This report comprehensively summarizes the FHI/AIDSCAP program in West Africa (February to July 1997). In addition to a program description, the report lists accomplishments and lessons learned.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary (See Below)
I. Program Description
II. Lessons Learned and Recommendations
III. Attachments
Glossary of Acronyms
Executive Summary
Introduction
In 1996, in recognition of the potential effectiveness and efficiency of developing regional approaches to the delivery of reproductive health services, USAID/REDSO in collaboration with numerous American and African NGOs having extensive experience in reproductive health in West Africa, initiated the five-year Family Health and AIDS (FHA) project in West and Central Africa. AIDSCAP assisted in the development and startup of this project's AIDS/STI component, targeting five West African nations -- Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cte d'Ivoire, and Togo, and focusing on five primary program areas: HIV counseling and testing, AIDS prevention among migrants, STI case management, gender-sensitive prevention programming, and NGO capacity building. In general, AIDSCAP's efforts built upon the experience and expertise of NGOs in the regions and strengthened collaborative linkages among AIDS/STI prevention and family planning programs in both public and private sectors.
Accomplishments
Despite a very limited time frame, the project achieved the following over its one-year life:
- HIV Counseling & Testing (C&T): AIDSCAP assisted an Ivorian NGO, Espoir/Centre d'Information et de prvention du SIDA en Cte d'Ivoire (ESPOIR-CIPS), in assessing the type, quality, and demand of C&T services in Benin, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, and Togo. Based on the assessment, a proposed plan was developed to strengthen each country's C&T services. In addition, initial management training was conducted with ESPOIR-CIPS to develop this organization's capacity to function as a regional resource and training center for the region.
- AIDS Prevention among Migrants: AIDSCAP assisted three NGO's in the startup of an intervention for AIDS prevention among migrants. The Association des Femmes Africaines Face au SIDA au Burkina Faso (AFAFSI/BF), Economie, Formation et Dveloppement en Cte d'Ivoire (ECODEV), and the Union Des Routiers Burkinabe de Lutte Contre le SIDA (URBLS), created a cross-border network of 102 peer educators, comprised of truck drivers, sex workers, and migrant plantation workers along the main road between Burkina Faso and Cte d'Ivoire. AIDSCAP assisted in the identification and training of peer educators who subsequently provided over 2,550 peers with the skills to engage in risk-reduction behaviors and distributed over 33,000 condoms to migrants. AIDSCAP also assisted in the development of a variety of IEC materials (e.g., leaflets, posters, bill boards, TV and radio spots, wooden condom-demonstration models) to support the peer educators' activities.
- Women and AIDS: AIDSCAP, Johns Hopkins University (JHU), and REDSO's Women in Development Unit conducted a workshop in which participants from target countries' ministries of health, partner NGOs, and chapters of the Society for Women in AIDS in Africa designed pilot initiatives sensitive to the needs of West African women and girls. Participants also developed guidelines for the use of a funding mechanism to implement the proposed pilot programs.
- AIDS/STI Management: AIDSCAP provided assistance to the Johns Hopkins Program for International Education and Training in Reproductive Health (JHPIEGO) and Morehouse School of Medicine in their efforts to integrate STI management into family planning services. AIDSCAP supported a training of trainers workshop in syndromic STI case management for 16 clinicians from family planning clinics operated by the International Planned Parenthood Federation's affiliate in Cte d'Ivoire. As a result of this initiative under the West Africa project, one Ivorian clinic will now serve as a regional center for future training in syndromic STI case management.
- Capacity Building: AIDSCAP collaborated with the Cameroon Health Project (CHP) in strengthening the management skills of the three African NGOs implementing the Family Health and AIDS project component targeting migrant workers. Technical assistance focused on transfer of program design, budgeting, training of peer educators, evaluation, and reporting skills.
Lessons Learned
One primary lesson was learned through AIDSCAP's provision of technical assistance to the FHA West Africa program. Participatory program planning - particularly in an environment where several cooperating agencies and local implementing agencies are involved - requires time. AIDSCAP's effort to the REDSO project was brief and probably too ambitious in the time available.
As the FHA project is being implemented under a consortium of several major NGOs with their headquarters in the U.S., collaboration and communication was extremely difficult among the organizations as each implementing agency operates under its own policy. An improved coordination strategy would facilitate overall implementation of a project of this nature. In addition, the CHP from Cameroon played the backstopping/monitoring role for AIDSCAP. A full time project monitor in the field would improve the day to day coordination process with other partners.
