The HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa is deeply affecting rural livelihoods. The loss of adults of a working age means lower agricultural production, more households being headed by elderly people or children, and a breakdown in transmission of agricultural skills. The innovative experiences of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in responding to these needs have rarely been documented or disseminated.

While donor attention is focused on HIV prevention and treatment by anti-retroviral drugs, there are few large-scale or policy-level attempts to address impacts on livelihoods, even though these will persist long into the future. At local levels, however, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are responding to the crisis by providing assistance to affected communities in the fields of agriculture, skills training and micro-finance, as well as by offering home care and support. A key feature of such initiatives is the focus on previously neglected groups, including women, orphans and young people dropping out of school.

However, staff outside the health sector are still uncertain about how they should respond to HIV/AIDS, and valuable experience is not shared. Research from the Natural Resources Institute, UK, examines the potential of new approaches to these problems by documenting the experience of ten NGO projects in Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. The projects addressed problems identified by the communities:

• a lack of facilities to care for HIV/AIDS orphans forces many to leave school
• widows and elderly women have difficulties in upholding land rights, and accessing credit or agricultural knowledge
• social stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS prevents people from seeking care or being tested

The projects were generally successful. They focused on the following priority areas:

• agricultural training, especially for women and children lacking knowledge and skills, and emphasising locally available resources and minimised labour inputs
• vocational training, especially for young people who have dropped out of school, through apprenticeships, or income-generating schemes
• microfinance projects for vulnerable groups who are usually excluded from credit schemes (although there are limits to the appropriateness of credit for the poorest and most vulnerable)
• raising awareness about HIV/AIDS to reduce social stigmas
• care and support for people living with the disease.

Donors should commit resources to the sensitive scaling-up of these approaches. For this, insights from existing NGO projects must be disseminated, and new partnerships formed. Sharing information is currently unsystematic and limited by the time constraints on NGO staff. External agencies should assist with networking and standardising approaches to monitoring and evaluation.

Several important policy lessons emerge from the projects:

• Consultation with communities, including local leaders and adults trusted by young people, is vital for achieving ownership in new activities.
• Targeting of projects must be handled sensitively: in general, projects should target broader categories of vulnerable people, not just people living with HIV/AIDS in isolation.
• Strengthening rural livelihoods and incomes can contribute to HIV/AIDS prevention by removing the pressure on very poor people to engage in sex for money and/or urban migration.

Source(s):
‘Mitigating impacts of HIV/AIDS on rural livelihoods: NGO experiences in sub-Saharan Africa’, Development in Practice, Volume 15, Number 2, pp.186-199 by Joanna White and John Morton, 2005                                                                                           
‘Facing the challenge: NGO experiences of mitigating the impacts of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa’, NRI Report, pp 75, edited by Joanna White, 2002 Full document.

Funded by: Advisory and Support Services Commission of DFID

id21 Research Highlight: 21 July 2005

Further Information:
John Morton
NRI
University of Greenwich
Central Avenue
Chatham Maritime
Medway ME4 4TB
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1634 880088
Fax: +44 (0) 1634 880077                              
Contact the contributor: j.f.morton@gre.ac.uk

Natural Resources Institute, UK

Joanna White
NRI Associate

Contact the contributor: joannalwhite@yahoo.co.uk

Other related links:
'Do donors recognise the impact of HIV/AIDS on local non-governmental organisations?'

'A vicious circle: poverty and HIV/AIDS in South Africa'

'HIV/AIDS and the agricultural sector in eastern and southern Africa: anticipating the consequences'

'Refugee women and HIV/AIDS: what role for relief organisations?'

HIV/AIDS links from id21