My First Business Trip - Pemba Island

It feels like I have come a long way with ZANGOC, and work, since I first arrived on the island back in March. One of my main job duties for ZANGOC was to create their new strategic plan and the end of June I accomplished that task by completing the first draft of the plan. The past 2 weeks I have been meeting with a few members from the Executive Committee and we have been going through the plan literally page by page to incorporate ZANGOC’s suggestions and inputs to make it “ZANGOC’s” strategic plan and not “Lisa’s” strategic plan!

Another one of my main tasks has been visiting with the, now 45, member organizations that are under the ZANGOC umbrella. From my visits with the members I have been collecting basic information in order to create a database of NGO members as well as to analyze the strengths and weakness of each organization so that YCI and other donors can address the gaps in organizational capacity. For example, human resource and financial management, IT and website design, proposal writing and resource mobilization and Monitoring and Evaluation.

Of ZANGOC’s 45 member organizations, 4 are based in Pemba which is the smaller island to the north east of Unguja which, together make up the Zanzibar Archipelago. 

Map of Pemba highlighting the 3 towns of ZANGOC operation: Chake, Wete and Micheweni

At the beginning of my time here I was really keen on going to Pemba to visit with the members and facilitate a workshop but after looking into costs, the idea was put on the back burner for a little while. In late May I attended a workshop for ZACP (Zanzibar AIDS Control Program) and met a man who is from Pemba, works for ZACP in Chake Chake (the main town in Pemba) and who is also on the ZANGOC Board of Trustees. After talking with him about ZANGOC and Pemba, he convinced me that I just must go to Pemba! So I drafted a short proposal and budget and submitted it to YCI and in June it was approved as my first business trip!

On Friday July 15, I jetted off to Pemba with the ZANGOC Deputy Executive Secretary, and a box of supplies for the Pemba sub-office. After a short, and very beautiful flight over the Indian Ocean, we arrived at the Chake Chake airport 30 minutes later. 

Beautiful coral

Airplane shot of the Cost of Pemba

We arrived Friday, late afternoon so I had just enough time to check into my hotel and go for a walk around town before the sun set. It was more like a stroll as Chake town is so small that if I walked at a normal pace I would have seen the whole town in about 20 minutes! Also, the shops close around 5:00pm so I wasn’t able to browse or do any market shopping. Topographically, Pemba is very different than Unguja. While Unguja is flat, Pemba is very hilly even with some small mountains in the background of Chake. It was a nice change though, I know Unguja is very green in terms of forestry but in Pemba you can definitely notice it a lot more. Especially when you drive up the windy roads you get an amazing view of the villages below surrounded by palm trees and just general beautiful nature, I feel like my pictures didn’t capture the essence of Pemba as much as I hoped...

On Friday evening after my walk, I came back to the Pemba Island Hotel where I was staying for the weekend, I had a nice calamari and pilau rice dinner then finished planning my workshop for Saturday morning.  On Saturday I woke up early and met my Pemba colleagues at the ZANGOC/WAMATA office in Chake. 

Outside of the WAMATA Office, Chake, Pemba

WAMATA is a regional NGO in Tanzania that works to help those who struggle with HIV and AIDS in Tanzania. In Pemba, WAMATA is a ZANGOC member organization and operates a VCT clinic that is supported by the ZANGOC/ICAP funded project. The topic of my workshop was project design and proposal writing and my participants consisted of 10 people, 2 people from each member organization: WAMATA, NOAC (North Pemba Organization for AIDS Control), PEYVO (Pemba Youth Voice Organization) and YOEPA (Youth Organization on Education for the Prevention of AIDS), and the ZANGOC sub-office. The workshop ran for 3 hours and I feel as though it was well received, the participants were active in group discussion and, although all of the information might not have been new knowledge, I feel as though each participant walked away with useful information on project design and proposal writing.

How to write and effective "S.M.A.R.T" Goal

My beautiful LFA on flip chart paper

Before I left for Pemba I met with Shaib, who is the YCI Volunteer Manager here in Unguja. Shaib is originally from Pemba and he still has a lot of family members there whom he gave me some contacts. On Saturday after my workshop I contacted Cholo, who is Shaib’s brother in law and who also is the manager of the hotel I stayed at. I was very grateful for his hospitality in showing me around Chake and taking me to meet Shaib’s mother and family then even inviting me to his own house to meet Shaib’s younger sister and their new 7 day old son!

The house of Shaib's mother!

The village is new and houses are still being constructed

Saturday morning I was invited to attend the first quarterly meeting of the ZANGOC/ICAP VCT funded project that is taking place in Pemba. The meeting was held at the Gombani soccer stadium in Chake. All important stakeholders in the VCT project were invited to present the results of their VCT centre from April to June 2011. Stakeholders included: ZANGOC, WAMATA, Micheweni VCT Centre, ZACP and ZAPHA+.

View of the Stadium entrance from the Conference hall

The objectives of the ZANGOC/ICAP project are to control the spread of new HIV infections by providing counselling, testing and education services to general and key populations (being IDUs-Injection Drug Users and MSM-Men who have Sex with Men). The results for the 3 ZANGOC VCT facilities are outlined below.

ZANGOC VCT Results Q1 REPORT	APRIL		MAY		JUNE		TOTAL
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Micheweni	7	7	12	5	16	13	35	25
WAMATA (Chake)	6	5	25	25	7	6	38	36
ZANGOC (Wete)	32	19	43	30	52	48	127	97
			TOTAL TESTED IN Q1 by Gender				200	158
			TOTAL TESTED IN Q1				358

Of these 358 people who were tested in Q1, no positive HIV cases were reported. It was also reported that ZANGOC conducted one outreach activity consisting of 53 participants (42 male and 11 female). There was only one outreach activity conducted due to limited funds available for such an activity.

All in all, my first business trip was a success but I wish I had a few extra days to relax on the prestine beaches and visit the city of Wete, which I am told is a must. Perhaps it will be a must that I go back in October before I leave to sit in on the Q2 meeting!

ZANGOC VCT Results

Q1 REPORT

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

TOTAL

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Micheweni

7

7

12

5

16

13

35

25

WAMATA (Chake)

6

5

25

25

7

6

38

36

ZANGOC (Wete)

32

19

43

30

52

48

127

97

TOTAL TESTED IN Q1 by Gender

200

158

TOTAL TESTED IN Q1

358

Life's weird "Coincidences"?

Besides truly enjoying the work that I do, I think the thing I love most is forging new friendships on a work and personal level. With that being said, leaving these friendships behind is one of the toughest aspects of living and working overseas. In Zanzibar, I feel like I have just begun to establish a strong network of friends, both local and expat, and it is really sad when someone’s contract comes to an end and you have to say your goodbyes. Don’t get me wrong I miss my family in friends in Toronto but my return ticket home guarantees that I will soon see them all again. What is not guaranteed is being able to see all the wonderful people I’ve become close with and worked with on this beautiful continent.

However, life is full of weird coincidences...or do these “coincidences” happen for a reason? I am still trying to decide! So perhaps if I am meant to meet my overseas friends again in the future, there is a good reason behind the coincidence. From working in International Development and having the opportunity to travel a lot, I have come to realize that the world is not as big as we think it is! Here are some my life’s weird coincidences thus far:

• In OAC I wanted to be an optometrist and then found out that I was terrible in advanced math so I changed all of my university applications to “Social Sciences.” Ottawa U asked me to specify and at the time I was taking a Global Issues course that I enjoyed so I chose International Development as my major. (it’s weird to think what my life would look like now if I was good at math!)
• After my courses at Kenyatta University ended in May 2007, I went on a safari in Kenya and Tanzania and met a Canadian girl, whom I did not know before the trip. In 2009 I was serving at Fionn MacCool’s on The Esplanade in Toronto and ended up serving the girl I met half way across the world.
• In June 2007, when I was getting ready to depart Zanzibar, I never would have thought that I would be back 4 years later, and in fact celebrating my birthday in the exact same spot in Nungwi, North Zanzibar.
• In February of this year I was close to having the opportunity to go back to Ghana for work. However, I was instead offered my current job in Zanzibar where I have finally figured my future career path in Monitoring and Evaluation.
• Last month I met up with a friend whom I studied with at University of Ottawa and traveled with to Nairobi in 2007 to finish our degrees at Kenyatta University. I had not seen this friend since we finished the program at KU 4 years ago, he is currently working in Arusha, Tanzania.
• Last week I received 2 random emails which turned out to be 2 great finds!

