Creating a Youth Movement to Combat HIV/AIDS(5617)

This is a continuing activity from FY06. As of June 2006, the partner received 100% of FY06 funds and is on track according to the original targets and work plan.

In FY05 and FY06, the following activities were accomplished: (1) Expanded youth programs to 2,359 schools, clubs and Sunday Schools reaching 146,000 participants; (2) Implemented youth talent competitions and community festivals; (3) Integrated Youth Action Kit, Sports for Life and Beacon Schools life skills programs into curricula; (4) Developed youth volunteer programs to increase employment opportunities; (5) Established Municipal Task Forces; (6) Developed and distributed the PEPFAR Behavior Change Communication Framework; (7) Leveraged GFATM and UNICEF funds for implementing partner utilizing YAK, SFL, and BCS

COP07 Proposed Activities: Health Communication Partnership (HCP) will continue to provide direct implementation support to in and out of school youth groups. In addition, they will train and provide assistance to USG partners and the Addis Ababa and Amhara Education Bureaus implementing HCP youth life skills programs. Additionally, HCP will implement a youth-focused newsletter modeled on Uganda's "Straight Talk" experience. HCP will continue in its role as Secretariat for ABC/BCC activities supported under PEPFAR.

Youth Life Skills Building Activities: HCP will provide technical assistance to several USG and non-USG HIV prevention partners to implement health education and behavioral change activities through three interactive programs: Youth Action Kit (YAK), Sports for Life (SFL) and Beacon Schools (BCS).

YAK targets in- and out-of-school youth aged 15-24, and emphasizes abstinence, learning to resist coercion, secondary abstinence, fidelity, and introduces condoms to youth clubs and Sunday schools in eight geographic locations. As of August 2006, 1,166 clubs and Sunday Schools and approximately 47,000 youth are implementing the YAK.

SFL reaches in-school youth aged 13-14 to build basic knowledge of reproductive health, promote delay of sexual debut and increase adolescent girls understanding of HIV/AIDS burden by age and gender to build life skills to address these challenges. As of August 2006, 1,037 schools in both grades 7 and 8 are implementing SFL activities through two partners, Ministry of Youth and Sports and World Vision. Approximately 83,000 students and 2,000 teachers and school principals participate in this activity.

BCS focuses on primary school students aged 10-12 to introduce and provide opportunities for practicing life skills as well as build basic knowledge of reproductive health. As of August 2006, 158 schools are implementing the Beacon Schools activity in both grades 5-6 through Save the Children USA and Academy for Educational Development. Approximately 12,640 students and 1,000 teachers and school principals are participating in BCS.

All three programs utilize strategies appropriate for the different age groups, including drama, sports and storytelling, to entertain/educate as well as enable youth to internalize the messages being communicated. Each program is based on the Champion Activity Cycle, in which youth strive to achieve "champion" status by fulfilling a set of requirements. The achievement of reaching "champion" status is celebrated and recognized by the larger community at a festival with youth talent competitions. Mass media is utilized to motivate existing participants as well as build awareness of programs among at risk youth not participating in organized group activities.

Communications to Youth: HCP will implement a youth-focused monthly newsletter similar to Straight Talk to serve as a forum to promote youth activities and their contribution in the fight against HIV/AIDS, to confidentially ask questions/get answers on issues facing youth, and to enhance communication among parents and youth. The newsletter will be free of charge and will be distributed to schools, Ministry of Youth and Sports outlets and post offices nationwide. It is expected to reach 250,000 youth.

Communications to Parents and Teachers: HCP will increase parent involvement in its youth programs by implementing the Parent's Passport, to accompany the existing Youth Passport. The Youth Passport is an individual, personal reflection tool used by youth to internalize the messages communicated during the group YAK activities. Communication skills building for parents are a critical gap for HIV programming in Ethiopia.

Increasing Employment Opportunities for Youth: Addressing youth unemployment is a critical component of HIV/AIDS prevention programs for youth. Youth with future goals and experience are more likely to utilize ABC skills. YAK champion club members will be eligible to participate in internship and volunteer programs.

Curriculum Integration with the Addis Ababa and Amhara Education Bureaus: HCP incorporated YAK, SFL and BCS into formal school curriculum to ensure sustainability and is providing TA to the Addis Ababa and Amhara Education Bureaus to develop supplementary materials for grades 5-8 and train teachers on these new tools. HCP will train 1,000 teachers and school administrators through the in-service training program.

Technical Assistance to USG HIV Prevention Programming to Youth: HCP will refine the messages identified, use an evidence based approach (e.g. new data from the EDHS 2005) to ensure at risk audiences are adequately served, and facilitate experience sharing on commonly used approaches (e.g. peer education, mass media etc).

Monitoring, Analysis and Evaluation: HCP routinely monitors the activities of clubs and schools through its eight field offices in conjunction with implementing partners. Standard evaluation guidelines are utilized to assess if activities are conducted properly, identify level of participation, determine if messages are communicated and questions are answered. An endline survey with 2,000 youth will be conducted in June 2007 to complement a baseline in December 2005. HCP has engaged the School Supervision Group of the Addis Ababa and Amhara Education Bureaus to implement a monitoring and evaluation system. A process evaluation will be conducted in June 2007 of this effort.

Creating Coercion-Free Communities/Fostering Positive Social Norms

This is a continuing activity from FY06. As of June 2006, the partner received 100% of FY06 funds and is on track according to the original work plan. This activity began start-up activities in August 2006.

Summary of Champion Communities Initiative: Health Communications Partnership (HCP) has been collaborating with the Ministry of Health and Regional Health Bureaus, the Ministry of Education and Regional Education Bureaus, Pathfinder International, World Learning, and JSI (USAID partners in RH/FP, CSH and Education) to launch the Champion Communities program, a community development initiative that links the health and education sectors. The initiative is built around a package of required and optional goals which communities have to achieve in areas such as immunization, hand washing at schools, and reducing girls' dropout from primary schools. Community members work together to identify and achieve goals in addition to monitoring and evaluating their progress. A community-based HIV/AIDS goal, through PEPFAR Ethiopia support, is now included in the menu of required goals.

This activity coordinated the development of an implementation guide, the Champion Communities Activity Book, and a training package to facilitate the rollout of the program. The Activity Book identifies steps required to mobilize a community including establishing an Action Committee comprised of community members to oversee program implementation, conducting community dialogue to identify health and education issues, and identifying goals and activities. The Activity Book was developed utilizing simple language and illustrations to facilitate usage at the community level.

The package includes trainings at the regional/zonal, district and village levels. Community members elected to be part of the Action Committee meet at the district level for trainings. Ongoing monitoring and supervision are conducted by the community itself in addition to the program staff. The Champion Community initiative has been launched in 40 villages in SNNPR and Amhara regions.

The HIV/AIDS-related goal for the Champion Community initiative includes working with in and out of school HIV/AIDS clubs. In addition, this activity used the initiative as a platform to continue its work with the Ethiopian Interfaith Forum for Development Dialogue and Action (EIFDDA) for community mobilization of faith based groups to foster positive social norms and community change around coercive sex and rape.

In COP05, this activity developed a Behavior Change Communication Strategy for EIFDDA which included identifying priority issues, target audiences, behavioral objectives, key interventions and messages. In COP06, this activity worked with EIFDDA to use the strategy to identify and implement community mobilization activities in care and support, and prevention. The objective was to develop a multi-faith response to address HIV/AIDS with EIFDDA members coming to a consensus and a shared vision on activities to be conducted and an implementation process. Each EIFDDA member organization implements separately, but the EIFDDA Forum is utilized for joint development of strategies, collaboration on materials development and experience sharing. The goal of the collaboration and joint response is to bring about higher impact, and for each individual organization to achieve greater results.

FY07 Proposed Activities: Mobilization is at the grass roots levels at churches and mosques. The first step is to obtain buy-in and support from religious leaders which facilitate mobilization of their congregations. Volunteers from the congregations establish Action Committees which are then trained on conducting community dialogue, identifying goals and activities, creating action plans, monitoring and celebrating progress. The Activity Book developed for the Champion Communities initiative will be adapted for use with faith based groups.

Initial themes and goals will focus on the roles and responsibilities of faith based groups in fostering positive social norms in providing care and support. The strategy is to begin with a theme that faith groups can more easily reach consensus on to facilitate collaboration. Subsequent themes will address social norms and HIV/AIDS prevention issues such as cross-generational sex and harmful traditional practices such as abduction and early

marriage. A key component is for religious leaders to recognize and celebrate the achievements of the volunteers in the Action Committees which motivates existing participants and generates interest.

In 2007-2008, this activity will expand work with EIFDDA to reach new villages as well as continue working with existing villages. The expansion will target areas where the ART health network operates, and where the Champion Community initiative described above is expanding. Initially, a process evaluation will be conducted to further refine the program and drive the decision making process of the expansion. Existing Kebeles will receive refresher training focused on achieving new goals and activities, and identifying strategies to maintain the involvement of volunteers. New villages will be offered training to enable them to participate in the program.

Creating a Youth Movement to Combat HIV/AIDS

This is a continuing activity from FY06. Funds have been reprogrammed to HVOP to promote greater programming of comprehensive HIV prevention activities. Activities are in compliance with S/GAC guidance on HIV prevention programming for sexual transmission.

Proposed Activities: Health Communication Partnership (HCP) will continue to provide direct implementation support to in and out of school youth groups. In addition, they will train and provide assistance to USG partners and the Addis Ababa and Amhara Education Bureaus implementing HCP youth life skills programs. Additionally, HCP will implement a youth-focused newsletter modeled on Uganda's "Straight Talk" experience. HCP will continue in its role as Secretariat for ABC/BCC activities supported under PEPFAR. Youth Life Skills Building Activities: HCP will provide technical assistance to several USG and non-USG HIV prevention partners to implement health education and behavioral change activities through three interactive programs: Youth Action Kit (YAK), Sports for Life (SFL) and Beacon Schools (BCS). YAK targets in- and out-of-school youth aged 15-24, and emphasizes abstinence, learning to resist coercion, secondary abstinence, fidelity, and introduces condoms to youth clubs and Sunday schools in eight geographic locations. As of August 2006, 1,166 clubs and Sunday Schools and approximately 47,000 youth are implementing the YAK. This activity will fund activities addressing youth 15-24 through the Youth Action Kit and "Straight Talk" activities.

Targets

Target Target Value Not Applicable Number of STI patients refereed to HIV counseling and testing:  Number of individuals involved in alcohol and chat: counseled and  tested for HIV Number of personnel trained on risk reduction counseling  (alcohol-subtance) Familiarization workshop conducted  Development of IEC/BCC materials on alcohol / substance abuse  and HIV Number of facilities that link ART adherence intervention with  substance use counseling Number of individuals with single STI episode to be treated with  prepacked kits Number of health care workers (private sector) trained on  syndromic approach Number of peer educators trained at each site  Number of facilities to be supported and supervised regularly  Number of model clinics to be renovated or constructed  Number of condoms distributed to STI patients  Number of targeted condom service outlets  Number of individuals reached through community outreach that 467,500
promotes HIV/AIDS prevention through other behavior change beyond abstinence and/or being faithful Number of individuals trained to promote HIV/AIDS prevention 3,862
through other behavior change beyond abstinence and/or being faithful

Table 3.3.05: