About LENEPWHA

After the realisation that the fight against HIV and AIDS has to involve PLWHA's themselves, there was a lot of consultative meetings between Lesotho AIDS Program Coordinating Authority (LAPCA), Action Aid - Lesotho, UNAIDS and DfID.

On the 27th May 2005, Lesotho Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS, was launched.  It now has a secretariat staff of 5 people at national level.  It is Mr Bakoena Chele (National Coordinator), Mr Teboho Mohlabi (Management and Organisational Development Advisor), Mrs 'Mamakhethe Phomane (Accountant - Administrator), Mrs 'Mathabiso Mothibeli (Receptionist) and Mr Itumeleng Leleka (Driver). 

The fight against HIV and AIDS cannot be won unless there is a significant and meaningful involvement of People Living With HIV and AIDS.

The rest of us may fight it because it is our job, but for them they have to fight to survive.

Strategic direction

Awareness and knowledge creation

The specific objective is to increase the percentage of PLWHA and affected families who know how HIV is transmitted and prevented by strengthening competencies of member organisations in HIV/AIDS awareness and knowledge creation among youth, PLWHA and the community.  Activities include conducting baseline and end of plan surveys into knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding HIV/AIDS prevention and control among PLWHA and family members; training HIV/STI peer educators among support groups; disseminating user-friendly IEC materials on HIV/AIDS/STI prevention and management to members organisations and groups; and organising public talks and testimonies on HIV /STI prevention in media, community and school gatherings.

Behaviour change in PLWHA and affected communities

The objective is to increase the percentage of PLWHA adopting positive living practices and HIV-risk reduction practices such as sex abstinence, condom use, disclosure of HIV sero-status to significant others, seeking appropriate support. This is to be achieved by intensifying education and training on positive living in PLWHA and affected families. Activities include mobilizing behaviour change youth clubs and PLWHA support groups in workplaces and the community, training support groups in behaviour change, advocating routine HIV testing to facilitate positive social and health care seeking behaviour; encouraging PLWHA to disclose their status and join support groups, organising community conversations and education on positive living, and carrying out nutrition counselling behaviour change communication (BCC) through support groups.

Information and experience sharing

Since sharing of HIV/AIDS information and experiences among member organisations and with stakeholders is generally low, the network aims at increasing the percentage of LENEPWHA organisations and stakeholders sharing information and experiences. This is to be pursued by facilitating information and experience sharing among member organisations and stakeholders through community talks, country study tours, district and national symposia as well as documentation and dissemination of PLWHA newsletter. Another strategy is promoting access to appropriate HIV and AIDS information among PLWHAs and the affected families through periodic media discussions as well as developing and disseminating simplified pamphlets on topical issues to PLWHAs, support groups and stakeholders. 

Psychosocial and economic support

The network seeks to increase the percentage of PLWHA and affected families accessing basic psychosocial support services by strengthening the competencies of member organisations in providing psychosocial support to PLWHA and affected families through training and facilitating support groups to develop and implement fundable proposals in home care, counselling and income generation; intensifying lobbying for support to address psychosocial needs of PLWHA and affected families by advocating more public assistance grants, food aid and subsidies on agriculture in puts for the needy PLWHA, OVC and their elderly guardians; and strengthening coordination in the provision of psychosocial support to PLWHA and affected families by documenting organisations providing psychosocial support services to PLWHAs, organising annual joint review meetings at district and community council levels and disseminating periodic review reports to stakeholders.

Stigma, discrimination and other abuses of PLWHAs

The objective is to increase the percentage of PLWHA and affected families who know and take appropriate actions against stigma, discrimination and other forms of abuse. This is to be done by intensifying education on policies and legislations that protect PLWHA against stigma and discrimination as well as lobbying or advocating lawful action for the elimination of all forms of prejudices and other obstacles that stand in the way of normal and dignified life for PLWHA. Activities include training members of support groups and sensitizing communities on PLWHA rights and the specific actions to take in case of abuse, compiling the legal and policy issues that infringe on PLWHA rights, developing advocacy strategy on PLWHA rights, coming up with and disseminating simple educational materials on relevant laws and policies to communities, lobbying for expansion of legal aid services, linking abuse cases to appropriate legal aid providers, and promoting activism against all abuses of rights of PLWHA and orphaned children.

Care and treatment

The aim is to increase the percentage of PLWHA having access to appropriate treatment and care by strengthening home-based care for PLWHA and affected families, advocating intensification and expansion of care and treatment for adults and children living with HIV/AIDS, and promoting affordable HIV/AIDS treatment for PLWHA by advocating free HIV/AIDS treatment for PLWHA in all centres and for the establishment of day care or hospice centres for extremely needy children in communities. Some of the activities include establishing PLWHA access to care and treatment, training support groups in home care, mobilising home care kits and supplies for support groups and sensitising communities in home care, documenting and publicizing to PLWHAs and communities the services offered in various health centers, lobbying for training health workers in ART and eventual establishment of centres for offering specialized care to PLWHAs especially children living with HIV/AIDS in all districts, pushing for  integration of expert patients in health systems, lobbying government to subsidise care and treatment private health facilitates providing care and treatment to PLWHA and paediatric AIDS, and mobilising community members to provide food to ART patients. 

Organisational capacity and institutional development

The specific objective is to increase the percentage of districts and community councils with functioning LENEPWHA governance and management structures by strengthening the governance and management capacities of network structures at all levels, and by encouraging professionals to join LENEPWHA. The specific activities include assessing the network’s capacity needs against the plan and lobbying appropriate agencies to support these needs, replicating LENEPWHA congresses and executive committees in district and community councils, establishing a lean network Secretariat in all districts, and lobbying for management training fellowships and other forms of support to PLWHA groups and member organisations, publicising LENEPWHA activities and benefits of membership as well as creating linkages with professional bodies to form PLWHA support groups.

Meaningful involvement of PLWHA

The main objective is to increase the number of PLWHA participating in decision-making bodies and positions by promoting actual participation of PLWHA in HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation activities and educating public about PLWHA roles and responsibilities. Other activities include encouraging PLWHAs to take keen interest in activities that concern them, establishing strategic alliances with key agencies involved legislation and policy formulation and programming, advocating policies that facilitate integration of trained expert patients into health service system so that they pass on practical experiences to others patients who to seek care.

Resource mobilisation

The objective is to increase the amount of resources mobilised and allocated from various sources to LENEPWHA member organisations by mobilising resources for self-help projects or initiatives of PLWHA and affected families, training member organisations in proposal writing techniques and advocating direct funding to PLWHA-led self-help projects. Other activities include linking PLWHA associations to available funding mechanisms and lobbying local authorities and chiefs to provide land to cultivate food for PLWHA in districts, and ensuring regular monitoring of self-help projects.

Monitoring and evaluation

The network will seek to increase the production of accurate information and data on achievement of the objectives and outputs of the strategic plan as well as the utilisation of the gathered data for planning and decision-making by recruiting a programs monitoring and evaluation officer, developing simple supervision and reporting tools, undertaking quarterly monitoring and preparing periodic reports entailing progress on all activities of member groups, and collaborating with key institutions to create MIS on impact of  epidemic on PLWHAs.

Implementation and management

LENEPWHA Secretariat is responsible for coordinating implementation of the plan. This is to be done in collaboration with all suitable stakeholders through organized lobbying, advocacy and linking member organisations to sources of support for the plan. The member organisations will also participate in the provision of some basic rights or services concerning prevention, psychosocial support and care. The LENEPWHA executive committee is responsible for the overall governance of the network and primarily approve plans and budgets implemented and managed by the LENEPWHA Secretariats at various levels. The NACS, MOLG and local authorities are the main parent institutions along which network structures will anchor.

Summary of Cost Estimates

The cost of estimate of this plan per intervention and year is summarised in the following Table.