The Partnership

To launch the Hope for African Children Initiative, seven leading international NGOs – CARE, Plan, Save the Children, the Society of Women Against AIDS in Africa - an AIDS advocacy organization with chapters in 30 African countries - the World Conference on Religions for Peace and World Vision International combined their experience and resources. The Network of African People Living with HIV/AIDS – with a lot of experience working with people living with the virus - recently joined the partnership, further strengthening its capacity to respond to the needs of children and families impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Collectively, these are among the world’s largest service delivery organizations operating community programs throughout Africa. The following provides a synopsis of the corporate capabilities of each partner organization

1. CARE
2. NETWORK OF AFRICAN PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS (NAP+)
3. PLAN
4. SAVE THE CHILDREN ALLIANCE
5. THE SOCIETY FOR WOMEN AND AIDS IN AFRICA
6. WORLD CONFERENCE OF RELIGION FOR PEACE (WCRP)
7. WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL

CARE

www.care.org

Care is one of the largest international non-profit relief and development organizations, working in more than 60 countries across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Care’s mission is to relieve human suffering, provide economic opportunity and build sustained capacity for self-help in some of the poorest communities of the world.

Care’s experience in HIV/AIDS programming started in 1987 and has shown that effective responses can be mounted at the community level. Care currently oversees 41 HIV/AIDS-related projects in 25 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Care’s key assets for responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis are its geographic coverage, multisectoral expertise and experience in strengthening the capacity of community-based organizations. As one of the few international organizations with programs in almost every sector, Care is looking for ways to lessen vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS by integrating efforts into existing community-based girl’s education, micro-credit, food security and nutrition, private-public partnerships, agriculture, complex emergencies, reproductive and public health programs.

Care serves individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world. Together, members not only collaborate on poverty fighting projects, they also work together on advocacy, communications, fund raising and building relationships with governments and other organizations.

Drawing strength from their global diversity, resources and experience, Care promotes innovative solutions and is an advocate for global responsibility. Care facilitates lasting change by:

• Strengthening capacity for self-help;
• Providing economic opportunity;
• Delivering relief in emergencies;
• Influencing policy decisions at all levels;
• Addressing discrimination in all its forms

Guided by the aspirations of local communities, it pursues its mission with both excellence and compassion because the people whom they serve deserve nothing less.

Network of African People living with HIV/AIDS (NAP+)

www.naprap.org

The overall aim of NAP+ is to strengthen a regional voice of people living with HIV/AIDS. Its focus is on information sharing, positive living through behavior change, and promotion of a positive response towards people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

NAP+ project and activities are coordinated from its Secretariat based in Nairobi and by support offices based in Abidjan and Lusaka.

NAP+ seeks to:

• Create awareness on HIV/AIDS in Africa through personal experiential approach, while emphasizing the particular vulnerability of young people to HIV infection.
• Encourage formation of support groups of people living with HIV/AIDS where they are non-existent and strengthen existing ones.
• Lobby African governments to protect the basic human rights of all people living with HIV/ AIDS, including the right to health care, employment, travel and insurance.
• Advocate for all biomedical and social research to be ethical, clearly explained, strictly monitored and that the participants share the benefits of their outcome and are fully insured against the potential negative effects of some drugs.
• Lobby for full participation of people living with HIV/AIDS in relevant decision making bodies at local, national and international levels.
• Strengthen alliances and partnership with relevant bodies and agencies working on HIV/AIDS nationally and internationally.
• Lobby for access to drugs for the treatment of opportunistic infections, and their availability at care and support centers.
• Lobby for meaningful involvement of PLWHA in relevant forums, nationally and internationally.

Guiding Principle
We strongly believe that the key strategy to confronting the epidemic is the recognition of Human Rights of all people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa. NAP+ will strive to implement its objectives to ensure effective development and strengthening of activities aimed at supporting people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa. It hopes to do so through the following activities:

Ambassador of Hope
In its aim to influence behavior change and help launch and strengthen support groups and national networks of people living with HIV/AIDS, NAP+ initiated the Ambassador of Hope Project. This project involves inter-country visits of role models of behavior change for the exchange and sharing of experiences and information.

Information Sharing
A dissemination and information exchange program in Francophone and Anglophone Africa is being established. Activities include: sharing of personal experiences; printing and distribution of nutritional manuals; and the NAP+ newsletter, Positive Voice.

