Africa Regional Programme

What we do

The ARP works with Alliance partners in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Activities have also been conducted with regional and in-country partners in Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

The value of the ARP lies in the provision of regional technical support, the sharing of lessons and experiences across the region, and the creation of linkages between the in-country programmes and regional institutions and policy agendas. The major elements of the ARP are:

  • Regional stigma training programme
  • Regional youth programme
  • Increasing community access to treatment
  • Piloting innovative approaches to working with key populations, such as men who have sex with men, sex workers, and border populations
  • Regional policy work focusing on universal access to treatment and comprehensive prevention
  • Supporting regional institutions and networks.

What we have achieved

Stigma

The regional stigma programme has trained national cohorts of trainers in ten countries. It has also engaged with regional networks and programmes such as RATN and VSO RAISA to share the training of trainers’ model within their programmes. The programme has also linked to the in-country programme work of Alliance partners to develop modules on men who have sex with men, treatment and home-based care.

Regional Youth Programme

The Regional Youth Programme (RYP) works with partners in three countries – Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe – all of whom have successful ongoing youth prevention projects. The RYP partners share successful and innovative approaches to youth prevention programming through regional technical exchanges. These areas include working with male and female traditional counsellors to stop or change harmful practices; experiential learning activities to equip young people with comprehensive and accurate knowledge, positive attitudes and life-skills; sharing and further developing learning materials; and working with younger children on sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention.

Expanding access to treatment

These projects are implemented in Zambia and Burkina Faso, and aim to improve access to and utilisation of treatment services at the community level, through the piloting of different approaches and working in partnership with the government health services. Partners in Burkina Faso and Zambia are piloting different approaches to expanding access to treatment services at the community level and increasing treatment adherence. This activity will also identify successful models and lessons to share across the Alliance's programmes in Africa.

Working with key populations

Alliance partner ANCS in Senegal is piloting approaches to working with men who have sex with men, drug users, sex workers and border populations to address HIV prevention and treatment needs. These populations are often stigmatised and discriminated against and find it difficult to access services. This activity will identify successful models to share across the Alliance's programmes in Africa.

Policy

The ARP supports Alliance partners to engage in national, regional and global policy and advocacy networks. Partners Alliance Nationale Contre le SIDA (ANCS) in Senegal and Initiative Privée et Communautaire Contre le VIH/SIDA au Burkina Faso (IPC) in Burkina Faso have participated in the national planning for delegations to UNGASS+5; ANCS joined a civil society delegation from Senegal at the UNGASS meeting in New York; and both organisations contributed to the Alliance’s advocacy work in Brussels in preparation for the renewal of EU national grants in Africa.

Strengthening regional networks and institutions

ARP works in partnership with regional networks and institutions to strengthen the regional response to HIV. Regional partners include the Network of African People living with HIV (NAP+), Regional AIDS Training Network (RATN), Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information and Dissemination Service (SafAIDS), Southern African AIDS Trust (SAT) and Society for Women Against AIDS in Africa (SWAA).

Value of the ARP to partners in-country

The ARP brings added value to the in-country programmes in a number of ways. The following are comments from participants at the ARP 2007 Work Plan Development Meeting in September 2006, regarding the value of the ARP to their work.

“ARP enhances linkages across countries and helps avoid duplication.”

“It creates a critical mass for policy work and advocacy for regional programming approaches.”

“It provides opportunities to identify areas of collaboration between countries.”

“It increases learning.”

“It provides opportunities for lesson-sharing.”

“It helps me link to similar programmes in other countries, to realise that my programme has regional value and to benefit from services.”

“It provides possibilities for mentoring and technical support.”

“It provides skills-building and provision of tools.”