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Breaking the silence : violence against children with disabilities in Africa

AFRICAN CHILD POLICY FORUM (ACPD)
2010

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This report highlights violence against children with disabilities in five study African countries: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Senegal, Uganda and Zambia. The report notes that there is widespread apathy and negligence at state, local and community levels, and highlights a lack of financial and medical aid, inadequate and inaccessible state facilities and systems, and insufficient community understanding. The study report documents the negative effect this has on children with disabilities and makes a number of recommendations to help improve the situation

Diabetes prevention and control projects in countries with limited resources|Lessons from experience : know-how analysis

BONARERI, Elizabeth
et al
December 2009

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This analysis paper presents the ‘know-how’ acquired by Handicap International in its diabetes prevention and control projects. It provides six practical know-how analysis sections focusing upon stakeholder mobilisation, services in communities, the decentralisation of diabetes care, diabetes clubs for persons with diabetes, supporting associations of persons with diabetes and conducting a study on a disabling disease project. This report would be useful to anyone interested in diabetes prevention and control in developing countries

Supporting persons living with trauma by rebuilding social and community links : an example of a community-based mental health approach after the Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis

PHAN, Xuan
November 2009

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This report provides an overview of the lessons learned from a Handicap International community-based mental health project for children and adolescents experiencing psychological suffering after the Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis. It highlights successes and limitations of the project, as well as recommendations for the project’s continuation. This report would be of interest to mental health practitioners, mental health service providers and community mental health organisations

Briefing for the day of the African child : reaching Millennium Development Goal 4 : what progress has Africa made and what more needs to be done?

HARTILL, Richard G
MILLER, Carol A
June 2009

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This briefing document reviews examples of the progress that Africa has made in reaching the Accelerated Action Towards Africa Fit for Children 2008 - 2012 as adopted by the African Union and Member States in the agreed actions related to Enhancing Life Chances and Child Survival and looks at what more needs to be done. The commitment, "Enhancing Life Chances", entails strengthening health systems to provide quality maternal and child health services; scaling up essential interventions to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality and reduce neonatal mortality; scaling up a minimum package of proven child health interventions; and supporting family and community based actions that enhance children’s health, nutrition and well-being including potable water, improved sanitation and hygiene, appropriate young child feeding practices and food security measures

Integrating multiple gender strategies to improve HIV and AIDS interventions : a compendium of programs in Africa

INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN
May 2009

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This report looks at how four specific gender strategies are being used in HIV and AIDS intervention programmes, how they are working, and how people are learning from and sharing their experiences toward strengthening programmes and expanding successes. A number of programmes in 11 African countries, as well as multi-country programmes are examined. The four gender strategies are: - Reducing gender-based violence; - Increasing women‘s legal protection; - Addressing male norms and behaviours, and - Strategies to increase women‘s income and productive resources.

A handbook for network support agents and other community workers supporting HIV prevention, care, support and treatment

March 2009

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This manual is intended to help network support agents and other community workers be more effective in disseminating standardised information about HIV and AIDS. It "...emphasises the importance of the acquisition of knowledge, skills and the right attitude needed to identify the psychosocial needs of people of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS and address these needs by giving information, counselling and appropriate referrals. Knowledge of counselling and psychosocial care, is combined as much as possible with prevention activities such as adopting HIV basic care positive prevention and adherence to treatment"

Mainstreaming HIV, AIDS and gender into culture|A community education handbook : part 2

WALLACE-KARENGA, Katrina
March 2009

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This second part of the handbook looks specifically at how culture, gender and HIV are connected. Studies undertaken in sub-Saharan Africa make it clear that certain cultural practices, together with the low status and economic power of women increase women and girl's vulnerability to HIV. It is a resource for community-based volunteers working with communities to mainstream HIV and gender through culture

Coordination for vulnerable children : Alliance Zambia’s efforts to strengthen government and community OVC systems

ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY ACTION ON HEALTH IN ZAMBIA (Alliance Zambia)
2009

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Based on its experience of implementing a programme to strengthen community support systems for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), Alliance Zambia sees coordination within government, and partnership between government and civil society, as essential building blocks for effective OVC support

Living conditions among people with disabilities in Mozambique : a national representative study

EIDE, Arne H
KAMALERI, Yusman
January 2009

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"This report provided results of a study of living conditions among people with functional limitation in Mozambique. Two comparative studies of different indicators of living conditions were carried out. These studies include: (i) a comparative study of households with and without family member(s) with functional limitation and (ii) a comparative study of individuals with and without functional limitation. In addition, a detailed study that specifically addresses the situation of individuals with functional limitation was also conducted"
SINTEF A9348

Older citizens monitoring in Ethiopia : a handbook

HUMPHREYS, Andrew
2009

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"The primary aim of this manual is to provide a guide for woreda governments, NGOs and communities to replicate an older citizens monitoring approach to development in the Ethiopian context. The guidance is developed from the experiences of a pilot project on older citizens monitoring which was implemented in several woredas of Ethiopia. The guide outlines 3 main sections: Establish the structure, Develop skills and capacity, and implement monitoring systems. Each section details the steps needed to plan and implement an older citizens monitoring project in the Ethiopian context in an approximate chronological order"

Sustainability and equity aspects of total sanitation programmes : a study of recent WaterAid supported programmes in three countries global synthesis report

