This activity relates to Condoms and Other Prevention (8410) amd to Orphans and Vulnerable Children (8408).

This activity supports 1) grants to FBOs, NGOs and CBOs reaching youth through community outreach activities with prevention messages and support focusing on abstinence and faithfulness/partner reduction 2) capacity building with civil society grant recipients, and 3) strengthening MGLSD's participation and role in HIV Prevention among youth. The granting component supports technical assistance and funding for promising approaches with civil society partners and faith based organizations, through RFAs issued by the MGLSD, mandated by GOU to lead, manage and coordinate HIV prevention programs for Youth.

Achievements to date: 24 AB grants have been awarded and capacity building plans have been developed and are ongoing.

USG's overall strategy regarding AB programming among youth is to consolidate existing efforts, this funding will therefore continue to support ongoing grants for programs that have the general goal of reducing the risk of HIV infection and that target one or more of the following three areas of intervention: programs supporting primary and secondary abstinence and behavior change among youth aged 10-19, programs addressing the causes and consequences of cross generational and transactional sex and, programs supporting faithfulness among the engaged and newly married, and in particular, programs reducing the risk of one partner in a marriage infecting the other. All three intervention areas address key legislative issues such as male norms and behaviours, reducing violence and coercion, and women's legal rights. In particular, programs seek to reduce the heightened risk of HIV infection among girls, addressing gender equity and male behaviors and norms. Grants supporting university based programs promoting abstinence, faithfulness, and partner reduction interventions with students were initiated with FY06 resources and will be strengthened during FY07. Grants will reach 682,000 youths with the following services: community mobilization and sensitization, training, Church-based youth clubs, media campaigns, role models, youth camps, Seminars, music dance and drama concerts, Peer Education, Parent-to child communication life skills training, VCT, Sensitization, Behavior change communication, rights-based training on sexual and gender-based violence, research and documentation, awareness creation, radio broadcast, community outreach communication, IEC, advocacy, truelove clubs, counseling and guidance. 440,000 youth will be reached with abstinence- focused messages. 15,000 engaged and newlyweds will be reached through initiatives focusing on faithfulness and 10,000 adults and girls will be reached with messages regarding cross generational and transactional sex. In this consolidation phase, the project will support close monitoring and supportive supervision of 30-grantees through quarterly coordination meetings, one-to one mentoring and information and networking exchanges. Coordination with other actors including USAID-supported youth prevention mechanisms and campaigns in Uganda as well as coordination between public and private sectors will be promoted using this funding to strengthen multi-sectoral and community-based responses to HIV prevention, stigma reduction and policy advocacy.

The second component of this activity is to support institutional capacity building for CSOs and FBOs. Particularly this funding will go to mobilizing technical & organizational capacity building support (including workshops, technical support visits, and networking exchanges) with CSOs and FBOs.

The last component of this activity will support a long-term strategic plan for sustainable comprehensive prevention programming including the underlying social and cultural issues which influence sexual behaviors in Uganda and are highlighted in the GOU's analysis of the drivers of the epidemic. This funding will go to support a UAC led effort to formulate a comprehensive HIV Prevention strategy following the Road Map to accelerated prevention launched this year by the GOU, and in particular, to formalizing the role of the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development in this effort. Needs based operational support will be provided for the youth program unit (potentially includes: office equipment, supplies, local travel support, departmental networking, internet access and telecommunications) to facilitate coordination and strategic planning.

This activity also relates to Abstinence/Be Faithful (8409) and Orphans and Vulnerable Children (8408).

Through its Prevention/Abstinence and Being Faithful program, CORE Initiative is supporting 1) grants to FBOs, NGOs and CBOs reaching youth through community outreach activities with prevention messages and support focusing on abstinence and faithfulness/partner reduction 2) capacity building with civil society grant recipients, and 3) strengthening MGLSD's participation and role in HIV Prevention among youth.

Other Prevention resources will complement the AB program with three interventions: 1) Universities being supported to ensure that Abstinence and Faithfulness are vital elements of HIV Prevention efforts on their campuses. Prevention efforts on university campuses must attract sexually active students and provide them with accurate information about HIV, STIs and the full range of prevention options The CORE Initiative will ensure that university health services units as well as dorms and other student centers are supplied with and able to distribute condoms to sexually active students and equip them with information about correct and consistent condom use. . This will ensure also that universities are able to offer integrated prevention efforts and that separately supported prevention interventions do not undermine each other. 2) Several AB grantees working with out of school youth frequently encounter high risk sexually active youth in need of comprehensive prevention information and services, including condoms. The CORE Initiative will help these grantees offer integrated ABC programs by ensuring that they develop outreach efforts for high risk youth and train their peer educators to counsel and inform at risk youth on correct and consistent condom use, as well as to distribute condoms to high risk clients 14-19, in addition to counseling them about AB options. 3) CORE Initiative grantees working to support engaged and newly married couples in being faithful to each other are frequently unable to meet the needs of discordant couples. The CORE Initiative will ensure that outreach workers who counsel and inform couples about partner reduction and being faithful to each other know to refer couples for VCT, if their status is unknown. Couple counseling and mutual disclosure will be strongly encouraged. Counselors will counsel discordant couples on the importance of protecting each other, through correct and consistent condom use and will provide them with condoms or refer them to an outlet Counseling about the importance of partner reduction and faithfulness will be promoted among all couples.

This activity also relates to Abstinence/Be Faithful (8409) and Condoms and Other Prevention (8410).

This activity has two main components: 1) Strengthening the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development's (MGLSD) leadership, management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the national response to OVC and 2) strengthening CSO and district OVC service delivery, technical support and quality assurance through working with technical service organizations.

This project started in January 2005. Selected achievements to date include: 1. Management, planning and coordination - wide ranging central and district-level capacity assessments have been completed and a strategic plan established; 3 year MGLSD OVC implementation plan developed; reinvigoration of national steering committee; organizational review of OVC implementation unit 2. Grants management / service delivery - system for grant solicitation, review, approval and award is fully operational; four rounds of grantees (2 AB and 2 OVC) have been completed awarding more than 40 grants amounting to more than $5 million; zonal approach to provide technical support across 76 districts developed; RFA for financial management of grants through a Local Fiduciary Agent has been drafted and solicited;; leveraging development partner and Global fund support for HIV/AIDs, TB and malaria will use same FMA developed for OVC funding to civil society 3. Monitoring and quality assurance - national level indicators defined; OVC toolkit, psychosocial training manual for district staff developed and disseminated; national OVC quality standards and guidelines for comprehensive OVC service delivery drafted 4. Communication and advocacy - the National Policy and Implementation plan has been popularization and disseminated; OVC communication and advocacy strategy and website developed; advocacy materials developed.

Institutional strengthening: This funding will continue to support four areas of institutional strengthening a) management, planning and coordination, b) monitoring and evaluation, c) advocacy and communications, and d) development of grants management systems and funding mechanisms. Management systems development will continue to focus on MGLSD central and district level planning. Within this component MGLSD will continue to work through zonal technical support organizations to ensure that District Community Based Services Departments are able to support the planning and management of comprehensive (local government and civil society) OVC service delivery in their districts. This activity will begin with fy06 resources and will continue to expand and strengthen with FY07 resources. Particular focus of the TSOs will include district planning, coordination, monitoring and quality assurance and capacity building of key local government departments and civil society organizations. The national monitoring and evaluation framework, including a data collection and reporting systems to inform program and management decision making for the NSPPI for OVC at the national, district and community level is expected to be completed with FY06 resources and will rolled-out with FY07 resources. This system will include development of data collection and reporting instruments for civil society partners to report at the district and national levels, and collaboration with existing HMIS and EMIS data collection systems relevant to the OVC program. M&E support will include program assessments, secondary analysis of existing data sets, and community mapping exercises. The M&E support will ensure that CSOs, districts, and MGLSD are allocating resources to particular interventions based on documented need and program efficacy. The advocacy and communication component will continue technical support for implementing the communication and advocacy strategy for OVC from the interministerial to the community level. The MGLSD/CORE Initiative will work closely with grantees to strengthen their capacity to support the delivery of three or more core program areas and monitor access to comprehensive service for supported OVC.

Under the granting mechanism component, funds will support the utilization of a Financial Management Agency contracted to manage donor resources for civil society organizations serving OVC and supporting HIV prevention for youth. This mechanism will also be established with the flexibility to absorb donor resources from Global Fund and AIDS Development Partners. This component will include the provision of operational support to the OVC secretariat, the department of youth and children affairs and the policy and

planning unit. This will include support for establishing and maintaining a Grants Management Unit within MGLSD responsible for managing the ongoing partnership with civil society organizations and district community based services departments to implement the National Strategic Programme Plan of Interventions for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children.

Service Expansion: MGLSD will support up to 10 technical service organizations to expand the availability, comprehensiveness and quality of civil society and public sector OVC services. Working through geographical zones, the TSOs will primarily be responsible for supporting the development and delivery of comprehensive district based OVC workplans implemented through local governments and civil society. These grants will integrate HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support services into three or more of 9 core program areas (CPAs) in the NSPPI (Socio-economic security; Food security and nutrition; Care and support; Mitigating the impact of conflict; Education; Psychosocial support; Health; Child Protection; Legal Protection) and also specifically reduce the stigma and discrimination experienced by OVCs, and gender inequity among OVC. Focus will be placed on supporting grantees capacity to support delivery of 3 or more CPAs and to monitor comprehensive service delivery. Direct provision of OVC services and subgranting to smaller CBOs through the TSOs will be explored as the new zonal approach and FMA are rolled out. Approximately forty grants will go to ditrict governments for comprehensive OVC training. Mapping will be supported to ensure networks are established through which all CPAs are supported district wide. In FY07, USG will directly target 4 zones with direct service delivery for 100,000 OVC and their households will be train 10,000 OVC service providers. Among the 100,000 served at least 6000 OVC will be reached in the Acholi and Lango conflict regions, and at least 7,000 HIV+ children in 3 Urban areas (Kampala, Mbarara and Gulu) will receive needed OVC services.