As HIV/AIDS is having a continuing negative impact on Zambia's agricultural production, using a wraparound approach the USG will continue to leverage the existing platform and human resources of the Production, Finance and Technology (PROFIT) Project to implement AB prevention activities. The PROFIT Project is a five year USAID economic growth initiative, started in 2005 and implemented by a consortium of organizations with strong experience in production, finance, and technology initiatives in Zambia. The Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA), Emerging Markets Group (EMG) and International Development Enterprises (IDE) work closely with a diverse group of Zambian organizations representing both the public and private sectors including key Government of Zambia (GRZ) institutions, Zambian NGOs, and small, medium, and large private sector firms to increase the production of selected agricultural commodities and non-farm products for which Zambia has a comparative advantage in both domestic and regional trade. In FY 2005, PROFIT initiated its HIV/AIDS prevention work with small scale farmers and reached 150,000 rural people with AB messages, trained 499 peer educators and developed 500 community based HIV/AIDS prevention programs. In FY 2006, it is expanding its HIV/AIDS prevention work as PROFIT reaches out to a larger number of farmers.

In FY 2007, PROFIT will sensitize 30,000 people in rural areas across Zambia in abstinence and being faithful, and train an additional 150 peer educators selected from within rural communities to carry out the sensitisation and continue it beyond the life of the program. It is intended that 50% of individuals will be women.

The main thrust of PROFIT's HIV prevention strategy will continue to be the promotion of abstinence and being faithful. The presentation of these strategies will be comprehensive. Abstinence and being faithful will be presented in its context of everyday life and its relationship to agricultural production and marketing. Topics for discussion include the medical, social, cultural and religious aspects of abstinence and being faithful. Discussions of personal choices related to employment, study travels, personal conviction and commitment, medical advice, social and cultural norms, religious mores, and their relationship to HIV/AIDS prevention will be held. The overall themes that will guide the intervention are the recognition that abstinence and being faithful are not new behaviors, but are choices that we all make for various reasons as life evolves.

The strategy to achieve the PEPFAR targets is based on five pillars: (1). peer educator training; (2) motivation and monitoring of existing PROFIT peer educators; (3). production of IEC materials; (4). mass sensitisation; and (5). monitoring and evaluation.

The implementing channels of the PROFIT PEPFAR program will pass through existing farmer structures, both commercial (in the form of outgrower schemes) or organizational (particularly the Zambia National Farmers Union and decentralized District Farmers Association networks) and will operate in areas in which PROFIT interventions take place. Community peer educators will be provided with training manuals, knowledge, skills, educational materials and mass mobilization techniques to be able to disseminate AB messages in their communities. This may be undertaken through methodologies including sensitization sessions, drama performances, cultural activities such as dances, songs and sports, and distribution of IEC materials. Community peer educators will collaborate closely with other outreach programs such as farmer trainings, field days, and market days where they will be expected to deliver the AB Prevention Strategy packages to participants. The community peer educator will be expected to implement an HIV/AIDS work plan as well as to take advantage of every gathering of any kind to deliver appropriate HIV/AIDS messages.

PROFIT's sub-partner, CHAMP, has already successfully trained 499 PROFIT Peer Educators who are still operational in the districts. Under the FY 2007 program, CHAMP will ensure that these educators continue to be motivated and mentored to maintain their enthusiasm and continue their work in their respective communities. This process will involve regular review meetings. A monitoring program will be developed to keep track of their activities.

IEC materials on HIV/AIDS, and specifically on AB, will be produced and distributed focusing on the communities to be targeted under the PROFIT project. These will be produced in English and translated into local languages to ensure an effective transfer of

knowledge to the communities targeted. IEC materials will include brochures, leaflets, banners and posters. PROFIT will coordinate with HCP and the National HIV/AIDS/STI/TB Council (NAC) to ensure standardized messages and to reduce development costs.

With a core of 499 existing community peer educators and 150 more to be trained during the FY 2007 program, all mass sensitization events will be conducted by the PROFIT peer educators, supported where necessary by PROFIT or CHAMP staff. The training course for peer educators on conducting mass sensitizations are five days long and include not only the subjects covered in the mass sensitization but also communications skills, adult learning and participant centred learning. The actual mass sensitizations take place over a day. Subjects covered include descriptions of HIV/AIDS and its symptoms, dispelling myths regarding HIV transmission and AIDS, issues relating to vulnerability to the disease such as gender, prevention interventions, the definitions of abstinence and faithfulness, and the importance of behavior change in disease prevention. It is anticipated that over 30,000 rural people are to be reached in these sessions conducted by the peer educators in the FY 2007 program.

The monitoring and evaluation of the activities of the PROFIT Project will follow the process developed during the FY 2005 program and will involve: monitoring of work plan activities, and maintaining up-to-date record of achievements in relation to targets; regular reporting on monthly, quarterly and annual basis; monitoring of course attendance through registers that show the demographic information required for reporting; progress of activities in relation to set targets - each peer educator is given a target of community members to sensitise monthly and report; quality of services provided; changes in knowledge attitude and practice; and, peer educator empowerment with skills in HIV/AIDS information dissemination, advocacy and mobilization.