REGIONAL DISABILITY & HIV PROJECT

« Strengthening local initiatives related to the AIDS response for persons living with

disabilities in Burundi, Mali and Senegal  »

Regional HIV/AIDS workshop:Africa and South East AsiaBujumbura 21–25 February 2011

Bujumbura 21 February 2011

Dr. Almouner TALIBORegional coordinator Email : regional-vihsida@hi-sen.org

Project teams / COUNTRY :

Mali- Caroline BOLTZ : Health coordinator - Mamadou KEITA: HIV project manager

Senegal- Dr. Aïda ZERBO : HIV project manager

Burundi- Côme NIYONGABO : Inclusion coordinator- Fulgence NDAGIJIMANA: HIV project manager

15th ICASA, Dakar 2008

Main donors:

MAE France/AFD

Big Lottery Fund

World Learning

USAID

HCNLS

HI

Total Budget :

€ 1,988,290, including:

- MAE France 50%

- 50% HI and other donors

IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD AND LOCATION

Start: March 2008 End: February 2011 Request for an extension pending: June 2011

Location:

Burundi : 17 of the country’s provinces (129 communes)

Mali: districts of Bamako and Koulikoro

Senegal : 4 departments in the Region of Dakar, 3 regions in Casamance (Ziguinchor, Kolda and Koulikoro)

OBJECTIVES

General objective :      

Reduce the impact of HIV and AIDS on persons with disabilities in Burundi, Mali and Senegal, through strengthening of local actors

Specific objective:

Facilitate the access of persons with disabilities to systems of prevention, care and treatment, and encourage their participation in HIV response plans

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

EO 1 : Persons with disabilities have access to health facilities, care services and information on HIV prevention adapted to their disability.

EO 2 : Persons with disabilities are involved in seeking sustainable HIV response strategies and actions adapted to their needs

EO 3 : The lessons learned from innovative community-based actions contribute towards improving the competencies of actors working on HIV response initiatives for persons with disabilities

BENEFICIARIES

1. Direct beneficiaries: Persons with disabilities Active members of national and local DPOs Persons living with HIV HIV response associations / Civil Society Organisations

(CSOs)  VCT and Treatment Centres staff

2. Indirect beneficiaries : Families of persons with disabilities National and local political authorities General population

MAIN PARTNERS Supervisory institutions in charge of the HIV response

(ministries, national programmes, etc..)

HIV/AIDS-response CSOs

Associations of persons living with HIV

Local, national and regional DPOs

Specialised centres for persons with disabilities

HIV and AIDS treatment services

MAIN ACTIVITIES

1. Preliminary activities:- Organisation of a national HIV & Disability forum- Setting up of project steering bodies

2. Activities for EO 1 : Implementation of activities that increases the

accessibility of persons with disabilities to HIV response actions

Support to local initiatives (LI) focusing on the accessibility of persons with disabilities

MAIN ACTIVITIES / cont.3. Activities for EO 2: Initiation Actions enabling persons with disabilities to be

involved in the HIV response Strengthening the capacities of civil society actors Support to LIs enabling persons with disabilities to be

involved in the HIV response Implementation of activities to include persons with

disabilities in research

4. Activities for EO 3: Develop local knowledge sharing on Disability & HIV Production and dissemination of information Organisation of meetings and seminars between

Disability & HIV stakeholders

MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS Organisation of a national HIV & Disability forum / country Setting up of project steering committees (National

Disability & HIV platform, Technical Committee / Steering Committee and LI project selection committee)

Organisation of advocacy and awareness-raising sessions (public authorities, elected representatives, CSO, technical and financial partners) to ensure disability issues are taken into account in AIDS policies and Programmes

Accommodations made to improve the physical accessibility of treatment services : 1 ambulatory care centre (Senegal), 8 VCT centres (4 in Burundi and 4 in Mali) and 7 treatment centres (4 in Burundi and 3 in Mali)

Equipment of VCT and treatment centres (Burundi and Mali): wheelchairs, audiovisual equipment, lab equipment, chairs, walking sticks, crutches, etc.

Focus plateforme Burundi

MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS / Cont. Training of VCT/treatment centres’ staff on the Disability Creation

Process, disability rights, Psychology related Disability and quality approach (52 in Burundi, 15 in Mali and 55 in Senegal)

Training: 14 national trainers on HIV & Disability (6 Senegal and 8 Mali); and 9 counsellors on Sign Language (SL)

Training on SL and HIV of Peer Educators who are active in the field (516 in Burundi, 65 in Mali and 18 in Senegal)

320 CSOs trained on disability inclusion, 136 of which have introduced concrete measures on behalf of persons with disabilities

198 member associations of the ABS have inclusive action plans

516 peer educators are active in the field

46 080 disabled persons informed about HIV and 4729 tested for HIV 617 HIV + disabled persons taken care of by the partner associations

MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS /Cont. Development/adaptation, production and dissemination of IEC

tools on HIV & Disability

61 LIs financed, reaching 24,913 persons

Support for advocacy actions (organisation of debate-related

conferences and open door days) Experience sharing meetings between project stakeholders (Peer

Educators, Trainers, VCT and treatment centres Staff) Support for the inclusion of disabled persons living with HIV in

existing networks Identification by HIV response stakeholders of the issues and

consequences of not including persons with disabilities as a vulnerable population group in the HIV response (in all three countries)

Setting-up of a team of facilitators at DPO level (Constellation)

AIL Mali

Focus IEC Sénégal

MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS / Cont. Inclusion of Disability in data collection tools Participation by DPOs in the HIV response alongside HIV-related CSOs Accessibility of treatment centres Participation in the revision of HIV National Strategic Plans

– Inclusion of persons with disabilities as a vulnerable group to HIV Mainstreaming of disability issues into HIV policies, programmes and actions

Involvement of the supervisory institutions, technical and financial partners and other actors in the inclusion of disability in the HIV response

Ownership of disability issues by some actors

Awareness-raising of actors at international level :– ICASA (10,000 people, inclusion of Disability & HIV by the community programme,

drafting of recommendations)– Francophone conference on HIV/AIDS (5,000 participants)– 3rd GA of the African Disability & HIV Campaign

Mid-term evaluation : drafting of recommendations for actors in the Disability & HIV fields

MAIN BARRIERS1. OPERATIONAL

Activities unequally distributed between countries Incoherence between the time and means provided and

ambitions to implement specific activities Lack of advocacy on Disability & HIV issues at community

level Social perceptions of disability (socio-cultural context) Poor knowledge of HIV among DPOs Absence of basic HIV-related data on persons with disabilities Reliability of statistics on the disabled population Weak management capacity of DPOs Problems of governance within DPOs and some CSOs Problems in understanding the notion of partnership by actors Late implementation of project in some countries

2. Human resources Delays in staff recruitment Mobility of HR and some positions remaining vacant for some

time (resignation of a project manager)

MAIN BARRIERS / Suite

3. FINANCIAL Funding will soon come to an end. This might have consequences for results

obtained so far Problem of financial monitoring at regional level (no compilation of year 1) Lack of financial resources for implementing the partners’ action plans : no

resources planned for needs generated by the project Management of co-financing of donors Little funding mobilised to strengthen activities

4. Communication Problem for programmes in thinking “regionally” Difficulties in communication between the Regional Coordination and country

teams Insufficient sharing of good practices between actors Lack of synergy and competence in the field of disability on the part of actors

MAIN BARRIERS/ Cont.

5. Proposed solution Strengthen advocacy Strengthen the capacities of DPOs and CSOs through

training Conduct studies to build a database Set up communication channels Step up fund-raising Funding of community actions through the LIs Much more advocacy action needed

Lessons Learnt

Ownership of the project by key players Impact of the quality of the initial assessment on the project’s

implementation Relevance of the project : geographical coverage, level of

intervention, activities, thematic areas, choice of partners Involvement of key players in a participative process and

operating of the project’s steering frameworks: guarantees of success

The use and integration of existing frameworks/networks facilitates the implementation of new projects in new thematic areas

Lessons learnt /Cont.

Ensuring the inclusion of disability in existing policies/Plans requires both the adoption of a specific approach and time

Support of known and recognised actors for advocacy and awareness-raising among decision-makers

Effectiveness of the Peer Education approach LIs proven to be effective in community activities that

address the community’s needs The Consortium Approach (DPOs/ HIV CSOs) proven to

be relevant in the implementation of LIs

MAIN DOCUMENTATION

BURUNDI Baseline study (KAP) on persons with disability and HIV (in French, 2008) KAP study at the end of the second year of project implementation (in French,

2010)• Mid-term evaluation (in French, 2009) Final evaluation of the BLF component (in French, 2010) Guide on BCC (in French, Kirundi, Braille and Sign Language, 2008) Documentary on the project (in French, 2010) Awareness-raising tools : posters, CD of songs and sketches (in Kirundi, 2008 -

2009)

MALI DVD 2009 : «  HIV and AIDS in Malian sign language »  DVD Documentary 2010 : « We are all concerned» Adaptation of AIDS card game, 2010 Brochure on knowledge on HIV and AIDS Adaptation, 2010 Ambiguous scenarios game, 2010

MAIN DOCUMENTATION / Cont.

SENEGAL Interim project report, May 2009 Leaflet, guide in French, 2009 Inclusion of 3 disability-related images in the national

AIDS awareness-raising tool box (2009) Glossary and Messages (interactive DVD interpreted in

SL and translated in Braille), 2010 Collection of audio messages on HIV and Disability (CD)

2010 Recordings of awareness-raising radio programmes Disability & HIV picture boxes in Braille 2010

LOOKING FORWARD

Fund-raising for a new phase (by country or at regional level will depend on opportunities)

Inclusion of the Reproductive Health dimension (SRH)

Advocacy for the definition of specific national actions targeting persons with disabilities

Thank youThank you