Skills Building
NAP+ is in the process of developing skills of its members through support groups and sub-regional workshops. NAP+ is currently working towards strengthening its capacity in the area of management, income generation, and all aspects of providing care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS.

Translation of Information
NAP+ attempts to reach as many people in Africa as possible with information on HIV/AIDS. Although most documents are only available in French and English, these publications are currently being translated into Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, and other widely spoken languages in Africa.

NAP+ Directory
NAP+ is developing a regional AIDS database directory, documenting all existing support groups for people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as AIDS service organizations and national networks of people living with HIV/AIDS in African countries.

Plan

www.plan-international.org

Plan is an international humanitarian, child-focused development organization without religious, political or governmental affiliations. Child sponsorship is the primary source of funding, which also creates channels through which individual sponsors and sponsored children develop a relationship based on mutual respect and understanding.

Vision
Plan’s vision is of a world in which all children realize their full potential in societies that respects people’s rights and dignity.

• Enabling deprived children, their families and communities to meet their basic need and to increase their ability to participate in and benefit from their societies.
• Fostering relationships to increase understanding and unity among people of different cultures and countries.
• Promoting the rights and interests of the world’s children.

The Child Centered Community Development Approach (CCCD)
Plan programs are guided by a child-centered community development approach. Through this approach, Plan programs are designed to increase capacities and opportunities of the poor children and their communities to improve their lives. The framework for approach has four components:

1. Participatory Processes
   Fundamental to CCCD is that poor children and their families are central participants in development process. Participatory tools are used to help Plan staff facilitate communities in the development and implementation of all programs, to systematically identify the most marginalized sector of the population and engage their participation. To support local ownership, indigenous knowledge is strengthened, confirming and building on good practices and reducing the bad ones.
2. Groups and Organizations.
   Individual empowerment of the poor is enhanced through collective action. Strengthened organization improves internal community relationships, increasing participation of all, and increases community capacity to influence outside institutions such as Government and private sector and other members of the civil society. Community groups are supported to manage increasingly complex issues as they mature, with the objective of Plan’s phasing out once the organizational capacity indicators are met.
3. Child Centered Programs.
   Children are at the center of all Plan’s programs. When the common issues of children are known, program designs must be developed to address the institutional causes of the issues. Communities need to participate with technical experts to analyze and link local problems to national issues of discrimination and constraints.
4. Partnership, Networking and Advocacy.
   Children depend on outside institutions to provide social services that will enhance their opportunities and strengthen their capacities. All children have a right to quality services, and it is incumbent on Plan to identify institutional constraints that cause poor children and their families to be excluded from these services. Plan can strengthen services by increasing community participation and influence on quality of service providers. To mainstream improved services, Plan advocates for policy change that addresses institutional discrimination of children and poor families.

Save the Children Alliance

www.savethechildren.org

Save the Children was founded on 19th May 1919 in Britain. In the same year, Save the Children Associations were founded in Sweden, Australia and Canada in 1921. By 1924 the union of Save The Children had 20 members.

To date there are 32 national member organizations of International Save the Children Alliance referred to as Save The Children

Capability Statement
Save the Children is the World’s largest independent movement for children with programs in more than 120 countries worldwide.Save the Children develops quality programs in the target countries aimed at creating “A better World for Children”. Save The Children has improved the lives of millions of children and young people.

Save the Children has an outstanding reputation for delivering effective and long lasting results for children. Save The Children through its global network currently raises some US $ 430 million each year to fund its quality programs.

Vision Statement
Save the Children works for:

• A world which respects and values each child
• A world which listens to children and learns
• A world where all children have hope an opportunity.

Mission Statement
Save the Children fights for children’s rights.
Save the Children delivers immediate and lasting improvements to children’s lives worldwide.

Save the Children and HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS rivals poverty and war as a major threat to children’s lives in the developing world.
Save the children combats the disease through:

• Infection prevention
• Support for children and families affected
• Institutional capacity building and Advocacy.

