HOPE Africa in partnership with the Centre for Communication Impact (CCI) implement the DREAMS Community Mobilisation and Norms Change programme in the City of Cape Town in support of the provincial and district efforts to reduce Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) incidences.
Programme Features
The Community Responses Programme “Woza Asibonisane!” is aligned to the South African National Plan for HIV, STIs, and TB prevention (NSP- 2017-2022) and the United Nations AIDS Programme (UNAIDS) 90:90:90 target, aims that by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90% of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and by 2020, 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression. The objectives of the Woza Asibonisane! CR Programme are:
- Reduction of new infections of HIV; and
- Prevention of SGBV with focus on geographical places with micro-epidemics
The organisation applied the Dialogue-Reflection Action (DRA) model which seeks to bring about social change linked to HIV and SGBV prevention. The DREAMS Community Mobilization and Norms Change focused on the Stepping Stones sessions conducted with women aged 20-49 with majority being young women aged 20-24 years, and with male sex partners aged 20-49 years.
HOPE Africa was able to reach 22,178 participants with the Gender Norms intervention which is 81% towards the annual target (27431) of 1st Oct 2020 to 30th Sept 2021. This was reached in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic waves, as well as the taxi violence that halted all field work in July 2021.