Friends Africa’s proposed project is targeted at providing a voice for young people living with HIV by allowing them share their stories online, improve their skills as well as build their capacity using digital technology.This project is designed to empower this group to become competent in using social media.The project aims to leverage innovative technology solutions which will add value and improve the lives of young people living with HIV. The objective of this project is to connect, and inspire a new generation of technopreneurs to building a sustainable business model
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
Primary beneficiaries of this project will be young people living with HIV between the ages of 14-29. In Nigeria, youths within this age group make up the demographic with the highest burden of the disease and faced with stigma and discrimination (Internal and external). Also due to low economic power, gender inequality and other socio-cultural factors, these youths have very limited access to education and technological tools.
Generation Tech will provide youth within this group a platform to improve critical thinking skills, socialize and provide psycho social support through peer mentoring while developing their capacity to adopt digital technology tools.Friends Africa seeks to connect youths living with HIV/AIDS with ICT skills, a forum for online mentoring and life building skills
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Project partners will include Network of People Living with HIV (Lagos Chapter) and the Nigerian Institute of Technology, who will train the group to effectively use online media as well as develop strong partnership and development opportunities.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
Recruited participants will share stories relating to their experience living with the disease, how they became infected and how they have received care, support and treatment as well as information available to them. They would also be giving an insight into their plans for the future, given the added skills provided by Generation Tech. This will create awareness to the general public on the disease and will also pass on important information on disease epidemiology, prevention and control and other best practices. Stories will be shared via blog posts and through a group facebook page in which each participant will have access to post stories, upload pictures and share useful links.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established or plan to establish that will contribute to the success of the project.
Friends Africa through its Play for Life Campaign has built a strong lasting relationship with NEPWHAN, this yearlong campaign was initiated two years ago and through this campaign we fight against stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV (PLHIV). This campaign comprises of VCT services for all and distribution of IEC materials as well as a football match with participation of PLHIV as spectators, referees and special guests. The chapter coordinator is a current Champion for Global Health and has represented Friends Africa at full capacity. We will also involve one of our champion advocates and goodwill ambassador Mrs. Georgina Ahamefule who has been living with HIV for the past 17 years and is a good role model
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
Friends Africa will recruit 50 young PLHIV for training. Participation will be sought and sustained through the following steps;
• Community engagement: This will create a strong sense of local ownership and genuine participation in design and project implementation. The idea will belong to the network as it will be locally driven.
• Engagement and support of stakeholders
• Easy adoption and technically friendly
• Regular follow-up and assessment on activity interest
• Social, gender and cultural acceptability: this project will be open to both men and women and people from various backgrounds within the community
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
Participants will be trained on how to create blog posts and share information through facebook and other social platforms. Information will be used to create awareness and educate others that PLHIV can still lead health lifestyles. Friends Africa operates a Technical Assistance Hub of over 300 expert consultants in different fields of health and development and their expertise will be leveraged to support the training required. Friends Africa also has a very active communications team that has designed several regional and pan-African advocacy campaigns for over 2million people. Friends Africa implemented online the Small and Medium Enterprises workplace health policy project which trained over 2,700 persons.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
Training workshops will be located at the Ecentre lagos. A location, which is very accessible and safe. The training rooms will be fully equipped rooms with 30-50 desktops/laptops, printers, white boards, flipcharts, projectors and other amenities that will allow for group to share their ideas and interact directly. There will also be fast speed internet wi-fi connections.
What is your current relationship with the community with whom you plan to work? What makes you the most appropriate individual or organization to implement this project?
Friends Africa, is Africa’s leading health advocacy organization with a proven track record for results driven advocacy and successful implementation of sustainable projects working at the grass roots and national level. Friends Africa galvanizes the effort of all stakeholders to achieve its mission of an African continent free of HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria and the achievement of MDGs 4,5 &6—this project will leverage on Friends Africa’s existing linkages with the private sector, government and civil society. Friends Africa has a strong relationship with the Network of PLHIV in Lagos Nigeria, the youth groups fighting HIV/AIDS in Lagos and the community of online activists
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Challenges may include;
1) Language barrier: translators will be recruited to make training and mentoring at ease for those who find it difficult to speak and write English fluently.
2) Lack of commitment from stakeholders: provision of an appropriate project policy that will involve stakeholders in the design and planning stage.
3) Electricity: The will be need for regular electricity during training hours and so a stand-by generator will be supplied to prevent interruption.
4) Late delivery of work output: This will be managed through regular assessments to monitor progress of each participant.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
Success will be measured through the number of young PLHIV trained, number of training workshops attended by each participant and the output (blog posts, stories shared etc) delivered by each participant. Behavior change communication will be measured to determined success within the community on how many individuals adopt new practices to prevent stigma and discrimination.
Also the number of innovative solutions provided by participants will be used to evaluate the impact of the training.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
Project duration will be intense training for 3 months Activities will be handled and supervised by the project manager to meet results;
September 2014 – Engagement of stake holders/partners and recruitment of target group
October 2014- Training Workshop and Output production
November 2014- Feedback and Certification
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
COST ITEMS RATE (US$) TOTAL RATE (US$)
Training of Participants
Room rental with all equipments 800.00 800.00
Training consultant fee(3) 150.00 450.00
Internet 100.00 100.00
Translator fee (2) 50.0 100.00
Travel (Ground Transport)
Staff 120.00 120.00
Participants (bus hire) 200.00 200.00
Refreshments 350.00 350.00
Contingency Allowance (5%) 125.00
Monitoring & Evaluation (10%) 250.00
Grand Total 2,495
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Friends Africa will request support for technical support and provision of templates and curriculum to add value to existing educational material as well as ensure it stays at par with international standards and best practices.
Also virtual welcome address from leading technical experts will further endorse the program as a priority to the global community and the organization
Akudo Anyanwu Ikemba
Friends Africa (Friends of the Global Fund Africa)
Link to Existing Project
April 14, 2014
April 14, 2014