Save the Children and HACI
Save the Children is a member of Hope for African Children initiative (HACI), which aims to assist children orphaned by AIDS in Africa. Under HACI, Save the Children undertakes the following:

• Coping with HIV/AIDS (COPE)
• Building awareness of HIV/AIDS
• Prevention of HIV/AIDS
• Support to families
• Safeguarding the children’s future
• PMTCT and ARV provision
• Youth HIV/STI and Reproductive Health.
• Peer to peer education and children participation.

Society of Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA)

www.swaainternational.org/en

The Society of Women and AIDS in Africa was established by a small group of professional women during the fourth international AIDS conference held in Stockholm, Sweden in June 1988. As individual mothers and care providers, these women voiced their concern with the growing incidence of HIV infection in Africa. SWAA recognizes that women are critically affected by HIV/AIDS and that their vulnerability can be reduced by advocating and acting for their social and economic development, while formulating and implementing appropriate policies for the respect of women’s fundamental rights.

SWAA was formed to provide a rallying point for African women to address particular problems affecting them and their families as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. SWAA seeks to promote access to affordable and adequate services and programs toward reducing women’s risk to HIV infection and increasing their capacity to cope with the impact of the epidemic on their lives.

Its main objectives are to:

• Sensitize the public on the vulnerability of women living with AIDS in Africa;
• Make recommendations for reinforcing HIV/AIDS prevention within the family;
• to set up a solidarity network so that African women living with AIDS may have access to quality treatment;
• Examine and devise practical ways and means of encouraging men and the civil society to commit themselves to the fight against AIDS in partnership with women’s organizations;
• Share information available on current findings related to HIV/AIDS across Africa;
• Advocate for policies that ensure access to care and social support by including people living with HIV/AIDS as change agents

World Conference on Religions for Peace (WCRP)

www.wcrp.org

Current initiatives include diplomatic and multi-religious responses to the events of September 11; building civil societies in Southeastern Europe and brokering peace in Sierra Leone; partnering in the Hope for African Children Initiative benefiting the millions of children orphaned in Africa’s AIDS pandemic; facilitating and supporting the establishment of Religions for Peace-Iraq to help its citizens build lasting peace and a just society; and building a Global Network of Religious Women's Organizations to help women share their experiences and perspectives, and to encourage multi-religious collaboration.

WCRP's mission is to mobilize the unique social and moral resources of the world’s religious communities and help them work together for peace. WCRP gathers religious communities together locally, nationally and internationally to:

• Help them recognize shared beliefs and commitments;
• Help them identify their social and moral resources and make better use of them;
• Connect them with other religious communities and civil society institutions to take common action.

WCRP supports religious communities across Africa to further mobilize in response to the impact that HIV/AIDS is having, particularly on children. It facilitates multi-religious collaboration to expand the capacity of local religious organizations to provide care and support for children affected by HIV/AIDS by channeling resources, offering training and technical assistance and through networking and information sharing across religious and national lines.

In addition, WCRP works directly with Africa’s religious leaders to implement a broad-based advocacy campaign at national, regional and international levels to reduce stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS and to ensure that the rights and needs of all vulnerable children are being met. In this regard, the recent formation of the African Council of Religious Leaders which was facilitated by WCRP would play a role of paramount importance. WCRP is committed to working in partnership not only with religious organizations, but also with major NGOs through the Hope for African Children Initiative, with governments and with international agencies such as UNICEF in this effort

email: info@wcrp.org
Africa Regional Office E-mail: wcrpafrica@africaonline.co.ke
Tel: 254 020 562233/570183/567879

World Vision International

www.worldvision.org

World Vision International is a Christian relief and development organization working for the well being of all people, especially children. Through emergency relief, education, health care, economic development and promotion of justice, World Vision helps communities help themselves.

Established in 1950 to care for orphans in Asia, World Vision has grown to embrace the larger issues of community development and advocacy for the poor in its mission to help children and their families build sustainable futures. Working on six continents, World Vision is one of the largest Christian relief and development organizations in the world.

The heart of World Vision’s work is in helping communities build stronger and healthier relationships. The absence of such relationships impoverishes communities. World Vision focuses on children because they are the best indicator of a community’s social health. When children are fed, sheltered, schooled, protected, valued, and loved a community thrives.

World Vision’s HIV/AIDS - HOPE Initiative

1. children 5 to 15
2. pregnant and breast-feeding mothers
3. persons at high risk of infection (truck drivers, miners, sex workers, etc.)