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Alpha Childcare and Community Development Organization is a Christian, Non-Profit organization based in Uganda, working to reduce and/or eradicate human suffering by responding to physical, spiritual and emotional needs of people.

HIV/AIDS AND VULNERABLE GROUPS WELFARE DEPARTMENT

In the communities served by ACCOD, the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS are most obvious in children, elderly guardians, and widows more especially evident from the ever-increasing number of HIV/AIDS orphans. These children are often psychologically traumatized seeing their parents die away and being left alone or in the hands of relatives who at times are strangers to them. ACCOD carries out intervention activities with a Christian approach with love and compassion towards those families, which have been affected and infected by HIV/AIDS epidemic and other issues causing human suffering.
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ACCOD UNDERSTANDS
Why we care.
Orphans are taxing extended families.
HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES
Goal 1 Dignity, Solidarity and Non-discrimination
Goal 2 Support to AIDS families and Orphans
Goal 3 Income Generating Projects
Goal 4 Intervention in the Fight Against AIDS
Goal 5 Prevention - Addressing the Root Causes
Goal 6 Mobilizing Resources for Care and Treatment
Goal 7 Increasing Access to Treatment
Current Activities Carried Out
Constraints

Why we care.
In the communities served by ACCOD, the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS are most obvious in children, elderly guardians, and widows more especially evident from the ever-increasing number of HIV/AIDS orphans. These children are often psychologically traumatized seeing their parents die away and being left alone or in the hands of relatives who at times are strangers to them.

Because the epidemic mainly eliminates the main bread earners in the affected families, it therefore greatly affects the sustainability of the households. In many instances, the orphans left behind are in the hands of a guardian; fellow child, or one parent (who may be infected) and lack the basic childcare and protection. Some are even taken advantage of by either their own guardians or by external people resulting in early pregnancies and school drop outs in case of the girl child. The rights of these children and widows therefore need to be protected.
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Orphans are taxing extended families.
The taking in of orphaned children by relatives has severely over stretched the resources of the extended families. This problem of the extended families having to continue providing food, clothing, education, love and affection for all the extra children it has to absorb also remains a major social challenge in the AIDS affected families. These families with many children and few adults are particularly prone to malnutrition, abuse, and neglect.
The devastating effects of HIV/AIDS are therefore seriously threatening ACCOD’s community development interventions in areas of promoting health, education services, and economic development. With no affordable/available AIDS cure or vaccine in sight yet, therefore, the only option is to prevent its further spread, minimize its impact and provide a caring and compassionate environment for those infected and affected especially Orphans and Vulnerable Children who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS.
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HIV/AIDS in Uganda
The HIV/AIDS pandemic is one of the gravest challenges to health and also to the prospects of social and economic development and global security. Uganda is a landlocked country within the great-lakes region on the African continent. It has a population of 24 million people with about 20 ethnic groups, majority (88%) of who live in rural areas. More than 80% of the population is engaged in substance agriculture, while a large population of the engage in cattle keeping and petty trade to earn a living. Regional differences exist in the country in terms of ethnicity, culture, topography, farming systems, and the level of infrastructure development and service delivery.

Uganda suffered twenty years of consequent political instability, turmoil and economic mismanagement that reduced it to a state of stagnation in which all-economic infrastructure collapsed. Not only economic mismanagement, but also the number of children orphaned and many women widows as a result of the deaths. As the country was rebuilding its infrastructure and economic base, the AIDS pandemic started its endless journey of destruction at individual, family, community, and at country levels. AIDS is the leading killer disease in the country, which has claimed lives of both men and women of ages mainly between 14-40 years. Yet as shocking as these deaths are, the impact of HIV/AIDS does not end with them. Because those dying from AIDS are mainly people in the prime of their lives who are often parents, a less well-known and calamitous effect of AIDS is the vast numbers of children orphaned by the disease. These endure overwhelming and largely unmitigated losses, living in societies/communities already weakened by under-development, poverty and the AIDS epidemic itself.
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Goal 1
ACCOD and its participants will advocate to urge churches, Christian groups and communities to work for the dignity and rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and for an attitude of care and solidarity that rejects all forms of stigmatisation and discrimination.

Objectives .
·         Develop and share experiences, policies, strategies and educational resources that facilitate open discussion on issues related to HIV/AIDS;
·         Affirm and value the participation of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in all church activities and programs;
·         Become welcoming communities of care for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS;
·         Overcome gender inequalities and discrimination, and foster the active participation of women in developing and planning activities related to HIV/AIDS;
·         Develop strategies and mobilize constituencies to advocate for more just and effective public policies of governments, international organizations and institutions.
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Goal 2
To offer on-going support to families affected and/or infected by AIDS, focusing mainly on Orphans and Vulnerable children.

Objectives

To offer psychosocial support to Orphans, Vulnerable Children, People living with AIDS and widows whose husbands have died of AIDS,
To support parents to be able to plan the best possible future for their children i.e. how to write wills, selecting a proper guardian for his/her children
To train youths in the affected families in youth life skills

Goal 3

To enhance the socio-economic status of families affected by HIV/AIDS through support of sustainable Income Generating Projects (IGPs).

