Various non-governmental organisations that deal with issues surrounding HIV/Aids met for a three day prevention training programme at Victoria Hotel in New Street to discuss new ideas for prevention.
Various non-governmental organisations that deal with issues surrounding HIV/Aids met for a three day prevention training programme at Victoria Hotel in New Street to discuss new ideas for prevention.
The programme was developed by Dr Kevin Kelly and Dr Asta Rau from the Centre for Aids Development, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) which is an independent research organisation based at Rhodes University. The NGOs involved in the programme are from various centres in the Eastern Cape.
While addressing the participants, Kelly focused mainly on the development of new ideas that deal with prevention. "Many organisations are still working on old ideas of prevention. We need to develop new ideas," he said. Regarding a new approach, Kelly said that organisations need to conduct a follow up or a review of past methods so that they can identify the challenges and work on them.
The participants were also given an opportunity to discuss challenges or achievements within their organisations. One of these factors was networking. Thandokazi Ndabane, programme manager of Othandweni home-based and palliative care centre, says networking has an impact on improving the way of conducting the duties of an organisation.
She also said that new strategies can assist organisations to identify challenges.
Local organisations that were present during the programme included the Provincial Department of Health, Raphael Centre, Jabez HIV/Aids Centre, Makana Municipality Local Aids Council and the Child Welfare.
Provincial HIV/Aids director, Nomfumaneko Siwundla, from the Department of Health says that it’s a good idea for such organisations to work in a group context because they can gain more knowledge from each other.
She also said she had picked up on various challenges that need to be addressed on a provincial level. Most organisations talked about how the struggle in raising funds to help them carry out their missions.