EVANS, Barbara
et al
2009

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This report is a synthesis of three individual country studies on Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) activities in WaterAid programmes in Bangladesh, Nepal and Nigeria. The studies examined whether CLTS had led to sustainable and equitable sanitation behaviour change. The study explored whether achieving open-defecation-free (ODF) status is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the entire community to use and maintain hygienic latrines in the long-term. Also, where possible, the study explored the additional factors that enhance the probability that ODF status will translate into entrenched behaviour change, as well as the capacity of communities to move onwards up the ‘sanitation ladder’

Going to scale with community-led total sanitation : reflections on experience, issues and ways forward

CHAMBERS, Robert
2009

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Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a revolutionary approach in which communities are facilitated to conduct their own appraisal and analysis of open defecation and take their own action to become open defecation-free. This report presents CLTS approaches in six countries which differ organisationally with contrasting combinations of NGOs, projects and governments. Practical elements in strategies for going to scale have included: training and facilitating; starting in favourable conditions; conducting campaigns and encouraging competition; recruiting and committing teams and full-time facilitators and trainers; organising workshops and cross-visits; supporting and sponsoring Natural Leaders and community consultants and inspiring and empowering children

 

Practice Paper, Vol 2009, No 1

Hearing community voices : grassroots perceptions of an intervention to support health volunteers in South Africa

CAMPBELL, Catherine
et al
December 2008

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"This paper reports on community perceptions of a three-year project which sought to train and support volunteer health workers in a rural community in South Africa. "With the scarcity of African health professionals, volunteers are earmarked for an increased role in HIV and AIDS management, with a growing number of projects relying on grassroots community members to provide home nursing care to those with AIDS - as part of the wider task-shifting agenda. Yet little is known about how best to facilitate such involvement"

Best practices in the socio-economic rehabilitation of persons affected by leprosy and other marginalised people in their communities: findings from nine evaluations in Bangladesh, India and Africa

VELEEMA, Johan P
2008

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This paper presents an overview of findings from the formal evaluation of 9 socio-economic rehabilitation programmes (SER), in 4 countries in Africa, in Bangladesh and in India from 2002-2005. Bringing together the recommendations resulted in a description of best practices in the implementation of socio-economic rehabilitation programmes, derived from actual experiences in different contexts.

All the 9 programmes focused on supporting individual leprosy-affected beneficiaries or their families. Four projects also supported other marginalised clients. The usual interventions were micro-credit, housing and sponsoring of education for the children.

The recommendations touched upon each of the five steps in individual rehabilitation: Selection of clients, needs assessment, choosing an intervention, monitoring / follow--up of clients during rehabilitation, and separation at the end of the rehabilitation process. The evaluators also suggested ways in which participation of the client in their own rehabilitation might be boosted, made recommendations for the organisational structure of programmes, on maximising community involvement and emphasised the importance of information systems and of investing in the programme staff. A number of recommendations were specific to the types of interventions implemented i.e, housing, education or micro-credit.

Evidence of the impact of SER on the quality of life of clients is limited, but suggests increased self-esteem and increased respect/status in the family and community.

 

Asia Pacific Disability Rehabilitation Journal, vol.19, no.1, 2008

The state of Africa's children 2008 : child survival

ROGERS, Kate
GEBRE-EGZIABHER, Hirut
2008

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This report complements UNICEF’s ‘State of the World’s Children 2008’. It considers progress towards the related Millennium Development Goals in the region and the main causes of child deaths. It considers health-care systems and community-based approaches to providing maternal and child health care and outlines priorities required to accelerate progress

Move together now! Community and youth mobilisation for HIV prevention among young people in Uganda

MINISTRY OF GENDER, LABOUR AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
2008

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This guide covers basic ideas on community mobilisation, youth participation and participatory tools with examples from Africa. It aims to equip users with competencies to develop the capacity of communities and young people to work together to address sexual and reproductive health (including HIV) needs of young people in Uganda. It provides tools and processes for mobilising young people and communities at various stages and planning activities for HIV prevention

Growing pains : how poverty and AIDS are challenging childhood

SWIFT, Anthony
MAHER, Stan
2008

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This report looks at projects and programmes that aim to respond to the needs of very young children in southern and eastern Africa whose lives have been affected by both poverty and HIV. What is highlighted in the interventions that are examined is the effort of human beings in caring and supporting people and sharing resources

Community-based worker systems : guidelines for practitioners

MBULLU, Patrick
et al
September 2007

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These guidelines aim to assist practitioners and implementing partners to run Community Based Worker systems (CBW) more effectively, maximising impacts to clients of the service, empowering communities, empowering the CBWs themselves, and assisting governments to ensure that services are provided at scale to enhance livelihoods

Community led total sanitation (CLTS) : an evaluation of the WaterAid’s CLTS programme in Nigeria

BURTON, Salma
August 2007

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Since establishing a programme in Nigeria in 1995, WANG and partners have tried several approaches to promoting sanitation which have not yielded sustainable changes. In its attempt to seek a more sustainable methodology, WANG initiated the pilot testing of the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach which aimed to facilitate a participatory process of empowering local communities to improve their sanitation situation. This evaluation report assesses the efficiency, effectiveness and relevance of the CLTS programme, and recommends ways of improving and scaling up the programme in Nigeria. The evaluation provides wide ranging evidence that that CLTS is an effective approach to establishing hygiene and sanitation practice in Nigeria, but the effectiveness varied depending on certain conditions which will need to be taken into consideration when scaling up the initiative

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