Zimbabwean stories of "Best Practice" - SAfAIDS

ReplicabilityThe project has been efficient in documenting its activities and processes and has a complement of materialswhich include:• Annual reports• Half-yearly reports• Quarterly reports• Monthly reports• Baseline survey report• Monitoring reports• Financial Manual Policy• Human Resources Policy• Children's PolicyThis extensive documentation of the activities that the programme is conducting ensures easy replicationfor those planning a similar initiative. It also guarantees transparency as well as illustrating the steps andprocesses taken, lessons learnt and directions for the future of the programme.According to the SADC Framework for HIV and AIDS Best Practices, replicability of a programme isguaranteed by its acknowledgement of the need to discover interventions that set an example. The SEVACAHBC programme sets an example to other community initiatives seeking to advocate for cultural reformsaround gender within the context of increased HIV infection risk. It has done this by using HBC - a commonand uncontroversial HIV-related service - as a means to gaining stakeholders' acceptance as well as greateraccess to the community to discuss important cultural issues.InnovativenessThere are three elements that define innovation in SEVACA's SHC intervention. They are a 'frontline role'for community leadership and use of 'lifeline' service as a basis for tackling sensitive cultural practicespromoting the spread of HIV.It is common practice to involve local leadership in the launch of community projects or programmes.However, the norm rather than the exception is to invite the leadership to be present at the launch as apublic gesture of their approval of the intervention. The certification of their presence takes the form ofeither taking photographs of them in the company of project proponents or recording their openingspeeches, if any. These scenes are then archived or documented as evidence or living testimony of theinvolvement of local leadership in a particular intervention.The SEVACA project went beyond 'speechifying' by the local leadership. The chief was the Facilitator ofthe launch session but it did not end there. After facilitating the launch of the HBC project, the chief andhis team of local leadership, who included counsellors and headmen were enlisted for caregiver trainingand became some of the first volunteer caregivers in the area. These community leaders managed toprompt and culture the spirit of volunteership by leading by example. This motivated other men to followsuit. As of the time the documentation was carried out, 58 out of 850 caregivers were men. This numberof males involved in care-work is a remarkable achievement given the highly patriarchal nature of Shangaan-Hlengwe society.The use of a 'lifeline' service such as home-based care (HBC) as a basis for tackling sensitive cultural practicespromoting the spread of HIV is notable. The SHC used their HBC activities to provide an entry point forinterrogating the local cultural practices.67