Increased Male Involvement in Home-based Care to Reduce ... - VSO

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FindingsThis section is divided into three sub-sections. The FIRST sub-section details the implementation processes(conceptualisation, strategies and major activities) and outputs of the male involvement projectsseparately for each participating organisation. The SECOND sub-section presents a consolidatedsynthesis of the outcomes to emphasise the relevance and benefits of male involvement in HBC. TheTHIRD sub-section summarises the challenges faced by all the participating organisations.A male volunteer in Zambia involved in home based care8
1. ProjectImplementation andOutputs/OutcomesPADARE, ZimbabweImplementation strategyPadare/Enkundleni Men’s Forum on Gender (from here onPadare) is a male membership organisation established in Hararein 1995. The name refers to a tradition whereby men gatheraround a fire or under a tree to discuss and make decisions aboutcommunity issues. The organisation aims to bring about genderequality through public and focused discourse on gender andsexuality, gender violence as well as mobilising men to participatein HIV & AIDS interventions. Padare has public educationand media programmes that discuss youth and adult malesexuality and their gender roles in society. With several chapterscountrywide, Padare has significant coverage and is recognised asone of the organisations that has made important contributionstowards engaging men in the HIV & AIDS discourse in Zimbabweand the region.In 2003, Padare attended the VSO-RAISA regional conferenceMen, HIV & AIDS 31 where the organisation’s work on maleinvolvement in HIV & AIDS responses was profiled. Although notinvolved in HBC then, the strategy of involving males received a lotof interest by participants from the region. On learning the potentialrole men could play in HBC, from that regional conference, Padaredecided to mobilise and train male HBC providers. Through its“Young People: We Care” programme, Padare is now educatingyoung men on the need to share the caring burden of AIDS withwomen and girls. The theme of the programme is “We need tocatch them young so that when they grow up they will be ableto redefine their roles”. 32 Further, Padare’s participation in thedevelopment of the RAISA Regional Advocacy Strategy, whose focusis on reducing the burden of care on women and girls, broadenedits scope in terms of approaches to gender issues in HBC.OutputsWith support from VSO-RAISA, 43 male HBC care providers weretrained in Harare (2005) and this has since developed into asuccessful HBC programme with each of the 13 Padare Chaptersacross the country having trained 30 male VCP by 2008. Thisbecame a flagship programme involving men in HBC and hostedMalawian and Zambian partners in exchange programmes. In 2007,Padare also hosted a group of seven RAISA partners from withinZimbabwe in a male HBC study tour, and also visited Africare maleHBC projects 13 in the country. The exchange visits enabled thepartner organisations to engage with men who are involved in HBCand find out firsthand what their motivations were, and how theycoped with the social pressures caused by traditional gender roles.Loving Hand, ZimbabweImplementation strategyOne of the seven Zimbabwean partners in the 2007 study tour wasLoving Hand, an NGO established in 1998 to support communitiesin peri-urban areas around Bulawayo City on HIV & AIDS relatedproblems through training of care providers and peer educators.Participation in the Zimbabwe national conference on men, HIV& AIDS, and ensuing association with Padare helped Loving Handdevelop a gender sensitive HBC programme.OutputsLoving Hand initially worked with women care providers only.Since the tour of Padare’s HBC projects, Loving Hand hastrained over 20 male care providers. Loving Hand reported thatinvolvement of men had improved the management of HBCactivities. Because men are more mobile, supervision of HBCactivities and information exchange between VCP in differentlocalities has improved. Further, the programme coordinatorreported coverage had also increased. However, the organisationis experiencing problems with retention of the men and this isattributed in part to the approach used to mobilise the men as wellas the issue of incentives. Mobilisation focused on involvement ofmen in HBC at the exclusion of the wider and influential genderrelated issues. Having seen the benefits in carrying out widermale empowerment campaigns Loving Hand has strengthened itscampaign by involving community leaders such as councilours andother opinion leaders when recruiting volunteers for HBC.9
Page 1 and 2: By Professor Exnevia Gomo for VSO-R
Page 3 and 4: AcronymsAIDSAcquired Immune Deficie
Page 5 and 6: Why Low MaleInvolvementin HIV & AID
Page 7 and 8: IncreasingBurden of Careon Womenand
Page 9: The MaleInvolvementProjectVSO build
Page 13 and 14: OutputsThe number of care groups in
Page 15 and 16: 2. Outcomes(All Partners)Because th
Page 17 and 18: Policy and Legal EnvironmentThe stu
Page 19 and 20: SADCBest PracticeCriteriaEffectiven
Page 21 and 22: RecommendationsThe study has descri
Page 23: ContactsVSO-RAISA Regional OfficePO

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