Empower communities for a buy in, leadership & ownership of PMTCTSRH & pediatric AIDS response using community centered approach

Ivory Coast

Organization type:

nonprofit/ngo/citizen sector

Budget:

$1,000 - $10,000

Website:

https://www.changemakers.com/N/A

Project Summary

Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

The project strategic approach aims at transferring knowledge and skills to beneficiaries in the perspective of ownership and sustainability. Community members will be the project core implementaters through the community workers including PLWHAs identified within the community and the involvement of the community leaders. ICHANGE CI will provide assistance in terms of capacity building, coaching and other support.
The project will shift community members from a passive beneficiary to active actor for their well being. Specifically the project will permit to increase demand and provision of comprehensive PMTCT/ SRH & pediatric care services and to contribute to the well-being of women, children living with HIV and their family.

About Project

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

the project aim at Improving the well-being of positive women, children living with HIV/AIDS, and their family through a family centered approach, Enhancing PMTCT/ SRH and pediatric care and community-based quality prevention, care and support services requires the involvement of PLHAs and grassroots community themselves. To solidify their indispensable role for the response, ICHANGE CI will implement a community centered PMTCT/ SRH and Pediatric care intervention Model aimed at building the community organizational capacity and link them with the local health facilities. Furthermore ICHANGE CI will build the HIV capacity of community leaders and peer workers while developing a community-based service delivery PMTCT and SRH programs for community peer workers. Trainees will apply the hands-on technical knowledge and skills to their communities and families. Innovations - 1/ The project integrate PMTCT, SRH and Pediatric care 2/ The communiy are at the forefront of the response (Ownership) 3/ a strong and effective referal and counterreferal system is developped between the community and the healthcare system (center, provider and service uptake)

Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

(i) the promotion of the PMTCT/SRH and the pediatric care at the community level; (ii) the involvement of the PLHAs specifically women in community awareness raising and home follow-up; (iii) the promotion and the provision of HIV testing and SRH services targeting childbearing age girls and women and HIV positive women, (iv) the capacity building and coaching community of leaders on human rights and SRH at community level (v); the use of a family centered approach as a core strategy to deliver; (vi) addressing HIV related-stigma (vii) building community HIV technical, logistic and material capacity toward community ownership. (viii) Community advocacy work to address legal, institutional and socio cultural barriers for women and children to access comprehensive PMTCT and pediatric services in accordance with the latest WHO recommendations on PMTCT and infant feeding; (ix) Conduct operational research

About You

Organization:

International Center for Humanitarian Action and Grassroots empowerment (ICHANGE CI)

About You

First Name

Cyriaque Yapo

Last Name

Ako

Twitter

Facebook Profile

About Your Organization

Organization Name

International Center for Humanitarian Action and Grassroots empowerment (ICHANGE CI)

Organization Phone

+ (225) 22 52 44 63 / 07 88 94 46/ +221 77 752 48 02

Organization Address

28 BP 185 Abidjan 28

Organization Country

Country where this project is creating social impact

How long has your organization been operating?

1‐5 years

Is the project that you are entering related to this organization?

Yes

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Innovation

What stage is your project in?

Idea phase

Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.

The population targeted by the project is the inner city communities without modern equipments. This people live in a lacking of situation with high promiscuity. There is a lack of proper sanitation assets and lack of continuity of water supply and electricity in this shanty town impede access to safe drinking water and electricity. In addition no Household waste removable system is ensured in this neighborhood that remains difficult to access.
The low general educational level of the target population forces them to engage in informal activities resulting in low income.
At the socio cultural level, ignorance and barriers and visit to traditional healers and other charlatans to seek for health care are the factors that limits their access and use of formal health services almost nonexistent in the neighborhood. In order to complement the government effort to address the limited health services, communities have implemented various formal and informal mechanisms. Unfortunately, those remain insufficient due to lack of Knowledge and skills to manage health, education and development issues adequately

Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project

He is basically a human right activist specialized in the fight against HIV and aids.
His work is focused in universal access to prevention, treatment care and support. He is also involved in advocacy work for meaningful involvement of persons living with HIV and sexual minorities including MSM, gay and lesbian.
He is an experienced AIDS organizer who has moved from volunteer to professional involvement He developed and managed community based HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs and set up national NGO support programs. He is a successful grant-writer for and technical advisor to community based organizations, international institutions and government in scaling up HIV prevention, care and treatment programs. He has an excellent technical knowledge of HIV prevention, care and treatment.
In 1994, he founded Ruban Rouge CI one of the first community based HIV AIDS organization in Cote d’Ivoire
In 2003 he founded Arc- en Ciel Plus, The first MSM organization to do HIV prevention outreach activities within MSM community and advocate for Integration of MSM as priority target in the Côte d'Ivoire national AIDS program
From 2005 to 2009, he was Executive Director of RIP+ (Network of persons living with HIV and AIDs. Achievement at RIP+ includes The “processus ADA” he used this Process to succeed greater involvement of PLWHA all over the country. From 13 members he increased RIP+ memberships to 65 through processus ADA within 4 years.
2008- Founded ICHANGE CI, to implement a new vision aimed at community ownership of their health, education and development issues.

Social Impact

Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured

The Project in two health districts of Côte d’Ivoire will achieve the following results:

1: To build a SRH, PMTCT and pediatric care community centered intervention model to provide Prevention, care and support to childbearing age women, children and positive women and their family by

2: To build the capacity of 2000 community leaders

3: To build the capacity of 153 community workers on SRH, PMTCT Pediatric care

4 : To test 22917 families

5: To actively search for HIV cases among 80% children

6: To provide tailored community based quality prevention, care and support services using family centered approach

7: To advocate for the ownership and the sustainability of the project by the government and the community.
A solid M&E plan with indicator is put in place

The Project M&E will provide relevant, timely and reliable in order to become a management and decision-making tool for the different levels of Project management, partners, service providers, grassroots communities, donors).
Its primary role will be to allow the project management to control the project implementation, provision of services and solving problems related to the performance. The second priority is the monitoring of environmental changes. Finally, the M & E will take into account global changes in longer term.

How many people have been impacted by your project?

How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?

More than 10,000

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact

1: To develop a community centered model
ICHANGE-CI and its partners will support the communities in establishing a community centered model for the management of PMTCT/ SRH and pediatric AIDS

Task 1

-Establish a project coordination framework through a mapping of the project implementation area with coding of the house package….

Task 2

Identify 153 community workers in collaboration with health centers managing committees (one community worker for 150 families) ; involvement of community workers living with HIV/AIDS

Task 3

Train on many topics including PMTCT, SRH, positive prevention, testing through finger prick, stigmatization, community mobilization.

Identify your 12-month impact milestone

1: Ongoing devlopment of the community centered model

2: To actively search for HIV cases in children through testing of 22,917 families by the end of the project

Task 1

Organize chat debates for 2,000 community leaders (teaching basic knowledge in order to disseminate those information within the community and facilitating the community workers action)

Task 2

Promote PMTCT/SRH pediatric care and VCT through community mobilization and outreach targeting childbearing age women and HIV positive women within the community and the families

Task 3

Provide services including (SRH, community follow-up, Search and reference of lost to follow up) to HIV positive women, children, childbearing age women and HIV positive women...

How will your project evolve over the next three years?

To advocate for the improvement of access to PMTCT/ SRH services, and the ownership and the sustainability of the project by the government and all national stakeholder.

ICHANGE CI and its partners including community leaders will work through advocacy and partnership to alleviate and to mitigate juridical, institutional and socio cultural barriers to PMTCT and SRH toward Universal Access and MDG 23456 goals

Sustainability

What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?

Social instability in Côte d'Ivoire represent the major threat to the success of this project. But to this we can add obstacles suche as lack of funding and still of Aids related stigma and discrimination.
Other obstacle such as lack of male ivolvement and the lack of implementation of the 2009 WHO guidline on treatment and Infant feeding can be included.
To adress theses challenges, ICHANGE anticipate to implement strategic activities related to :
- activly work to mobilize funding through submission to call for proposal, search for matching fund with exiting project and partneship
- Ensure greater involvement of PLWHAs in the project implementation
- Work with community leader to ensure men greater involvement
- Advocate for implementatio of WHA latest guidelines near governement and national stakeholders.

Tell us about your partnerships

working sessions were held with all the national strategic partners (community leaders, health facility authorities, health districts managers, the technical unit for providing support to local initiatives, the national malaria program, the ministry of health and AIDS, the national program in charge of the medical management of PLHAs, the national SRH program, the national nutrition program, the national program of child health, the technical department for operational coordination and the Global Fund/CCM) and international partners (UNFPA, UNAIDS).
• Support letters were provided by CCM, MOH/ CTAIL, UNFPA, MOH/PNPEC.
• UNFPA pledge to provide 10 000 delivery kits and more as needed, contraceptive and condoms to support the service delivery over the three year program
• The project will be used as a channel for the distribution of treated bed nets acquired through the Global Funds Round 8
M2C will contribute to achieving the overall objectives of the National AIDS Strategic Plan 2011-2015, part of which will be funded by the USG and the Global funds Round 9.
To coordinate and implement the national HIV/AIDS Strategy, various committees were set up. ICHANGE CI will ensure to join these committees (National AIDS Committee, PMTCT technical working group, SRH technical working group) as equal partner to voice the concerns regarding the implementation of an integrated and comprehensive PMTCT and pediatric care program.

Explain your selections

The project is actually in a conptual phase and it is sbmetted to Positive Action for Children Fund. It has pass the concept note selection phase and the full proposal has also been submitted and is currently bieng evaluated. The Project was submited with a consortiun of Three Local PLWHA NGO. Letter of support and commitment of support have been provided either by NGO, governments institutions and UN organisation such as UNFPA and UNAIDS.
targeted communities leaders have also met and working sessions were organized. Community leaders provided full suppoort to the initiative and aggreed to work and facilitate project implementation upon fundind.

How do you plan to strengthen your project in the next three years?

I CHAHGE CI plans to conduct operational research on the project and document the finding, lessons learned toward implementation of the Community centered model. Lessons learned and challenges will be shared through publications, conferences and project capitalization workshops with national key staholders.

A specific operational research will me conducted in collaboration with the National PMTCT program on the the following theme

• What are the determinants of community and men involvement in PMTCT?

Challenges

Which barriers to health and well-being does your innovation address?
Please select up to three in order of relevancy to your project.

PRIMARY

Health behavior change

SECONDARY

Restrictive cultural norms

TERTIARY

Limited access to preventative tools or resources

Please describe how your innovation specifically tackles the barriers listed above.

The projet will ensure greater awarness and involvement of targeted community on PMTCT/SRH and pediatric AIDS challenges in other to improve thier access to service. By transferring knowledge and skills to community members the project wil permit ownership and sustainability. Social norms such as lack of men involvement, HIV related stigma and discrimination will be adressed to create an enabling enviromement favouring access for women, children and families. By connecting community to health care service through a social dialogue and mutual accountability, the projet will increase offer and PMTCT/ SRH and pediatric AID service uptake to achieve the aim of improving quality of life of Women, children and their familly.

How are you growing the impact of your organization or initiative?
Please select up to three potential pathways in order of relevancy to you.

PRIMARY

Influenced other organizations and institutions through the spread of best practices

SECONDARY

Repurposed your model for other sectors/development needs

TERTIARY

Please describe which of your growth activities are current or planned for the immediate future.

ICHANGE CI is engaged to develop strategic partneship.
Promoting and advocating for its technical approach represent a key activity ICHANGE Management is involved in.
Although national stakeholder value this community centered approach to deal with health, education and develpoment challenges, There is still need to raise ressources to implement and demonstrate the effectiveness of the model. Positive Action for Children Fund and the Cote d'Ivoire Global fund Round 9 represent great opportunity to start start implementing our vision.

Do you collaborate with any of the following: (Check all that apply)

NGOs/Nonprofits.

If yes, how have these collaborations helped your innovation to succeed?

Partship framework at this early stage of the project provided relevent orientation and inputs through advices and supporting committment.
Letters of support have also been issues by somme key partners.
Othes have committed to provide support in kind to the project ressources and needs.