SUBMITTED TO: IMA WORLD HEALTH
DATE: 8THOCTOBER 2020
Specific Contract Priorities:
- Engaging faith communities to reach men and children
- Strengthening justice systems for sexual violence against children
- INTRODUCTION
For the month of September, all activities that were planned for were conducted in accordance with the COVID-19 Health and Safety Guidelines. Here is a breakdown of the activities that were planned for and conducted during this reporting period:
- Induction meeting with HTS providers and religious leaders champions transitioning from Wajibu Wetu initiative to FCI
- Dissemination of HIV messaging and communication
- Dissemination of SVAC messages
- Review and release of the final report of the baseline survey
- CBIM coaching sessions
- Training and awareness sessions for religious leaders’ champions for dissemination of SVAC messages and conversing in the context of COVID-19 pandemic
- PNS elicitation follow ups
- ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN DURING THE MONTH
Induction meeting for HTS providers and champions for Wajibu Wetu to FCI
On the 10th and 11th of September 2020, two induction meetings were conducted with the champions and HTS providers at INERELA+ Kenya offices. The purpose of this meeting was to introduce these members into the FCI program[DNM1] , expounding on the key objectives of the initiative and the expectations for all parties involved. Moreso, the HTS providers discussed and brainstormed on the strategies to be applied for HIV self-testing in order to reach the project targets. The champions were also oriented on how to reporting using the FCI messaging reporting tools. Lastly, was the merging of both teams from the initiatives in order to maximize on efficiency and meet the project objectives.
As part of the induction, the 15 religious leaders who[DNM2] transitioned from Wajibu Wetu needed to be trained on the utilization of HIVST as well as how to address SVAC related issues. This training was important to ensure that they understand how to disseminate the messages of hope, and how to handle SVAC related cases that are referred to them for action. Currently, the congregations are 55, which includes the 15 congregations transitioned from the Wajibu Wetu Initiative.
Lastly, to successfully conclude the transition process, INERELA+ Kenya prepared participation and appreciation certificates for the Wajibu Wetu champions in order to encourage their further action and to also ensure that all congregations’ participation is fully acknowledged and appreciated.
(Attachment _ certificate for Wajibu Wetu champions)
Final review and release of Baseline Survey Report
For the month of September, special focus has been placed on finalizing the baseline survey report so that it can be released. INERELA+ Kenya staff have held follow up consultation meetings with the consultants in order to fine tune the final document. The results of the survey report were analyzed and discussed by the staff members as well as the consultants through several review sessions as well as the three follow-up meetings for review of the same.
(Attachment 1_BaselineSurvey Report)
Dissemination of messages on Mass Media
For the month of September, the champions were involved in dissemination of HIV messages and SVAC related messages using Mass Media. The champions from Westlands and Kasarani attended the media sessions of Pamoja[DNM3] FMand Mtaani FM, where they engaged in conversations on HIV testing services (access of HIV testing services in the community) as well as the SVAC related conversations especially on defilement and teenage pregnancies which have been rising in the communities. Approximately 4,000 people were reached from this sessions, given their subscription number and coverage in Kibra area.
Westlands champions at Mtaani Radio station
Dissemination of messages on the social media platforms
For the month of September, the religious leaders continued with dissemination of HIV related messages as well as messages addressing SVAC. This was mainly done on the social media platforms (WhatsApp and Facebook). The champions further carried the conversations forward by engaging the congregants and the community members based on these messages. Also, INERELA+ Kenya has also utilized the Bulk SMS to reach the members on this platforms with key messages on SVAC related issues.[DNM4]
The table below demonstrates the data on dissemination of PEPFAR messages on the social media platforms:
| Type of message | 20-24 | 25-29 | 30-34 | 35-39 | 40-44 | 45+ yrs | Total |
| How Men Feel | 68 | 134 | 152 | 120 | 165 | 156 | 795 |
| Engaging men | 63 | 127 | 137 | 109 | 146 | 135 | 717 |
| Men’s preference for HIV care | 22 | 43 | 30 | 17 | 63 | 39 | 214 |
Additionally, INERELA+ Kenya continued to utilize the prototype messages of hope available in athttps://www.faithandcommunityinitiative.org/
(Attachment 2_Champions Reporting Tools)
Sample messages disseminated online
Dissemination of messages during congregational sermons
For the month of September, the champions continued to disseminate the key HIV and SVAC [DNM5] related messages during the congregation mobilized moments.These messages were specifically on HIV prevention, HIV treatment and care and adherence to HIV treatment. Due to the easing of the restrictions for church congregations, the champions continued to take advantage of these mobilized moments to disseminate key HIV messages on Faith [DNM6] Matters as well as to address SVAC related issues that affect the members of the congregation and the community at large. The messages on Faith Matters that were disseminated are: How men feel, How youth leaders can help, how mothers can help, Men’s preferences, Engaging men. (See data for dissemination in the table above).
