Introduction

It is imperative that HIV/AIDS have significant impact on sub-Saharan Africa, and West and Central Africa statistics suggest more countries are rapidly approaching catastrophic levels. It is obvious that if no concerted actions are taken, West Africa could suffer more given high cross boarder mobility, on-going armed conflicts, huge population displacements & refugees, and socio-economic interdependencies of the countries.

WARDA--The Africa Rice Center play a front role in enabling the agriculture, food and livelihood sector to contribute in reducing HIV/AIDS spread and impact in the region. These efforts started since 2000 under the umbrella of the CGIAR System-wide Initiative on HIV/AIDS and agriculture (SWIHA), and have continued to grow organically. This report is a synthesis of activities and achievements in 2002-2003.

Regional awareness and capacity building

· Awareness-raising in research gatherings

Agriculture research meetings were used as forum to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS and agriculture linkages. Examples of such forum include the National Expert Committee (NEC) meeting held at Mbe, Côte d’Ivoire, 11-13 June 2002 and attended by director generals and top functionaries of national agricultural institutions in WARDA member countries. Another presentation on HIV/AIDS and agriculture was made at the Regional Rice Research Review (4Rs) meeting (Mbe, Côte d’Ivoire, 9–12 April 2002), where a wider array of researchers, decision makers and donors met to plan rice R&D agenda for the region.

Perhaps in recognition of the above efforts, the West and Central Africa Council for Agricultural Research (CORAF) invited WARDA to write a paper on current cross-cutting issues specifically health and agriculture, presented at the CORAF Consultation on “Science and Technology Strategies for Improved Agricultural Productivity and Food Security in Africa” (Dakar, Senegal, 10–12 February 2003). The paper entitled ‘Agriculture and Health: Crossroads and Challenges for Future Agricultural Development in Africa’, by Franklin J. Abamu and Kanayo F. Nwanze, has also been submitted (electronically) to the Africa Development Journal for publication.

· Developing national agricultural capacity

We started since 2001, to enable national agricultural programs to be better positioned in responding to HIV/AIDS. The efforts are slowly but steadily bearing fruits. In 2002, the National Cereals Research Institute in Nigeria (NCRI) conducted a literature review on HIV/AIDS’ real or potential impact on the agriculture R&D potential of the country. The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), The Gambia also indicated desire to allocate staff to the issue of HIV/AIDS and agriculture. These are examples of positive steps WARDA will nurture further in 2003.

In the light of the above, a manual was developed to elucidate procedures in allocation research grants to national agricultural programs. The manual will guide scientist who wish to apply for support to conduct short studies (less than 12 months) on issues linking HIV/AIDS, agriculture and development. The manual will be distributed in electronic format and posted (in MS word and PDF format) on the revised SWIHA site for download.

Filling Knowledge Gaps: Needs Assessment Study, Nigeria

WARDA is forging a new working relationship with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Vancouver, Canada. The value of appropriate sharing of information among national agricultural programs on HIV/AIDS impact and their empowerment is the common ground between COL and WARDA. The specific goal in a new relationship that is still being nurtured is to identify suitable cost-effective mechanisms for sharing available knowledge on impact of HIV/AIDS on their work and vice-versa. As a first step, a needs assessment study was developed for Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria, to document existing knowledge and activities in different NGO’s or ministries and assess how they can be harnesses by agriculture programs undertaking HIV/AIDS mainstreaming. An intern selected jointly by WARDA and COL and supported by COL’s Youths Internship Program (YIP) was out-posted in Ibadan, Nigeria where she helped to conduct the research.

Preliminary findings indicate that many grassroots NGOs are involved in HIV/AIDS activities, but not all have extensive outreach programs or connection with the national AIDS body. This is understood given the relatively large size of the country. The AIDS Prevention Initiative, Nigeria (APIN) funded by Harvard University and housed at the IITA campus has a strong outreach program though they are heavily medical biased. APIN can be a partner in Nigeria given disciplinary uniqueness, similarity in scientific approach, and access to families or households already known. The study also suggests there is significant amount of ignorance (borne out of lack of information) with respect to how support staff perceived HIV status to be connected to their work.

Regional and International Programming

· Manor River Union Initiative

The Manor River union states in West Africa – Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and now Côte d’Ivoire suffer various degrees of armed conflicts and cross-border attacks.

Statistics show alarming rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence in general population in these countries, and among the factors fuelling the rise in the disease, is the loss of livelihoods as people get displaced, violence against women and breakdown of basic social and medical structures due to the continued armed conflicts.

WARDA, UNAIDS-West Africa, government of mentioned states and civil organizations held a workshop June, 2002 to jointly identify priority intervention points in mitigating the further spread of the disease and its impact. Agriculture and livelihood security; health services; and information education and behavioral change communication (IEC/BCC) across disciplines were identified as priority areas for intervention. A joint proposal for a multi-sectoral response through the priority sectors in conflict, post-conflict and refugee-receiving countries is being developed.

· Integrating HIV/AIDS in IFAD West Africa projects

Within the framework of existing agreement between the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and UNAIDS for integrating HIV/AIDS in all IFAD’s field projects, WARDA has been requested to share its experience in HIV/AIDS integration in the agriculture sector in West & Central Africa. To this end, WARDA contributes expertise in developing the course curricula for training IFAD’s field project officers in West & Central Africa, and in planning a workshop to implement the training. WARDA also contribute in validating an IFAD strategy for integrating HIV/AIDS in IFAD’s agriculture and development projects in the region.

· An International Institute on Gender and HIV/AIDS (IIGH)

WARDA continued in 2002-2003 to contribute in the curriculum design of an international institute on gender and HIV/AIDS (IIGH) being conceived by the Atlantic Center of Excellence for Women’s Health (ACEWH) at the Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia Canada. The IIGH complement our goal in providing a forum to develop capacities in national agricultural R&D institutions in addressing HIV/AIDS as a multisectoral challenge. Trainees for the institute would be potential change agents in their respective organizations and countries. WARDA staff is among an international faculty developing the curriculum for the institute.

The group first met January 2002, where the CGIAR initiative on HIV/AIDS and agriculture (SWIHA) was presented, and received as an exemplary partner program from Africa. A satellite session at the Barcelona World AIDS conference (July, 2002) provided a second meeting and much global platform where the feasibility of the institute was evaluated. In January 2003 the international faculty met again at Halifax Canada to fine-tune the curriculum for the IIGH, and proposed a pilot possibly in first quarter 2004.

HIV/AIDS in the Workplace: Lesson from a sensitization

Last year we constituted a Peer-educator (PE) group among the workforce at WARDA headquarters in Mbe, Bouake. The PE was constituted taking into consideration, gender issues such that the group is a microcosm of ethnic, religion and socio-cultural diversity in West Africa.

Interactions with the PE and a pilot HIV/AIDS sensitization served as precursor to an institute wide HIV/AIDS sensitization conducted in 2002. ECODEV our partner NGO, and resource persons from the Sexually Transmitted Infections / HIV/AIDS Unit of the University of Bouaké Teaching Hospital (CHU-Bouaké) and association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) helped to conduct the sensitization seminar. The pictures speak for themselves. Participating staff and management remarked the sensitization was very useful, and WARDA should conduct more sensitizations each year, and should be replicated at substations.

Lessons: Identifying ‘best-practices’ and ‘what works’ is a challenge in HIV/AIDS programming in West Africa because there is still much denial and societal discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.

Text Box: … they (my family) did not ask me to leave because I bring home a bag of rice every time.

Testimony of young lady HIV+ during a sensitization seminar at WARDA, Mbe, Cote d’Ivoire. Testimony from a person living with HIV/AIDS reveals pointers that are worthy of evaluation with respect to ‘best-practices’. The speaker noted that initially she suffered significant discrimination from her family and was at the verge of being asked to leave home. However, her family eventually realize that because she is HIV+, she receives a bag of rice every two weeks from a local NGO, and the bag of goes a long way in feeding the whole family. So her family abandoned the idea of asking her to leave home. They let her stay and over looked her HIV status.

Such indicators would need to be further corroborated as it could have relevance in formulating best practices in situation of denial and stigmatization.

Outlook for 2003-2004

· With a manual now available, WARDA will continue to encourage NARES and grassroots NGOs to seek funding support to address HIV/AIDS and agriculture issues, within the framework of SWIHA.

· It is also useful that we follow up on contacts made in Nigeria with APIN and other NGOs to replicate the needs assessment study in partnership with COL, Vancouver, Canada. Maintain contact also with the ACWEH, Nova Scotia, Canada on the development of the International Institute on Gender and HIV/AIDS.

· The UNAIDS Inter-Country team for West &Central Africa has been proactive in working with WARDA. This energy must be upheld. Some joint projects that will continue in 2003-2004 include: 1). Manor River Union initiative, 2) the training of IFAD field project officers and 3) integration of HIV/AIDS in agriculture and development projects of IFAD in West & Central Africa.

· Lastly, we will continue to use gatherings of researchers as forum to share awareness on the real /potential impact of increased HIV/AIDS on the future of agricultural development, which has been found, be a cost-effective platform to stimulate response ability within NARES.