Africare is an international NGO which was formed in 1970 with the mandate to improve the quality of life for people in Africa in the major areas of Health and HIV/AIDS, Sustainable Livelihoods and Emergency Humanitarian Assistance.

The organization is supporting two faith based networks in the implementation of National HIV and AIDS Policies: the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ) and Methodist Development and Relief Agency (MeDRA), providing them with technical expertise to strengthen their HIV and AIDS interventions.

The goal of Africare's PEPFAR program is to enhance the capacity of two faith based networks and their members, in the response to HIV and AIDS through the implementation of activities drawn from the existing national HIV and AIDS Policies. The program objectives are: 1) To support two local faith based networks with local language technical assistance for strategic dissemination activities. 2) To facilitate two networks' development of HIV related policies congruent to the existing national policies for them to respond more effectively to the needs of their constituencies. 3) To provide HIV related institutional capacity building to the two participating networks to enable them to respond more effectively to the needs of their network members.

Africare was availed supplementary funding for FY09 and FY10 to expand the 2 partners' activities and also take on board a third FBO network partner called the Union of Development of the Apostolic Church Sect in Zimbabwe (UDACIZA). This is a network of African/Ethiopian Zionist churches most of whose affiliates discourage the use of both traditional and western/modern medicine by their followers. Girl child pledging and early marriages, especially among girls, are regarded as normal. Polygamy, a proxy to Multiple Concurrent Partnerships (MCPs) is common and such practices are common drivers in the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Africare supports the HIV/AIDS national strategy and plan through the provision of HIV information/ education to pastors and other key focal persons who in turn cascade the crucial information to fellow parishioners at grassroots' level. The faith based networks have also been assisted to establish peer educators clubs, support groups and to provide psychosocial support to people living with the HIV/AIDS, their immediate families and friends.

Our activities cover 3 provinces: Bulawayo, Harare and Manicaland. In the first year the project reached out to 50,000 individuals with preventive information, 4,000 people living with HIV with palliative and psychosocial support and 3,000 Orphans and other Vulnerable Children (OVC) with life skills and psychosocial support. With the provision of this supplementary grant our 3 partners will now be tasked to reach out to 128,000 individuals with prevention information, 7,500 people living with HIV and 6,250 Orphans and other Vulnerable Children.

The key contributions of our program to health systems strengthening are through sub-grants provided to faith based networks supported in the development of policies and strategies to address HIV issues within their organizations and training of trainers (TOT) workshops for pastors and key focal persons in the areas of Peer Education, Community and Home Based Care (CHBC), Psychosocial support (PSS), Counseling and Gender. Africare has also built the capacity of faith based network members in the areas of project implementation, report writing, monitoring and evaluation.

Our main cross cutting programs are Human Resources for Health as we do training of new volunteer caregivers who are responsible for providing palliative and psychosocial support to clients in the Community and Home Based Care (CHBC) intervention. The other cross cutting program is Gender: Reducing Violence and Coercion as we are training our partners in HIV and AIDS and Gender Based Violence (GBV) and general gender issues.

The program addresses a number of key PEPFAR issues like: Increasing gender equity in HIV/AIDS activities by putting special attention on training of men as volunteer caregivers. Male norms and behaviors are addressed through discussions with male youths about polygamy, multiple and concurrent relationships and other traditional practices that may expose them to acquiring HIV/AIDS. During discussions with the groups, the issue of male circumcision will feature prominently. This practice is already popular among the apostolic sects. What training will achieve is emphasizing male circumcision's importance in prevention of transmission.

Our strategy for cost-efficiency is based on sourcing for and distributing resources that have already been developed like the Mopani Junction materials and Talk Time Guides which were developed by CDC. This material now forms the cornerstone of the prevention activities by the youth. Africare has also interacted and received materials on HIV and AIDS Policies and Community and Home Based Care from the National AIDS Council (NAC). The organization has also received support from Ministry of Health and Child Welfare (MoHCW), Zimbabwe AIDS Network (ZAN) and the Hospice Association of Zimbabwe (HOSPAZ). Additionally, we try to use the available technical expertise around for our trainings and source HBC kits from other donors

Monitoring and Evaluation of our activities is going to be done through the elaboration of internal monthly reports, submission of quarterly progress reports and annual reports based on a detailed implementation plan, visit reports and success stories documenting how individuals, groups or communities have benefited from the interventions.

FY09

With FY09 funds Africare will: 1) strengthen community and home-based care responses by capacitating all the three partners in identifying and training a minimum of 200 new volunteer caregivers (at least 50 with UDACIZA) . Emphasis will be placed on training men as caregivers as this will lessen the burden of care on women and girls. The target is that of all those trained as caregivers, 50% should be men. Training of care givers on providing palliative care for children living with HIV and AIDS will be a critical component during training so that vulnerable children's needs will be more effectively addressed. Strategic partners, namely Island Hospice, the Hospice Association of Zimbabwe, the National AIDS Council, will participate in the roll-out of the trainings. 2) Assist UDACIZA to set up 5 support groups for PLWHA. 3) Assist 20 out of the current 40 support groups to set up nutrition gardens to help them to improve their nutrition status and as a means of building their group cohesion. They will receive additional training in small business management, stigma and discrimination and psychosocial support. 4) Africare will produce Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials for the 1,200 volunteer care givers. The materials will be in the form of t-shirts and hats to help in the smooth dissemination of information.

FY10

With FY10 funds Africare will devote more time building UDACIZA's Community and Home Based Care interventions particularly in the following areas: 1) Training of additional 50 volunteer caregivers; 2) Establishment of 5 additional support groups; 3) Assistance to 5 support groups in the setting up of nutrition gardens. 4) Train members of the support groups in leadership, group dynamics and income generation. 5) Exchange visit for volunteer caregivers.

Traditionally, the apostolic faith churches have shunned seeking medical attention from formal health facilities and the major thrust of the project would be to build the capacity of the Community Home Based Care (CHBC) which is easily accessible for the groups that have traditionally shunned hospitals.

FY09

With the supplementary funds we will expand our activities in prevention based on the current high acceptance of youth groups and the thrust will be on expanding peer educator clubs to promote behavior change (BC) among youth, the group most at risk of contracting HIV and AIDS. Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and Methodist Development and Relief Agency established 40 peer educator clubs at the inception of the project. The new partner UDACIZA will be supported in establishing an additional 10 groups to bring the total to 50.

In the first year the groups were converging once a week to listen to the Mopani Junction Radio Serial Drama, however Africare will seek to improve on the quality of peer education activities by establishing 9 youth friendly corners (3 of these with UDACIZA) and each of the partners will receive audio-visual equipment in the form of television sets, radios and HIV and AIDS educational videos to improve the quality of their discussions.

The 3 faith based networks' peer educators will be supported in holding a total of 6 therapeutic sports galas (2 for UDACIZA, 2 for EFZ and 2 for MeDRA) Therapeutic sport galas will provide a platform for the youths to interact and exchange information on HIV and AIDS.

15 peer educators' clubs (5 from UDACIZA, 5 from MeDRA and 5 from EFZ) will be assisted in setting up nutrition gardens as a means of improving their life skills and group cohesion.

Africare will also hold a 2-day workshop to assist UDACIZA on National Strategies and Policies on HIV and AIDS for church leaders and other key focal persons from this network. In addition UDACIZA will also participate in the Capacity Building Workshop that will be held for all the 3 network members to build their capacity in project planning, implementation, report writing, monitoring and evaluation.

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With FY10 funds we will be ensuring continuation of the FY09 activities; increase the number of peer educators clubs supported with nutrition gardens from 15 to 30 (10 from UDACIZA, 10 from MeDRA and 10 from EFZ) as a mean of improving their life skills and group cohesion. Initiate Life Skills trainings as an integral component of the children's after church program where they will be exposed to guided discussions on how to stay negative, positive living, gender dynamics, managing adolescence, dating, career guidance, leadership, decision making and communication skills. Child camps for children will be initiated whereby young people from different locations will share experiences. An annual interdenominational conference will be held to raise awareness about the importance of integrating HIV issues into the church's core messages and activities. A form of outreach will be an interdenominational HIV/AIDS newsletter to disseminate information and also encourage buy in not only by the leadership but also the members of the FBO network.

Program activities will also address stigma & discrimination with the goal of having more people disclosing their status and finding support within their churches. The church must be able to respond to the diverse needs of their HIV positive members.