1.       A Canadian girl working in Stone Town. She found me from an email list serve and asked if I would like to meet up. Of course I said yes, turns out she is from Toronto so we have bonded over missing Toronto’s amazing food and a love for red wine and dancing!    –Sorry Ali, I have only replaced you temporarily!

2.      A Canadian girl from University of Ottawa who was given my email address from an old professor. She just finished the KU program that I did 4 years ago and is now in Stone Town traveling. We met up to discuss possible volunteer opportunities for the week that she is in town, now she is renting our spare room and teaching English with New Vision Class.

The realization of my life’s coincidences is what prompted me to write this blog. I know there are others that I am forgetting, but for now these are the major ones. I suppose this will also be an ongoing list!

Things I've learned

As I sit and write my midterm report for YCI, I can't help but think how my time here is just flying by. June has come and gone, yet it still seems like I just arrived in Zanzibar last week! Writing my midterm has made me reflect a lot over the past 3 months (as well as my time in Ghana) and I do feel as though I have accomplished a lot with work and in my personal life.

I have finally finished the first complete draft of the ZANGOC strategic plan which I feel is a weight lifted off my shoulders! Also, I have been expanding my circle of friends and dancing a lot which, as always, keeps me happy (and sane!) However, I must admit that I am finding myself missing Toronto these days, only because it's summer time and I miss playing baseball,cycling (without fear of dying!) and relaxing in the park with friends and cold beer!

At the half way point I want to reflect on some things I've learned since being on this continent for nearly 8 months now, minus the 6 weeks in February/March that I was freezing in Toronto!

1. It is impossible to keep your feet clean
2. Life is a strategic plan; you must have a vision, mission, values and goals!
3. I have a lot of trust in people
4. Sleeping under a bednet doesn't mean you won't be attacked by mosquitoes all night long
5. Mosquitoes exist for no other reason than to torment people
6. Thieves are cunning, sneaky and very quick
7. Germans are awesome and make great friends (and are everywhere...in large quantities!)
8. There are no road rules, except for honking 
9. Pedestrians DO NOT have the "right of way"
10. There is no limit on the number of people you can cram into a taxi (so far I've reached 8 people in a taxi in Koforidua and 5 people in a bajaji in Dar es Salaam)
11. Street food is always a good choice
12. Bargaining is great and really should be introduced into the Western world
13. The "muzungu" or "obruni" or whatever you want to call a foreigner is often left in the dark
14. Apparently the muzungu or obruni knows all...which is NOT true!
15. Smiles and laughter say a thousand words
16. It really is OK to strike a conversation with strangers on the daladala, trotro, mutatu, subway, bus or whatever mode of public transportation you use to get to work (ditch the ipod and give it a try!)
17. Hitch-hiking is not frowned upon and no one suspects the driver will attack you
18. Soccer really does run the world
19. Funerals are a huge party, and very fun
20. Celine Dion and Shania Twain are still popular here...and will forever be popular here 
21. Males START and FINISH the dance floor (much appreciated by me!)
22. You are always recognized and definitely stand out (get used to it!)
23. It's ok to talk to strangers, people just want to ask you questions
24. Stepping out of your comfort zone is a MUST
25. Hospitality really is an amazing quality
26. In order to get the right answers, you must ask the right question...sometimes this is a long process!
27. African "massages" ... don't let them fool you (aka: long bus rides on very bumpy roads)
28. When a policeman asks for a "Friendly" what he's really asking for is a bribe 
29. There is nothing more beautiful than the perfect sunset over the Indian Ocean
30.  TBD!

