HIVAN and COUNT
HIVAN and Co-operative Organisation for the Upgrading of Numeracy Training (COUNT) is a numeracy-focused non-profit organisation that has been working in the Winterton-Loskop area since 1999. From their work there they have seen the impact of HIV/AIDS on the community in general and on educators, parents and learners in particular. They are concerned about the lack of support available to the community to address the issues surrounding the pandemic. In 2001 COUNT formed a partnership with the Molteno Project, a literacy development non-profit organisation, which focuses on supporting numeracy development and the introduction of literacy programmes to some 20 schools, as well as jointly addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis in these schools.
The intention of this partnership is to integrate HIV/AIDS into the schools' programmes and to collaborate with experienced individuals and groups working in the HIV/AIDS field in the province and alongside members of the community. To this end, COUNT and Molteno Project met with the Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking (HIVAN) in November 2001 to determine the potential for networking around HIV/AIDS education in schools. HIVAN provided some names and facilitated introductions to local organisations such as WorldVision's Child Survival Project, the Behaviour Change Programme (BCP) and the KwaZulu-Natal CBO Network in the uThukela region. The product of this partnership is foreseen as being an effective strategy for working in the schools and the broader community.
COUNT and Molteno Project organised a one-day HIV/AIDS Indaba which was attended by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), school educators, school governing bodies, parents and relevant government departments, to identify role-players with expertise in the HIV/AIDS field who can work alongside them to develop a community response to the epidemic at a school level in particular. As HIVAN is essentially about initiating and fostering multisectoral relationships and partnerships around HIV/AIDS in KwaZulu-Natal, the Centre assisted in the organisation of the HIV/AIDS Indaba and in drawing together a fully representative gathering of delegates.
HIVAN went a step further by undertaking the facilitation role during the Indaba itself, and in helping with the compilation of a report on the entire process. HIVAN looks forward to future collaboration with COUNT/Molteno Project, so as to support them in reaching their goals and objectives, and, in so doing, in empowering educators, learners and parents in their struggle against HIV/AIDS.
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