|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
  |
 |
  |
USAID/ Zimbabwe - Success Stories
›Voluntary Counseling and Testing Service (VCT)-Good News out of Zimbabwees
›Zimbabwe's Private Sector Housing Program Evolves to Score More SuccessesVoluntary Counseling and
Testing Service - Good News out of ZimbabweIt is estimated that 1.8 million Zimbabweans are living with HIV, but approximately 90 percent are unaware of their HIV status. Unfortunately, due to stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, the epidemic has largely been "invisible."
Since 1994, USAID/Zimbabwe's HIV/AIDS strategy has been to encourage responsible behavior change. In the early phases of implementation strategy, USAID used a comprehensive range of communications activities that targeted high-risk populations. This strategy contributed to near universal awareness of the epidemic. However, it met with limited success in reducing the number of new infections because the awareness did not lead to behavior change. The epidemic continued to spread in both urban and rural communities.
In 1998, the Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) asked for USAID's help in identifying best practices from countries that had achieved declining HIV infection rates. It became clear that one missing element in Zimbabwe was voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services and sustained messages on behavior change. Elsewhere, VCT had been shown to have an important role in both HIV prevention and for people living with HIV infection. It is an entry point for personal care and responsible behavior. It provides people with an opportunity to learn and accept their HIV status in a confidential environment and provides counseling and referral for ongoing emotional support and medical care. Those who test positive can benefit from early and appropriate medical care and interventions to treat and/or prevent HIV-associated illnesses. Pregnant women who are aware of their HIV-status can take steps to prevent transmission to their infants.
Ultimately, USAID believes that the powerful self-knowledge conferred by VCT will create a critical mass for more effective behavior change. VCT will thus initiate a process to overcome stigma and, ultimately, break the silence that now cloaks HIV/AIDS.
USAID, in collaboration with Population Services International (PSI) and the GOZ, launched 10 New Start VCT centers at strategic locations throughout the country. One New Start objective is to test different VCT service delivery models. The different service delivery models include: 1) public sector clinics, 2) NGO providers, 3) private sector providers, 4) public sector clinic and NGO partnership, and 5) one independently managed experimental site. The first four service delivery models are integrated within institutions that offer other AIDS and/or health services. The goal is to determine which model has the greatest impact and to inform decisions about which approaches should be replicated.
In Zimbabwe, USAID has achieved the highest client return rate of any VCT program, in part, due to the high quality of counseling and the nominal fee of $0.75 that clients pay for pretest, post-test counseling, and three follow-up visits. The newest independent VCT site is managed by PSI using business franchise techniques. It is located in downtown Harare near a bus terminal, open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, including public holidays, with a focus on quality counseling. It serves 150 clients per day-approximately the same number as those that are seen at all the nine other sites combined. USAID Zimbabwe is learning and thus improving on this experiment in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Zimbabwe's Private Sector Housing
Program Evolves to Score More SuccessesThe USAID/Zimbabwe private sector housing program continues to produce demonstrable results, even after the formal conclusion of reporting to Washington. The housing program was established to alleviate an overwhelming demand for shelter while giving an asset base to low-income households. The program has gone on to create momentum for local municipal reform, providing valuation models for a business approach to management of local authorities (LAs) and a basis for future USAID involvement in increasing citizen participation in local governments decision-making.
For the first time, government entered into policy dialogue with local government and the private sector. A private-public sector working group on expanding municipal finance was established for this purpose. A policy framework was developed by the three partners to manage the development interface of local authorities with central government and business. The framework addresses aspects of stimulating a private capital market for municipal finance for infrastructure requirements, an opportune intervention given central government's inability to fund local authorities from the national budget.
As a direct result of collaboration with USAID/Zimbabwe, local authorities, and the private sector, six LAs undertook credit ratings in the past year, for a total of 12 credit rated LAs. With USAID facilitation, a Fiscal Decentralization Action Plan was produced to develop and promote policies and practices that will strengthen LA financial autonomy, and to resolve the issue of unfunded mandates in health, education, and transport.
Years of investment in introducing and modeling best practices, study tours, and interactive learning are sending messages that are percolating to the highest levels of government. The GOZ Cabinet accepted the working group's proposals to liberalize LA borrowings, allow LAs the autonomy to set tariffs and taxes when adequate consultation of the residents is demonstrated, develop early financial warning mechanisms and responses, and to set debt limitation guidelines. Some LAs have already begun to implement this new autonomy policy.
USAID/Zimbabwe's experience, credibility, and comparative advantage in the sector are being exploited in designing a local governance component of the democracy program. A culture of democratic participation in decision making and accountability at the local government level is being cultivated. The positive results that emanate from this model are significant in relation to the modest resources invested by USAID.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
More about USAID/ Zimbabwe
USAID/ AFR Success Stories
skip redundant nav
›Benin
›DR Congo
›Eritrea
›Ethiopia
›Ghana
›Guinea
›Kenya
›Liberia
›Madagascar
›Malawi
›Mali
›Namibia
›Rwanda
›Senegal
›Somlia
›South Africa
›Sudan
›Tanzania
›Uganda
›Zambia
›Zimbabwe
›RCSA
›REDSO/ESA
Updated: Wednesday, January 9, 2002
 |
|||
Last Updated on: July 19, 2004 |
