Implementing Multiple Gender Strategies to Improve HIV and ... - ICRW

drivers, traders, uniformed personnel, money changers, customs officials,
migrant workers, and the partners of these groups.
The project aims to address high rates of HIV transmission by changing
community norms around sexual behavior. COH II offers behavior change
communication and social mobilization interventions, diagnosis, and
treatment of STIs, expanded counseling and testing services, including
static and mobile counseling and testing clinics, and strengthened linkages
and referral networks. The project also links women with organizations that
provide training and/or provide financial assistance to women starting
income-generating activities.
COH II engages local leaders, local NGOs, community- and faith-based
organizations, and structures such as District Health Management Teams
and District AIDS Task Forces to catalyze behavior change within their
communities and to play a central role in program design, implementation,
and evaluation. At the national level, the project works under the auspices
of the National AIDS Council and the Ministry of Health.
The primary tools used in behavior change program activities come from
the Reflect methodology (Freire, 1970; ActionAid, 2006) and from
Participatory Rural Appraisal. These include Stakeholder Analysis, Social
Mapping, Transect Walk, Timeline, Trend Analysis, Seasonal Analysis,
Daily Activity Schedule, Pair-wise Ranking, Venn Diagram, Cause/Effect
Diagram, Matrix Ranking, and the use of pie charts. These tools will
eventually be developed into a toolkit by program staff.
The program addresses gender-based violence as part of its efforts to
change behaviors that put women at risk for HIV infection. Behavior change
teams at each site lead groups—including groups of police officers,
women’s groups, church groups, groups of sex workers, town councilors,
employees of organizations, and others—through activities to help them
identify key drivers of the HIV epidemic and ways to change behaviors that
put women at risk for infection. When group members raise the issue of
violence, program staff help them identify causes and solutions. Program
activities also address harmful male norms and behaviors that put men at
risk for HIV infection, such as multiple concurrent sexual partnerships,
alcohol and drug abuse, and certain traditional practices.
The program works with the police to address legal protection for women
by referring victims of sexual and gender-based violence, as well as minors
engaged in commercial sex work, to their Victims Support Units. The police
provide clients with legal services, while COH II provides psychosocial
support and linkages to post exposure prophylaxis. COH II also links
women with other organizations that are concerned with women’s legal
protection.
Target Audience
Community members in border and transit towns in Zambia
Level of Intervention • Individual
• Community
• District
191