5 people + the driver in a Bajaji in Dar

Sunset in Nungwi, North Zanzibar

Forodhani Night Market, Stone Town

Steph and I dancing at a funeral in Koforidua, Ghana

Soccer stadium in Kumasi, Ghana

Dancing with some school kids in Koforidua, Ghana

I think this list will have to be ongoing as I am still here for another 3 and a half months! Please feel free to add anything you've learned while traveling/working overseas.

Don't forget the little guys

Since last week...

The new YCI volunteers arrived in Zanzibar last Thursday and we had a meet and greet in the office on the 16th. They will be working with ZANGOC Executive Committee and member organizations on the following topics: 

• Environmental improvement campaign in the Chumbuni District
• Health outreach around The International Day Against Drug Abuse - JUNE 26th
• Youth career development program (involving youth from ZANGOC member organizations)
• Small enterprise development workshops
• Establishing a one-stop youth information and resource centre at the YCI office in Mwanakwerekwe
• 10 workshops in Professional Communications for ZANGOC members
• Establishment of a Gender Equality Team within ZANGOC

My role with the volunteers will be minimal but I did meet with them again yesterday to share my ideas on professional communications and youth development. Since I already have a good insight into what the member organizations do and what they want in terms of capacity building, I was happy to share my information to help make their workshops tailored to the actual needs of their participants. 

Another aspect I will be assisting with is in the establishment of the Gender Equality Team. I feel it is important for me to be involved in this team as I am currently writing ZANGOC's strategic plan and gender should be a cross cutting theme throughout all areas of intervention.

Currently, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Youth and Women’s Development is in the final stages of preparing a policy on mainstreaming gender issues in their programs.  In order to prepare for compliance with this policy, ZANGOC and its member organizations want to begin promoting awareness of gender issues within their organizations and in the communities with whom they work. The purpose of the gender equality team will be to strengthen the capacity of local partners to integrate gender equality into their programs including: promoting leadership amongst women and girls and promoting active participation amongst women, girls and youth in decision making processes and public governance. 

To follow the work of the current volunteers in Zanzibar check out the YCI blog

In other news...

I was informed via email last Friday that there would be a meeting at the ZAC office in regards to writing the concept paper for the USAID funded project in Zanzibar (remember my blog "USAID - From the American People"?). As a good Canadian I showed up on time...early in fact, only to find out that the meeting was canceled. I had a feeling this was going to happen based on the tone of Friday's email, however, with English being a second, and sometimes third language, it was hard for me to decipher the language used in the email! So, to play it safe I showed up anyways! Madame Nuru, the Executive Director of ZAC told me upon arrival that there was not enough support from all the identified partner NGOs, as only ZANGOC and ZAPHA+ replied to the email to confirm their attendance at the meeting. She informed me that I should go ahead and submit my ideas for the concept paper to Stephen at VSO (who would compile the concept paper) and wait to see if UMATI and WAMATA (2 NGOs operating at the national level) would also submit their concept paper ideas. 

Unfortunately, this morning I received an email back from Stephen at VSO saying that he has his reservations about this concept paper as UMATI and WAMATA still have yet to submit, therefore we are lacking the regional coverage, strength and partnerships necessary to proceed. Without these components we will be unable to apply for this funding opportunity, as full coverage of Tanzania is a criteria stipulated by USAID for this project. So, it is a shame that without strength in regional partnerships from larger NGOs, Zanzibar has lost this opportunity.  It's too bad that the larger, more established NGOs hold the decision making power and leave the little guys to continue chasing after donor dollars to even keep their organizations a float. With that being said, I am not turning to cynicism just yet :)

Just write a letter

Before I get into my letter frustrations I want to remind you all of the potential USAID funded project that I blogged about a few weeks ago (Refer to link for a reminder!). I am happy to announce that we got the "go ahead" to write the concept paper which is due on June 23rd. I told ZANGOC that I wanted to be fully involved in writing this paper and they agreed so I emailed the coordinator from VSO and told him that I would be the ZANGOC representative in drafting the paper! So now I am in the loop on this great opportunity for Zanzibar and I am really excited that I will writing to USAID, definitely something that is resume worthy!