The table below specifies the number of people reached per age cohort, for the congregations, on HIV key messages on: HIV knowledge, HIV prevention and HIV treatment and adherence.
| Age | 5-9 | 10-14 | 15-19 | 20-24 | 25-29 | 30+ Yrs | Totals | ||||||
| Congregation | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |
| Christ Ambassadors Family Felowship- Westlands | – | – | – | – | 77 | 75 | 130 | 106 | 148 | 127 | 134 | 114 | 911 |
| Army of Love Church Embakasi East | 172 | 188 | 89 | 110 | 163 | 167 | 118 | 188 | 110 | 161 | 397 | 557 | 2,420 |
| Friends Quarkers –Maringo (Makadara) | – | – | – | 3 | 3 | 10 | 94 | 158 | 6 | 17 | 73 | 143 | 507 |
| Salvation Army- Korogocho | – | – | – | – | 23 | 23 | 35 | 15 | 15 | 32 | 16 | 122 | 281 |
Engagement in the HIV Interfaith conference
This conference took place from the 22nd– 24th of this month. The conference brought together religious leaders on a global level, in order to address issues on dissemination of messages of Hope. This formed a huge part of capacity building for INERELA+ Kenya staff members, at the global level. One of the main outcomes of the conference was the signing and acceptance of a commitment to action, where the religious leaders committed to more meaningful and resilient engagement with PLHIV. The commitment also mentions that the religious leaders commit to ensuring more involvement in ensuring access of HIV services for community members. During this session, young people and children mobilized and working with INERELA+ Kenya were involved by engaging in conversations involving access of HIV services to the community, as well providing entertainment by showcasing their skills in areas such as music.
(Attachment 3_The commitment to action)
PNS elicitation and HIVST dissemination to HTS providers
After the induction meeting for the HTS providers, INERELA+ Kenya disseminated the HIV self-testing kits to the HTS providers for all 6 sub-counties.
However, for the month of September, the testing activations could not be conducted. This is because the formal contracts to officially engage the sub-grantee (INERELA+ Kenya) had not yet been availed. This presented a difficult situation in terms of authorizing operations for this project. More specifically, issues involving payments of staff members and facilitation of the various project deliverables.
Nonetheless, INERELA+ Kenya ensured that the HTS providers are properly supported for PNS elicitation.For this reporting period, the HTS providers from Embakasi East, Embakasi West and Westlands sub-counties conducted and filed PNS reports for index clients in order to test their sexual partners for HIV.[DNM7]
The tables below demonstrate the number reached with HIV testing through PNS elicitation for Westlands and Embakasi East. Notably, PNS for other sub-counties is still ongoing and the reports will be availed during the next reporting period. The counselors are still continuing with the process of following up the clients.
