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National and local NGOs

To commemorate our 1 million copies, many people in different parts of the world have sent us their comments on how SFH materials have helped to inform and strengthen their HIV-related work at community level. Here is a selection from national and local NGOs.

“Strategies for Hope materials have helped me so much in my day-to-day work, especially in the mobilization and sensitization of communities. They have been an empowerment tool for me in reaching out to many more people. They have also strengthened me personally in positive living in my home, my community and my workplace.” (Apofia Naikoba, Iganga Hospital/National Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, Iganga, Uganda)

“When I was working in a rural hospital in Swaziland in the early 1990s, I encountered an HIV epidemic in its early phases, with lots of denial, ignorance and stigma. I put together a training package for employees and patients. I managed to get hold of some of the early SFH materials, and was struck by how the facts were presented concisely and logically, and yet in an educative and accurate fashion. The books were enjoyable to read, despite the horror of HIV, and contained uplifting stories. They were very popular with my staff at the hospital. Several of the early SFH materials were about Uganda, my own home country. The TASO video became a great tool for me to train all of our nurses and doctors in compassionate care and counselling, and it is still being used. It’s now 17 years since I received those first SFH materials, but every single book and video in the series still resonates with me because they are about people, their struggle with HIV, their stories and their victories.” (Dr Alex Coutinho, TASO, Kampala, Uganda)

“We have found the SFH materials very useful to our work and we have made immense use of them in our training sessions and outreach activities. The materials have made our outreach work in remote villages very effective. One major feature of the materials is that they are very flexible and adaptive to various teaching environments. They are self-explanatory and easily understood. If you visit the villages of northern Sierra Leone and talk with some teachers or students who have gone through our trainings, you will realize how effective these materials are for rural communities.” (Aruna Rashid Koroma, Rofutha Development Association, Freetown, Sierra Leone)

“Your booklet, Youth-to-Youth, featured our organisation, TEMAK. It brought to us many other organisations that were keen to learn about our work. These included some donors who are still supporting our work. Stepping Stones has been one of our main training tools for the girls in our programme. It’s been a wonderful tool for bringing out sexual issues for open discussion. I can honestly say that it has helped us to overcome taboos about discussing sex in our training sessions. (Joab Othatcher, Teenage Mothers and Girls Association of Kenya, Kisumu, Kenya)

“CHEP was profiled in Strategies for Hope book no. 7, All Against AIDS, published in 1992. As a result, our work became recognized much more widely, not only in Zambia but also beyond, for example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Namibia and Sierra Leone. We received visitors from those countries, and we also attracted the attention of donor agencies, who are still supporting us. CHEP staff have been using SFH booklets, videos and training manuals to share examples of good practice in HIV prevention, care and support work. The materials are simple and easily understood, with useful examples and practical ways of implementing activities. Through using SFH case study booklets, CHEP’s own work has improved in the area of documentation of programme experience through stories, case studies and identification of good practices. It’s difficult for CHEP to fully explain its own growth and development without taking account of the involvement of Strategies for Hope. Your success is ours too! (Alick Nyirenda, Copperbelt Health Education Project, Kitwe, Zambia)

“When I read the story of Gideon Byamugisha in an SFH booklet (Open Secret), it brought the knowledge of African communities into my reality and I was empowered to adapt it to the Latin American context. These materials are not the production of a technical advisor sitting somewhere in an office, disconnected from the grassroots realities. They are based on knowledge at local level, and they show what the developing world can teach the rest of the world regarding HIV and AIDS responses at community level.” (Gracia Violeta Ross, Association of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Bolivia, La Paz, Bolivia)

“I first came across Strategies for Hope books in the early 90s, when there was very little material in our country on HIV and AIDS. The books were written in simple language, yet contained great detail. What made them even more interesting was that they were about cases quite close to home. I could easily identify with them. From then on, I was on the look-out for Strategies for Hope materials. I believe the ‘Stepping Stones’ training package produced in the mid-nineties truly set the pace. Communities now had both a manual and a video for their training programmes. The production of Open Secret was tremendous, in that its approach broke all taboos. Uganda was showing Africa, and indeed the world at large, that the only way to deal with the problem of HIV was to make it an ‘open secret’. They had found a working formula. In my view, the feather in the cap was the production of materials on faith-based responses. Journeys of Faith and the ‘Called to Care’ toolkit brought the skeletons out of the cupboards. After a lot of denial and untold embarrassment, religious leaders were finally facing up to the reality of HIV within their homes, churches and communities at large. And not a moment too soon. Loudest applause to ordained minister Gideon Byamugisha of Uganda for his HIV ministry, documented in the Strategies for Hope video, What can I do?. The Strategies materials have also given a big boost to my ‘Home Resource Centre’, which has helped a surprisingly large number of people from different communities.” (Bongi Mkandla, Zibusiso Holistic Centre, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe)