| Thematic Area |
Recommendations |
Short Term Actions |
Long Term Actions |
| Information and Advocacy |
1. Utilise current humanitarian crisis to emphasise the depth and implications of HIV/AIDS within Southern Africa.
2. Advocate for coordinated messages within the United Nations System and among NGOs.
3. Create alliances with political leaders, traditional and religious leaders and other stakeholders around HIV/AIDS and the current crisis confronting the region.
4. Develop a communication strategy to address HIV/AIDS and the humanitarian crisis in Southern Africa.
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1. Advocate for coordinated messaging and develop common communications strategies on HIV/AIDS and the present humanitarian crisis.
2. Utilise the launch of UNAIDS AIDS Epidemic Update, 26 November 2002, and World AIDS Day, 01 December 2002, to promote the linkages between HIV/AIDS and the food crisis in the region.
3. Utilise the impending visit by the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Mr Stephen Lewis, to advocate the linkages between HIV/AIDS and the humanitarian crisis with governments, media and civil society.
4. Create linkages with the mission by the Executive Director of WFP to Southern Africa to focus on the crisis with HIV/AIDS as a central element.
5. Utilise the regional and national VAC assessments to emphasise a multi-sectoral perspective which takes into account the humanitarian crisis and HIV/AIDS and advocate for the inclusion thereof into the CAP at the country level.
6. Utilise SADC to advocate with member states for greater emphasis to be given to the linkages between the humanitarian crisis and HIV/AIDS.
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1. Integrate HIV/AIDS into early warning disaster and emergency systems through strengthening and enhancing the coordination mechanisms.
2. Review national strategic plans taking into account the current humanitarian crisis and HIV/AIDS with consideration being given to a post-crisis situation.
3. Utilise existing information systems including CRIS to translate assessment into advocacy tools.
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| Education and Protection |
1. Incorporate into relevant mechanisms appropriate responses within the school curricula that provide relevant skills to children for example in agriculture, sexual education, nutrition, gender and HIV/AIDS.
2. Support education initiatives, condom distribution and STI treatment for people involved in humanitarian and developmental responses.
3. Involve children, PLWAs, etc. more closely in monitoring school drop out and assessing vulnerability.
4. Conduct participatory rapid appraisals in vulnerability assessments.
5. Equip humanitarian workers and food distributors with information on HIV/AIDS that can be provided to empower communities.
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1. Sustain children in school through subsidising education.
2. Rapid teacher training in sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
3. Sustained supplies, learning and instructional materials.
4. Provide for the educational needs of orphans and vulnerable children, peers, teachers and parents involved in monitoring school attendance of children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
5. Provide counselling facilities at tertiary educational facilities.
6. Make condoms easily accessible at tertiary institutions.
7. Zero tolerance for the sexual abuse and exploitation of children by teachers.
8. Train humanitarian response workers in issues of exploitation, sexual violence and HIV/AIDS.
9. Ensure that children are registered to benefit from social security systems aimed at supporting their needs.
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1. Transformation of schools into community centers for action - planning centres for the crisis.
2. Encourage participation of parents in school activities.
3. Design and implement programmes against child exploitation behaviour.
4. Rapid appraisal of household surveys to guide programme implementation.
5. Need community level registration of children for provision of services.
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| Health, Water and Sanitation |
1. Integrate HIV/AIDS prevention messages with food distribution activities. This should include referral to VCT, waterborne diseases, prevention, malnutrition screening and home based care.
2. Mobilise greater resources through the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM), the UN Consolidated Appeals (CAP), the World Bank, IMF and bilaterals for the strengthening of the health system and its human
3. Coordinate joint Link activities such as food distribution with HIV/AIDS prevention messages and other health related issues.
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1. Utilise the vulnerability assessment to strengthen interagency surveillance systems to identify and respond appropriately to targeted areas.
2. Explore additional networks that can be mobilised to distribute home based care kits in outreach activities so as to complement existing home-based care networks.
3. Advocate for greater financial resources to purchase additional kits for distribution.
4. Link health and water sanitation outreach interventions with school feeding programmes.
5. Production and dissemination of educational materials.
6. Fast track the strengthening of Life skills and HIV/AIDS education in schools.
7. Advocate for the provision of incentives in emergency situations to curtail the out flux of health care workers.
8. Rehabilitate water and distribution points to ensure clean water.
9. Advocate for greater resources for the health sector and health workers.
10. Continuous monitoring and evaluation for refinement.
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1. Develop an integrated health care monitoring and surveillance system
2. Scale up provision of health supplies including drugs for opportunistic infections, reproductive health kits and anti-retrovirals.
3. Increase and expand access to VCT and DOTS,
4. Increase capacity of the health system to face the implications and health needs brought about by the pandemic
5. Develop mass media campaigns for HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support including the development of IEC materials.
6. Develop proposals to the GFATM, World Bank MAP and other funds to support the emergency response.
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| Coordination, Preparedness and Resource Mobilisation |
1. Strengthen the Resident Coordinators role and function in overseeing HIV/AIDS responses within the humanitarian crisis within the humanitarian crisis to a) ensure an effective, consistent and structured approach that harmonises the UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS with UN Disaster Management Team; b) enable effective information collection and analysis to support interaction with World Bank, IMF, government, bilateral initiatives. c) Harmonise and integrate information management systems
2. Integrate at regional level the work of RIACSO and UNAIDS Inter-country Team for Eastern and Southern Africa to support resource mobilisation to address current HIV/AIDS and humanitarian crisis.
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1. The Chairs of UNDG and ECHA to communicate to Resident Coordinators recommending they take responsibility for prioritising their time to strengthen the coordinated response to the current humanitarian and HIV/AIDS situation in the region.
2. CPAs in each country to be included to ensure integration of HIV/AIDS concerns into humanitarian response strategies.
3. Bring together information from CRIS, SAHIMS and FEWSNET.
4. Resident Coordinator and Theme Group Chairs must pursue initiatives to ensure national DMG and national AIDS Authorities are brought together to demonstrate linkages and identify action.
5. Integrate at regional level the work of RIACSO and UNAIDS Inter-country Team for Eastern and Southern Africa to support resource mobilisation to address current HIV/AIDS and humanitarian crisis.
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1. Begin preparations for an all stakeholders meeting (WB, UN, SADC, AU, donors) to develop and agree on a comprehensive strategy to address the pandemic in the region.
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| Assessment, Surveillance and Monitoring |
1. Improve linkages between the SADC Vulnerability Assessment Committee (VAC) and UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS (UNTG) to better understand the interface between food crisis and HIV/AIDS.
2. Support VAC in establishing data analysis protocol that builds capacity and leads towards an ongoing monitoring system.
3. Promote research on linkages between household demography and acute food shortages.
4. Support local governments in decision making, to identify vulnerability and develop actions to decrease vulnerability.
5. Increase rapid appraisals to identify vulnerability by age, gender and school attendance.
6. Use the UNAIDS Country Response Information System (CRIS) and other available information systems to translate assessments into advocacy tools.
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1. Core indicators for emergency food assessments have been defined but those for other sectors including HIV/AIDS must be determined and likewise for proforma's.
2. Meeting of country and regional VAC should analyse previous assessment data taking HIV/AIDS into account and should integrate HIV/AIDS into future assessments.
3. Monitoring systems in countries need to be improved and strengthened based on core indicators including HIV/AIDS related indicators.
4. Support studies on areas of concern.
5. A coordinated multi-agency database to be developed under the guidance of UNOCHA which includes data concerning livelihoods, population, and demographic data, and linked to CRIS and SAHIMS.
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1. Livelihoods-based assessment to be undertaken in at least four countries.
2. Link multi-agency databases.
3. Evaluate regional and national capacity for vulnerability assessments to be conducted in SADC States and strengthen regional training institutes.
4. Identify and integrate indicators from other sectors not presently covered into VAC assessment.
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| Food Security, Food Distribution and Nutrition |
1. Advocate for appropriate nutritional food basket for general food distribution and through community and home based care programmes that can strengthen community safety nets.
2. Develop tools and over-lay maps based on multi-sectoral data to identify most vulnerable areas for better targeted response.
3. Design appropriate medium and long term actions, and advocate for adequate resources, to initiate maintenance and/or rehabilitation of productive and care activities at the household, community and macro level, simultaneous with immediate response.
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1. Use the current Sphere review process to ensure the inclusion of specific suggestions on food basket appropriate for assistance to high HIV-AIDS prevalence populations.
2. Review household and community dynamics on resource spending (health care, water and sanitation, education, shelter, etc) and the role of food.
3. Review and improve (if so required) the current targeting proxies and selection / identification tools.
4. Develop an inventory of community activities that could form the basis for targeted food support in the immediate and long term through direct and indirect support.
5. Bring together expertise in mapping and data analysis methodologies to establish data overlay systems to facilitate joint targeting of activities a. technical tools-methodologiesb. guidelines for translating overlay maps into action.
6. Create in country capacity for ongoing preparation and adjustment of overlay-maps and take appropriate action.
7. Promote labour saving technologies and practices that address labour shortages created by HIV-AIDS
8. Promote community mechanisms to ensure that vulnerable children and youth have sufficient agricultural knowledge and life skills
9. Identify and disseminate crop and lifestock varieties suitable to the current HIV-AIDS crisis.
10. Design a range of options so those affected can choose interventions relevant to them
11. Draw up disaster scenarios to reflect the impact of different resourcing levels on the population
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1. Improve nutrition through crop diversification and other mechanisms that provide appropriate nutritional value suitable to HIV-AIDS affected communities, accompanied by relevant nutrition education.
2. Promote suitable mechanisms to ensure provision of water such as irrigation, water harvesting and others.
3. Maintain capacities of institutions and systems that provide support and deliver services, e.g. agricultural extension, social welfare, schools, health care, etc. at all levels.
4. Track the process of HIV/AIDS focused activities to facilitate continuous adjustment for assurance of appropriateness and effectiveness: - Continuous monitoring- Sharing of lessons learned- In-depth studies
5. Build long term assets of households and communities with different kind of vulnerability to increase their economic resilience (fruit trees, land tenure, education etc.)
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