September 26, 2003
Work Plan – Kathleen Fodrek

CCI – Vivre Mieux
Kpalimé, Togo

Director: Guy C. Ahialegbedzi
B.P. 62, Kpalimé, Togo
Tel: (228) 441 04 97
Fax: (228) 441 08 51
Vivre_mieux@hotmail.com, vivre_mieux@yahoo.com

Project:

• Renforcement des activités communautaires de prévention et de prise en charge en matière des IST/VIH/SIDA dans la région des Plateaux au Togo (RAC2P). Reinforcement of community based activities in the prevention of STI/HIV/AIDS and strengthening of community support for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAS) and AIDS orphans; in the Plateaux region of Togo.

Overall goals of the project:

• To build a strong community network of volunteers, organizations, and solid programming to increase the capacity of the organization Vivre Mieux in the prevention of HIV/AIDS and in the support and treatment of PLWHAS.

Duties and activities to be carried out by the participant:

• Create an HIV/AIDS Information and Counselling Center at Vivre Mieux
• Develop and run support groups for PLWHAS.
• Run small group parent training workshops (i.e. educate parents in HIV/AIDS prevention, and in how to share this with their children).
• Train local volunteers to run the groups and the Information and Counselling Center.

Youth Programs

• Provide psychosocial support for HIV/AIDS orphans.
• Run an awareness campaign, promoting HIV/AIDS prevention and Vivre Mieux's projects (specifically the Information and Counselling Center). This will include animating weekly radio shows; school presentations; a weekly youth drop-in at the center.
• Train high school student volunteers to run these programs.
• Brainstorm with local volunteers on local youth programs they could implement (e.g. awareness campaigns in local bars/dance clubs; running a drop-in that provides low-cost, nutritionally sounds meals for PLWHAS; fundraising activities; etc.)

Other projects:

• Media awareness in Canada – promoting Vivre Mieux's work in Canada by submitting articles for local and free media publications.
• Networking with personal Rotary contacts in Ontario and France to help the local Kpalimé Rotary Chapter develop international relationships and support. (e.g. Rotary is re-implementing it's North-South Program, linking up partner clubs).
• Approaching personal contacts regarding potential donations of computer resources (hardware and software).
• Research a steady supplier of condoms.
• Participating in HIV/AIDS education training workshops.
• Research the HIV/AIDS network of NGO's in Ghana (information received through a personal contact at CUSO). Use this research to develop a model for a similar initiative in Togo (either regionally or nationally).
• Find (or develop) a counselling tool/guide for using with PLWHAS. (e.g. including information relevant to treatment resources in Africa, where nutrition is the first line of defense. What foods help strengthen or maintain the immune system? Research this through personal contacts at the Canadian College for Naturopathic Medicine.)

Activities/ Timeline:

October:
Sept.29 – October 8:

• participating in a training seminar, in Lomé, organized by RAS+TOGO and CEFA.

mid-October:

• continue meeting with local PLWHAS for counselling, information sharing (with the individual and their families), and networking to develop a support group.
• Send out initial 'feelers' to personal contacts regarding information sharing and possible resource donors.
• Send out one article to several newspapers in Ontario.
• Establish an Information and Counselling Center at Vivre Mieux with weekly drop-in times when I (and/or a volunteer) am available.

November:

• begin (weekly?) support group sessions for PLWHAS.
• Recruit interested volunteers to help run the support groups from Vivre Mieux's network of trained volunteers. (At the beginning I will have a strong need for a translator. Eventually, I would like these groups to be volunteer-run.)
• Begin awareness campaign (of the services provided at Vivre Mieux, and of HIV/AIDS prevention in general) through weekly radio shows at the local radio station.
• Begin collecting information in response to questions, concerns, and issues relevant to the Togolese context.
• Create (or find) a workshop to train parents on how to educate their children in HIV/AIDS prevention.
• Begin presentations in local high schools.

December:

• Continue with the implementation and refinement of projects that were started in November.
• Begin focusing on the domain of youth: begin a drop-in specifically for youth; recruiting volunteers; connecting youth with PLWHAS so they can see the reality of the disease.

Expected results:

• Information and Counselling Center active and functional at the Vivre Mieux office.
• Association of people living with HIV/AIDS active within the region.
• Increased local community capacity in the prevention of HIV/AIDS and in the psychosocial support of people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Functional program of psychosocial assistance for AIDS orphans within the region.
• Volunteer base active and functional, and trained in maintaining the new programming.
• Structures in place to maintain and build on current gains of programming and future projects and funding.

Documents required by the end of the work placement:

• Final report.
• Project proposals.
• Plan for the continued use and further development of the projects implemented during the internship.
• Upon completion of this placement, what type of follow-up will be required by the host agency?
• Have a plan in place to ensure the continued pursuit of the activities that are put in place.
• Evaluation of the project proposals written.