Chaha

Bearing in mind Plan's commitment to addressing the issue of HIV/AIDS, Plan is working on the CHAHA project which is an expanded child centered home and community based care and support project in line with the strategic priorities of the National AIDS Control Program Phase III. The CHAHA project is extending care and support services to children living with and/or affected by HIV/AIDS and their families (especially women headed households) and works closely with different stakeholders and Government Ministries to find ways to help keep children with their parents or extended families. The service delivery strategies under this project are the provision of direct services to children affected and /or living with HIV/AIDS, creation of a supportive environment through community mobilization in all settings (health, social and legal) for stigma reduction, strengthening and capacity building of NGOs and CBOs, strengthening information systems and conducting operational research. Using a home and community based care and support model the package of services are that of improving access to health care through prevention and treatment, providing supplementary nutrition and health information, facilitating access to formal and informal education and vocational skills based training for older children, providing psycho-social support for children and family members affected by AIDS through counseling and mainstreaming in the community, providing economic support to families affected by AIDS, including access to credit and especially for AIDS orphans directly or through foster homes and providing household support in the form of food, travel to hospital, funeral expenses and medicines.

The project is being implemented in 41 districts across four states (Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu) with eight sub recipients’ organizations who are implementing the project through their respective networks of 59 implementing NGOs

MAITREE

Realizing that one of the best ways to reach out to young children is through their peers, Plan initiated the "Maitree" project. The project seeks to enable and empower the children of Dahisar community and western suburbs of Mumbai to make informed choices leading to responsible sexual behavior and contributing to the prevention, care and support of HIV/AIDS.

The idea was to form youth groups who would be trained regarding HIV/AIDS and encouraged to spread the information to other children. Therefore, community health workers and staff members were trained in project management and technical issues. Thereafter, they undertook home visits and community visits to involve children and induct them into the project. 1300 children were reached and six Maitree groups have been formed. The groups participated in residential workshops on communication and child rights. They undertook educational visits and were trained in behavior change communication. Supported by the project staff, the group members involved themselves in the Knowledge, Attitude, Behavior, Practice survey and also published two newsletters. Currently, the Maitree groups are actively working in the communities to generate awareness on HIV/AIDS.

Progress

The 9 Maitree groups have strength of about 538 children and these groups have been meeting regularly and in this quarter have focused on learning more about HIV/AIDS. Further to strengthen the capacity of the youth, an orientation visit of 20 youth members was done to interact with the children infected/affected by HIV/AIDS. At the same time the children have made a visit to the detoxification camp which has motivated the children to take responsibility for their own decisions. At the same time, efforts are being made for referrals to youth on alternative livelihood.

HAAP (Project Completed)

As per NACO estimates, India has nearly 0.64 million children below 14 years of age who are infected with HIV. Significantly, the number of children who have either one or both HIV positive parents or who have lost both their parents to HIV/AIDS is steadily increasing. Despite the gravity of the situation, awareness about HIV/AIDS and its spread remain dismally low. People continue to labor under various myths and misconceptions concerning the disease which has resulted in huge amounts of stigma and discrimination being associated with it.

The HIV/AIDS Awareness Package project was a direct outcome of this issue. This project from Plan seeks to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS, by changing its status from that of killer disease to a manageable chronic illness. It does so by providing the right information on HIV/AIDS and associated issues to the community members through the HIV/AIDS Awareness Package (HAAP).

Under the project, workshops for children were organized across the country to decide the concept, storyline and contents of the package. Post the design and field testing 500 HAAP kits were produced in four languages viz. English, Hindi, Kannada and Telugu. The kits were distributed to grassroots, state, national and international level NGOs, Civil Society Organizations, Government Organizations and Institutes focusing especially on HIV/AIDS issues. The kits were disseminated through workshops held across the five states of Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan In order to disseminate the kit widely, the workshops were conducted in controlled and closed settings as well as in open village spaces. Children directly involved in developing the kit shared their experiences with others.

The workshops elicited positive responses from the community members, children and NGO partners and were found useful in addressing issues related to both HIV/AIDS and child rights. Based on the positive response and interest generated among NGOs, children and communities, approximately 7000 HAAP kits were replicated and distributed through 33 State AIDS Control Societies and Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+). Training of Trainers was also conducted for children peer educators to train them in the art of making and using the kit to spread awareness in their communities. A website for the HAAP project i.e. www.HAAPproject.org has also been developed to facilitate exchange of ideas and easy reference. The project has benefited nearly 1750 children.

The project ended this year with the final dissemination of HAAP kits. However, Plan is ensuring its usage by integrating it in various existing projects. Plan has also submitted a proposal for adopting the HAAP kit as an IEC tool/material in the school AIDS Education Program of NACO. If accepted, the package would be used for generating awareness among the school children all across the country. HAAP also won Manthan award for best e-education content for the year 2007. This award is an Indian initiative by Digital Empowerment Education.