On another note, I have figured out why it takes so long for things to be accomplished within ZANGOC...because for every idea you have you have to "write a letter" and submit it to the Executive Committee for approval. For example, during the ZACP workshop I met a lady name Frida who works for ICAP in Zanzibar and since they fund ZANGOC I thought perhaps it's a good idea for me to have a chat with them and show them the workings of the strategic plan. Since I have Frida's contact information I sent her an email yesterday and we set up a meeting for Tuesday of next week. However, I also had a meeting with my supervisor yesterday and told him about this meeting and by the expression on his face I thought he was going to tell me I couldn't go, until finally he told me..."well you have to write a formal letter on ZANGOC letter head and submit it to the Executive Committee for approval." I just think this process is a waste of paper (and time) considering they are going to approve the meeting anyway.

I hope you remember ZIFYA - Zanzibar Initiative for Youth? I have blogged about them a few times, the first time was in ZANGOC Member Orgs and the second time was after I facilitated a workshop for ZIFYA on Monitoring and Evaluation and effective group and team work. I am visiting with ZIFYA again this evening to discuss collaboration with them, ZANGOC and YCI in the formulation of youth groups within the area. The idea for these youth groups will be to work with YCI volunteers, similar to the mentorship program with the YMCA in Ghana, as well as to get youth discussing issues that affect their lives and how we can move forward in addressing these issues at the community level. I told my supervisor about this idea and he thought it would be beneficial but again, I was told to "write a letter." I do intend to write this letter, however I didn't tell them that I was meeting with ZIFYA this evening to hear their inputs and ideas about these youth groups. Oh well, at least I will have the ball rolling on this by the time the letter gets "approved"!

One more thing...ZIFYA has constructed a website which is pretty cool, I am hoping maybe they can teach me a few things about website design! Check them out here: Zanzibar Initiative for Youth

"Yes we can".... Can we?

Some interesting things have transpired this week during the ZACP workshop (round 2!)...

Monday was the beginning of round 2 for the ZACP strategic planning workshop. The last ZACP workshop I blogged about was in regards to a performance review of the previous ZACP strategic plan. During this 3 day workshop we reviewed the strategic activities, achievements, challenges and gaps in responses. From the  gaps we created new strategic issues at each identified intervention level that need to be addressed in the next strategic plan (2011 to 2016). 

This week's edition of the ZACP workshop is 6 days (Monday June 6 to Saturday June 11) during which time we are taking the identified strategic issues from each intervention level (ie: BCC, Home Based Care, Key Populations, etc...) to create outcomes, outputs and activities. This has been an amazing learning experience for me because I have been able to put my Results Based Management (RBM) skills to the test with the help of some really great minds. I ended up working with the Director of ZACP and an M&E Consultant who works for UNAIDS, to name a few. The M&E consultant was great as he was able to pin point the exact phrases and words that needed to be use to make each sentence either an outcome, output or activity. It may sound easy, but it's really a lot work! 

During Tuesday's workshop there was an American lady present who works for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Dar es Salaam. She made a little speech regarding the topic "yes we can" stop HIV and AIDS transmission in Zanzibar. I added "Can we?" to the title of this blog because I don't necessarily agree with her theories on this topic.

The theory was that since Zanzibar is a small island with an already relatively small rate of transmission, if we were to scale up prevention methods (focusing on early treatment) we could eventually stop new infections. Ok, that makes sense, but her implementation process would never fly especially in Zanzibar due to cultural and religious sensitivity.

She compared the implementation process of halting new HIV infections with the same tactics used to control malaria in Zanzibar which was achieved through 2 methods:

1. Prevention - providing bednets to everyone
2. IRS - indoor residual spraying 

She went on to say that we can use the same methods to stop transmission of HIV thus being

1. Prevention - providing condoms to all 
2. Door to door HIV testing

Both of these methods would never work in Zanzibar. First of all, I have spent the past 5 days discussing how highly regarded religious leaders are in Zanzibar and how difficult it is for them to allow the distribution of condoms in the public, an issue that was discussed heavily in my behaviour change communication (BCC) group. Second of all, it is difficult enough to get people, especially those who fall in the "Key Populations" group (MSM, IDUs and FSWs) to be tested for HIV due to the stigma and discrimination surround the disease. Therefore, it is in violation of a person's human rights to be forced into testing, even if it is in their benefit to know.

These were my opinions on her "yes we can" speech and I was curious to know what people from Zanzibar thought about her theories. I decided to do some reconnaissance work and ended up speaking with a few different people to hear their views. The first was a Zanzibari nurse who works for ZAPHA+ and she also said that it wouldn't work due to cultural factors. The next man I spoke with was a Zanzibari gentleman working for the Department of Substance Abuse. He said it would never fly because you would never be able to go door to door and test people as it's a violation of their human rights. Lastly, I spoke with a Tanzanian man who works for CDC in Dar es Salaam (a colleague of the lady who made the speech). He didn't agree with her and he told me that she had pitched the same idea to other people within the Ministry of Health and no one would really back her ideas. His issues were:

1. You will have a hard time convincing health people to go on ARVs at a young age for the rest of their life
2. There are 1.4 million people living with HIV in Tanzania and not even half of them have access to ARVs. Once funding is gone how will Tanzania be able to afford to keep 1.4 million people on ARVs for over 20 years.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed her optimism and if you do your research into early treatment as prevention for HIV you will find a lot of information. I just think that before she pitched this idea she should have had more support from Tanzanians in order to address cultural issues within this theory.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, please share with me!

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Quick Research: Early treatment as prevention

Treatment as prevention works

New Support for "Treatment as Prevention" Approach to HIV

Early treatment reduces HIV transmission in heterosexual serodiscordant couples

You do the Hokey Pokey...

...and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about!

Yes, I did the hokey pokey yesterday with an after school youth group and it was so much fun! I had all the kids dancing around me and learning how to say their body parts in English!

The after school group is called "New Vision Class" and was started in 2007 with only 10 youth participants. The aim of the group is simply to practice their English through various methods other than text book learning. I think is a fabulous idea, considering I've been trying to learn French for years now from a text book and it clearly hasn't help me all that much!

"New Vision Class" has now expanded it's participants to over 30 youth who meet every evening from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. Due to the increase in class size, "New Vision Class" had to split into 2 different groups, section A and section B. Last night I went to the class with colleagues from ZASO,one of ZANGOC's member organizations. ZASO attends the "New Vision Class" every Wednesday evening in attempt to bring a different style of learning for the youth. Last night the lesson took the form of a debate and I and got to listen to the youth practice their English while speaking on the subject "Getting married and having a family is better than not." The debate was between speakers representing section A (supporting argument) and speakers representing section B (opposing argument).

1st speaker from the Supporting Team

1st speaker from the Opposing Team

My role in the debate was "Dr. Grammar" which basically meant that I had to listen carefully to what they were saying and take note of incorrect sentence structure, miss use of words, etc. After the debate was over I pointed out some of the mistakes I heard and wrote the proper sentence structure on the board. Overall, I was very impressed with the level of English amongst all the speakers. Some of the mistakes I was able to pick up on where: the use of the past tense and the use of slang words.

"Dr. Grammar!"

A lot of the speakers were really confident in presenting their opinions and projecting their voice. While others were still nervous and either talked very quickly or very quietly which meant that sometimes I couldn't understand what their main points were. In the end the Opposing Team won by only 2 points, judging was based on clarity of points, presentation style, confidence and their use of the English language.

After the results were presented I did my second part of the evening and taught the students the "hokey pokey!" I started off by explaining that it was more of a dance with English words as opposed to a game which I think got their attention, especially after I started dancing in front of them...everyone likes to see the "muzungu" dance! First I got a small group of participants together at the front of the class and had them tell me how to say "arm" "foot" "leg" "hip" (etc) in English, as well as "left" and "right"...all key words to know when you do the hokey pokey! After a few rounds inside we all moved outside into the school court yard and sang and danced the hokey pokey and it was such a fun time!

You put your right hand in...

You put your left hand in...

