA, PIDC, JCRC, and ReachOut for child counseling and HBHCT courses. SCOT has provided support to the Uganda Counseling Association to set up a secretariat by procuring office equipment and to organize a National conference for counselors. SCOT has established a resource center with reference materials for counselors and counselor trainers in print and electronic form. The recently concluded review of the ART service delivery program highlighted the missed opportunities for integrating messages regarding prevention with positives, family planning, and STIs during care and treatment of HIV positive individuals. This review recommended an increased focus on the integration of prevention activities in care and treatment programs, an improvement in prevention and counseling activities in general, and increasing the availability of materials for use in client-provider interaction in addition to improving the quality of counseling skills of clinical and non-clinical staff. SCOT has received supplemental funds for developing training materials for positive prevention and integration of FP together with ACQUIRE. Additional staff have been recruited including PHA trainers to strengthen the technical team at the SCOT secretariat and extra office equipment has been procured. A performance needs assessment is being conducted to determine gaps in positive prevention among service providers in AIDS Service Organizations and Peer Educators and Peer Counselors. A curriculum for positive prevention is being developed and will be used to train 60 trainers and 500 service providers from various organizations implementing positive prevention, and 250 PHA peer counselors and educators to conduct positive prevention counseling and education. 25 PHA drama groups shall be equipped to conduct community mobilization and education in regard to positive prevention.

In FY07 SCOT shall continue to build national capacity for positive prevention in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, AQUIRE and PHA networks. An additional 15 PHA drama groups will be supported to mobilize and educate communities on positive prevention. These Drama groups will be supported to acquire traditional musical instruments, drama costumes, and transport to rehearsals and to the communities. SCOT shall continue to support the community activities of the 25 drama groups it supported in 2006. An additional 20 trainers shall have a TOT in positive prevention counseling and these shall support the training of 500 service providers and 200 PHA peer counselors in 2007. 700 copies of the positive prevention curriculum and supporting training materials shall be produced. SCOT shall also provide technical support to 3 PHA networks to integrate positive prevention activities in their programs. SCOT shall strengthen the M&E systems for stakeholders involved in counselor training by supporting training in M&E, procuring software for training databases and facilitating support supervision.

In FY07 SCOT shall review its strategic plan and document the progress of the project to date. We shall also conduct support supervision for various groups care providers trained. The HIV/AIDS Counseling Consortium will be facilitated to hold quarterly and biannual meetings for its subcommittees and stakeholders organizations. In addition, the SCOT librarian shall provide technical support to stakeholder organizations involved in training to develop their own resource centers.