Westlands
| 0-14 | 15-24 | 25+ | TOTALS | ||||
| No of index clients elicited for PNS | F | M | F | M | F | M | 4 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | ||
| No of index clients accepting PNS | F | M | F | M | F | M | 4 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | ||
| No of contacts elicited | F | M | F | M | F | M | 13 |
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| No of contacts who are known positives | F | M | F | M | F | M | 1 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| No of contacts eligible for testing | F | M | F | M | F | M | 12 |
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| No of contacts tested | F | M | F | M | F | M | 12 |
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| No of contacts positive | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| No of contacts linked | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Embakasi East
| 0-14 | 15-24 | 25+ | TOTALS | ||||
| No of index clients elicited for PNS | F | M | F | M | F | M | 16 |
| 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | ||
| No of index clients accepting PNS | F | M | F | M | F | M | 8 |
| 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||
| No of contacts elicited | F | M | F | M | F | M | 17 |
| 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 8 | ||
| No of contacts who are known positives | F | M | F | M | F | M | 6 |
| 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| No of contacts eligible for testing | F | M | F | M | F | M | 11 |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| No of contacts tested | F | M | F | M | F | M | 11 |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| No of contacts positive | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No of contacts linked | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
(Attachment_4PNS reports)
Priority 2:
Justice for the Children
SVAC Baseline Survey- The Final Report
For the month of September, INERELA+ Kenya placed special focus in finalizing the report by incorporating all reviews and corrections into it. This also involved getting additional information from the informants, including the Chief Magistrate of Makadara sub-county (KII). The report revealed a lot of key findings on the societal perception of the children justice system.Many community members in the informal settlements, specifically the youths, are not aware of the children justice system procedures in Kenya. Further to that, the report gave recommendations, and below are the key ones:
- Harmonization of the congregational systems with the available child safeguarding mechanisms available in the community
- Aligning of the program objectives to the expected outcome of the same, in order to ensure that the targets are being met successfully
- There is a need to scale up the capacity building of the religious leaders in order to ensure that they can properly address SVAC and related issues
(See Attachment_1 Baseline survey report)
SVAC training sessions in the context of COVID-19
For this reporting period, INERELA+ Kenya further invested a lot of time to ensure that the 70 champions are well informed [DNM8] of how to address the various SVAC related issues arising in the context of COVID-19. It was discovered that during this period of the pandemic, the number of SVAC related issues have increased in the informal settlements[DNM9] [k10] . To this challenge, it was observed that there is a need to ensure that the champions are well equipped with the knowledge of how to address these challenges. The topics of discussions in these trainings were: Awareness session of the COVID-19 Health and safety standards; addressing the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on the community members; Awareness session on utilization of HIV self-testing kits and the importance of ‘Know Your Status’.
Online training session for religious leaders on their role to prevent harmful effects of COVID-19 and SVAC-related issues.
One of the key outcomes of these training sessions was that the champions agreed and committed to ensure that they pass correct information (accurate facts) on COVID-19 to the congregants and to scale up advocacy in the community against COVID-19 and HIV related stigma.
Creating awareness on the usage of HIV self-testing kits.
Coaching Boys Into Men initiative
The CBIM program is an evidence based intervention that utilizes the avenue of coaches in sports to pass age-friendly messages to the young boys on topics involving ‘How to live as responsible men in the society’. For this reporting period, INERELA+ Kenya kicked off the official coaches training sessions in all 7 sub-counties. A total number of 16 coaches were trained and rolled out to these different sub-counties to begin this noble work.
CBIM training session
It is expected that by end of October 2020, this program will have yielded meaningful discussions among the young boys concerning [DNM11] responsible living, how to approach various issues of life and how to be leaders and protectors, especially against SVAC and SVAC related issues. So far, 322 boys have been reached with these trainings.
The young boys enjoying a game before the coaches’ training session
So far, the positive feedback has been overwhelming. The coaches have reported that they are able to progressively reach out to and counsel the boys on the different topics identified for each session. For this reporting period, topics involving positive living and speaking out against SVAC injustices were addressed.
A training session where the boys are being taught the importance of social virtues
(Attachment 5_CBIM Coaching schedule)
COVID-19 awareness messages
In addition to disseminating HIV and SVAC related messages, the champions continued to disseminate information relating to the COVID-19 health and safety standards to the congregants and the community members. The messages were aimed at ensuring that the community [DNM12] members are aware of the recommended respiratory hygiene which is useful to prevent spread of COVID-19, especially in the informal settlements. 4,200 congregants and community members were reached with these messages. (See HIV messages dissemination table with this data above).
As a result of the online training sessions on addressing HIV and SVAC issues in the context of COVID-19, the champions now have a better understanding of the manner to address COVID-19 related issues in the community. One of the main issues identified during this reporting period was COVID-19 related stigma, which was associated with differentiated treatment to those who have contracted the virus. To this great challenge, it was recommended that creating awareness and passing the correct information/accurate facts on COVID-19 is the best first step to demystifying COVID-19 related stigma.
- SCHEDULE OF TRAININGS
(See attached CBIM working plan for October,2020)
- ACTION POINTS
- Highlighting and consolidating recommendations in Baseline Survey Report and incorporating them to the Child Safeguarding Policy draft.
- Incorporating the learning points observed from the SVAC training sessions conducted by INERELA+ Kenya to the messages for dissemination by the champions.
- Applying the effective and relevant Wajibu Wetu working strategies to the messaging and HIV self-testing components in Priority One.
- Reviewing the final draft of the Child Safeguarding Policy in order to avail it to the champions for incorporation to their congregation system (for messaging).
- CHALLENGES
- The greatest challenge for this reporting period has been the delay in finalization of official contracts for the sub-contract, which has prevented efficient flow of work, to meet the project deliverables.
- For this reporting period, the HTS providers have reported difficulty in following up of PNS index clients in order to identify their sexual partners. More specifically, for Embakasi West, the HTS providers were unable to avail the PNS reports because of the difficulty in tracing the sexual partners of the two identified positive clients.
- The champions reported that there is a need to provide them with more financial and technical support, for them to effectively conduct their role in the community.
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- Going forward, there is a need to continue scaling up the capacity building initiatives for the religious in order to better equip them to do their job. It was suggested that continuous training sessions will effectively build the capacity.
- Regarding the Baseline Survey Report, it is important to escalate the findings in it to the National Level. This way, the conversation will be steered to address SVAC issues even on that level.
- For Priority two, it is recommended that the targets/deliverables should be geared to specifically fit to the recommendations given in the Baseline Survey report. This way, the intended outcome, which is to ensure justice for SVAC victims, will be met.
- PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR NEXT MONTH
- Expand HIV testing activities to more vulnerable areas in the communities
- aPNS to be done as soon as a positive client is identified and linked
- Finalize the update of the child safeguarding policy and share with the 55 congregations
- Formation of child safeguarding committees in each of the congregations to oversee the implementation of the Child Safeguarding Policy
- Continued dissemination of HIV key messages (messages of hope) and SVAC messages.
- LIST OF ATTACHMENTS
- Attachment 1 – Champions Reporting Tools
- Attachment 2 – PNS Reports
- Attachment 3 – targets Achievement Tracker
- Attachment 5 – Final Baseline Report on SVAC
- Attachment 7 – CBIM training attendance list
- Attachment 8 – CBIM Coaching Schedule
[DNM1]Were these new champions and HTS providers being oriented? If no, then you need to reconsider the wording for this since they have been doing FCI for some time now
[DNM2]How many religious leaders transitioned?
[DNM3]How many listeners were reached?
[DNM4]How many people were reached with the messaging per media? What specific messages on HIV and SVAC were disseminated? Please be very specific.
Also, how many congregants were reached with at least three types of the new messages of hope?
How have you used the FCI prototype messaging for disseminating HIV messages of hope and COVID messaging
How many people were reached with COVID messaging?
[DNM5]Specify the HIV and SVAC messaging that were disseminated. Please see comment above.
How many congregants were reached?
[DNM6]Which ones? Be very specific as this is vague.
[DNM7]Please indicate the numbers reached from this exercise
[DNM8]How many champions were sensitized?
[DNM9]Is there an indication from any of the congregations and religious leaders on whether they received reports on SVAC? Any reports to show the same? Please provide a basis for this statement.
[k10]There are none so far, but I will continue to follow up with the religious leaders.
[DNM11]How many boys have been reached so far with CBIM sessions? Please indicate
[DNM12]How many were reached? What specific messaging were disseminated?