Objectives

To train and equip the beneficiary families in basic management of Income Generating Projects and elementary bookkeeping.
To guide families in the proper selection of viable, marketable, and profitable Income Generating Projects.
To give out grants to the trained families to start Income Generating Projects in their homes.
To offer on going supervision of the initiated projects in different homes of beneficiaries.

Goal 4
To build the capacity of communities and other community based structures to be able to intervene in the fight against HIV/AIDS infection and issues related to human rights violation towards people affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS.

Objectives

Raise awareness and increase knowledge about HIV/AIDS and other health related issues among the community leaders (religious leaders, opinion leaders, clan leaders etc..) through workshops and seminars to be able to intervene in the fight against HIV/AIDS related human rights violation and infection rate in their communities.
To enable communities identify and select Community Based Social Workers who will undergo a series of trainings in issues related to HIV/AIDS/STDs and other health issues.
To raise awareness and increase knowledge about HIV/AIDS/STDs and other health related issues in communities and schools.
To enable communities form Community Support Action Groups, which carry out social concern activities in families affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS.
To increase knowledge about HIV/AIDS among the selected Community Support Action Groups through trainings.
To design, produce and distribute Informational Educational and Communication materials in both English and local languages about HIV/AIDS in villages and schools.
Train and equip Home Based Care-givers (HBCs) with knowledge and skills on how to care and support People Living With AIDS.
To form youths clubs in schools to share information and increase knowledge among the fellow youths in schools and communities.
To offer advocacy services to the affected families facing human rights violation and injustices i.e. especially Orphans, Vulnerable Children (OVC), Widows and People Living with AIDS.

GOAL 5
To promote HIV/AIDS prevention activities that address root causes of vulnerability.

OBJECTIVES:

Break the silence that surrounds issues of sex, sexuality, and sexual relationships;
Support effective methods to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS;
Challenge harmful practices and traditions that enable the spread of HIV/AIDS and reaffirm positive practices directed at preventing HIV transmission;
Work toward the elimination of double standards and male dominance that contribute greatly to women's vulnerability to HIV infection;
Understand and address the factors that make children and youth vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, with particular attention to orphans and other children in especially difficult circumstances;
Understand and address the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the context of poverty and inequitable access to employment at a living wage, economic development opportunities, food security, adequate nutrition, health services, and education.

GOAL 6
To mobilize resources to prevent HIV/AIDS and for care and treatment of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

OBJECTIVES

Urge all local Community leadership structures to dedicate increased and sufficient funds to fulfill their responsibility to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis;
Raise and share significant financial and human resources among churches and church-related organizations, at all levels, to better respond to the challenge of HIV/AIDS;

GOAL 7
To increase access to care and treatment for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

OBJECTIVES:

· Strengthen the capacity of local communities to address the social, cultural, economic, emotional, and spiritual impact of HIV/AIDS;

· Strengthen and expand existing health services, infrastructure and human capacity to make the appropriate utilization of available therapies possible;

· To implement policies allowing increased access to life-prolonging therapies, including treatment of opportunistic infections.

· Increase availability of health services for women and provide access to effective means for prevention of "mother-to-child" transmission of HIV.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT

Despite the financial constraints faced by the organization to effectively offer care and support to the poor and desperate families, the following activities are carried out;

We support 310 Orphans and Vulnerable children who have lost their parents as a result of HIV/AIDS, wars etc… Our main support to the orphans is to provide scholastic or educational materials to enable them attain formal and or vocational education.

Through the mobile care clinic we offer medical care through provision of drugs to treat the opportunistic infections to people suffering from AIDS and their children.

We conduct HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns in communities and educational institutions.

Through the home based care the following activities are carried;

- Counseling services,

- Prayer and Bible study with the sick,

- Offering food and other relief supplies to the families which so desperate and needy,

Constraints

We carry out the above activities but with a lot of limitations due to the resource gap. Here below are some of the challenges faced as we endeavor to offer care and support to the poor and needy families;

Lack of transport to be used as a mobile clinic to reach out and offer medical care through provision of drugs to those who cannot afford it,
Lack of drugs to effectively access people/families affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS with quality, timely and affordable medical care.
Due to lack of funds and resources, we do not fully address all the needs of the families. There are so many other needs like provision of clothing, beddings (blankets, bed sheets etc..), and construction of permanent households.

These and many more are the constraints and challenged faced in the villages where we are working.
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Vocational Training School

Goal 2 To offer on-going support to families affected and/or infected by AIDS, focusing mainly on Orphans and Vulnerable children.

Goal 3

To enhance the socio-economic status of families affected by HIV/AIDS through support of sustainable Income Generating Projects (IGPs).

Goal 4 To build the capacity of communities and other community based structures to be able to intervene in the fight against HIV/AIDS infection and issues related to human rights violation towards people affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS.

Goal 2
To offer on-going support to families affected and/or infected by AIDS, focusing mainly on Orphans and Vulnerable children.

Goal 4
To build the capacity of communities and other community based structures to be able to intervene in the fight against HIV/AIDS infection and issues related to human rights violation towards people affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS.