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Developing Community Competence for HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa

SAT

 

Southern African AIDS Trust

Image of Stephen Lewis at George Compound
Stephen Lewis at George Compound, Lusaka, Zambia 2001

The Southern African AIDS Training (SAT) Program began in 1990 and is now in its third phase. The SAT Program was established as a regional project of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA: www.acdi-cida.gc.ca) and administered by the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA). The SAT Program supports community responses to HIV and AIDS through in-depth partnerships in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. SAT funding, skills building and lesson sharing activities support partners in a wide range of relevant activities such as HIV prevention, care and support, People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) support groups and networks, impact mitigation, networking and information exchange, HIV-related advocacy on gender and human/child rights. The overall SAT goal is to increase the competence of communities to respond to the challenges of HIV and AIDS.

Since the beginning of this current phase, efforts have been made by CPHA and CIDA to promote the transition of the SAT Program from a CIDA-funded CPHA project into a regional African organization. This process became a reality with the registration of the Southern African AIDS Trust (SAT) as an independent Trust in Zimbabwe in December 2003. Later in 2004, CIDA modified its Contribution Agreement with CPHA to reflect the change in SAT’s status as well as to rename the project as the Developing Community Competence for HIV and AIDS Response in Southern Africa (the CCP Project). In 2005, SAT relocated its regional office from Harare to Johannesburg, South Africa and registered in South Africa as a Section 21 Company (not for profit).

CIDA has given this process its complete support and will continue to fund SAT through the CCP project until March 2008. CPHA provides technical support, financial and contractual administration, and CCP public awareness and information dissemination within Canada. The CCP project continues to focus on strengthening the ability of Southern African community organizations to respond to HIV and AIDS by enhancing their capacity to prevent and mitigate the effects of HIV and AIDS. SAT has assisted in developing the organizational capacity of a significant number of partner organizations at their earliest stages of development, enabling them to gain a foothold and grow. Since 1990 SAT has worked with over 230 grass roots organizations throughout the Southern Africa region, providing exchanges of knowledge, methodologies, and information through the innovative School Without Walls (SWW) mechanism. SWW is an innovative tool for south-to-south lesson sharing and skills training, where SAT partners learn from and support each other in an empowering network.

In addition, CCP works with national and regional advocacy and co-ordinating groups to address HIV and AIDS issues. One pivotal issue is gender inequality and the resulting unequal impact of HIV and AIDS on women and men, which continues to be one of the main social factors driving the HIV and AIDS epidemic. SAT and its partners are strong and resolute advocates on gender issues by emphasizing the link between gender equality, human rights, children’s rights and HIV and AIDS.