All the little girls were really into it and wouldn't leave my side, when it was time to finish they didn't want to stop! It's funny how some aspects of children and youth transend borders! For instance, all the young girls were up dancing with me and the older kids kind of stood back and watched, even though I know they really wanted to jump in and hokey pokey with me! Maybe next time I'll get them dancing.

Since my ZASO colleagues attend this class every Wednesday, I told them I would love to come back and help to bring some fresh learning material. I will have to dig back into my primary school days to remember what teaching aids helped me learn English. If anyone has any suggestions for more English song or dances that I can use, please let me know!

Me with some of the Section A Class

Me with some of the Section B Class

"Put your left foot in!" From left to right: Ali (from ZASO), me, Mohammed (Section A teacher), Matthias (ZASO volunteer from Germany)

Performance Review Workshop for ZACP

The past 3 days have been really long but really productive and interesting days. I was invited to represent ZANGOC at a workshop hosted by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to review and evaluate the achievements, challenges, gaps and solutions that were utilized towards the achievement of the previous strategic plan for ZACP (Zanzibar AIDS Control Program) which ended in 2010.

There were roughly 30 participants in this workshop from various government and nongovernmental organizations such as:

• The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
• The Department of Substance Abuse, Prevention and Rehabilitation (Read about their work in Zanzibar)
• ICAP (International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs)
• ZAC (Zanzibar AIDS Commission)
• ZACP (Zanzibar AIDS Control Program)
• ZAPHA+ (Zanzibar Association of People Living with HIV and AIDS)
• ZANGOC
• ZANA (Zanzibar Nurses Association)
• UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund)
• UNICEF

One the first day of the workshops, 8 groups were established to represent each strategic area of ZACP. These groups were:

• Home Based Care
• Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission
• Monitoring, Evaluation and Management
• MARPs and STIs (Most at Risk Populations including: MSM [Men who have sex with Men], IDUs [Injection Drug Users] and CSWs [Commercial Sex Workser] and Sexually Transmitted Infections). This group also included condom programming and STI management
• Care and Treatment (including HIV counseling and testing, HIV in infants and blood transfusion
• Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) which included IEC (Information, Education and Communication), advocacy as well as stigma and discrimination
• Laboratory Services
• Institutional Capacity (including pharmaceutical services)

I was in the Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) group along with a colleague from ZANGOC, a Program Officer from ZAC, an Assistant Program Manager from ZACP in Pemba and a Program Analyst in Reproductive Health from UNFPA.

What is BCC/IEC and Advoacay? 

Behaviour Change Communication (BCC): This is a strategy, which refers to the systematic attempt to modify/influence behavior, or practices and environmental factors related to that behavior, which indirectly or directly promote health, prevent illness or protect individuals from harm.

Information, Education and Communication (IEC): IEC combines strategies, approaches and methods that enable individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities to play active roles in achieving, protecting and sustaining their own health. Embodied in IEC is the process of learning that empowers people to make decisions, modify behaviours and change social conditions.

Advocacy: aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an asset of interest. Advocacy can include many activities that a person or organization undertakes including media campaigns, public speaking, commissioning and publishing research. Lobbying is a form of advocacy where a direct approach is made to legislators on an issue which plays a significant role in modern politics.

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Throughout the 3 days the BCC group worked on identifying the achievements, facilitating factors, gaps in previous response as well as challenges in achieving the strategic activities for BCC on the past strategic plan, what was done and what can be done within the next 5 years to achieve the BCC strategic issues that still exist in Zanzibar. 

We identified the following issues, challenges and goals within BCC:

Click the table to enlarge!

The next step:

The facilitator of this workshop will be combining the proposed strategic issues from each of the 8 groups over the course of the next week. After this is complete, we will all meet again for another workshop from June 6th to 9th in order to review the issues and work to draft a new strategic plan for ZACP. 

How this helps ZANGOC:

Since I am also working to draft ZANGOC's strategic plan for 2011 -2016, the information, issues and goals proposed during the ZACP workshop will be very useful. I will be able to identify the issues that ZANGOC can also work to achieve over the next 5 years, in accordance with those of the Government of Zanzibar (ZACP, ZAC and the Ministry of Health).