Kate Jongbloed (Canada):
Working with CAPAIDS in Ethiopia
(September 2006-July 2007)
The Organization:
Canada-Africa Partnership on AIDS (CAPAIDS) provides resources to grassroots community-based organizations that are on the front lines in the battle against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa
The Project:
Microeconomic empowerment for HIV-affected orphans
Slipping between two corrugated iron walls, down a narrow pathway, I entered the two-room house of Makeda Girma*. I met with Makeda as part of my internship with a non-profit organization in Ethiopia working to combat HIV/AIDS. At 18, Makeda had been responsible for her 4 year-old daughter and her younger brother and sister since her mother died of AIDS three years ago.
The project provided vocational training and start-up capital to 340 adolescent orphans who were guardians to their younger siblings since the death of their parents due to AIDS-related illnesses. Implemented by four local HIV/AIDS service organizations in Ethiopia and Uganda, the two-year project was supported by CAPAIDS, a small Canadian NGO.
As an undergraduate International Development Studies student, I joined the project to fulfill the work-experience component of my degree and conduct field research for my thesis. Coming from an academic program that was very critical of development, my expectation was that I’d have very little to contribute and that the experience would be one for learning rather than doing. I was very conscious of not trying to “fix” or “help”.
When I arrived, the project was already under way. I took some time to get familiar with both organizations and learn about their projects beyond the one CAPAIDS was supporting. It became clear that I wasn’t just going to be a passive bystander and that there was a specific role that I could fill. As the only CAPAIDS representative in Ethiopia, I became the connection between Head Office in Canada and the two local organizations making the project happen. Sometimes this meant that I was the “donor police,” helping the two organizations stick to the project agreement, and sometimes it meant that I could help relay messages from the Ethiopian organizations’ for future support from CAPAIDS. Because I was familiar with the demands of the donor organization, I was put to work doing all the required paper work, freeing up the project officers to spend more time on project activities.
Because of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)’s policy, it is very difficult for non-Canadian NGOs to access funding unless they partner with a Canadian NGO. CAPAIDS works to identify grassroots HIV/AIDS organizations in Africa and help them access Canadian funding. I found this approach really positive as the organizations were very responsive to the communities where they worked, tackling AIDS through home-based care, psychosocial support, orphan care, scholarships, nutrition projects and microfinance. The difficulty came when the organizations wanted to modify project activities: CAPAIDS was responsible to CIDA, which limited its flexibility.
Part of my responsibility included conducting research for my thesis, looking at how microeconomic empowerment affects adolescent orphan guardians’ risk of contracting HIV, which is how I met Makeda.After receiving training in hairdressing, Makeda was preparing to establish a salon business with other project participants. She also told me that after each day of training, she would teach her younger sister the skills that she had learned, hoping to include her in the business one day.
I was really impressed with how the project affected the lives of those involved not only economically, but also their self-esteem, social networks, physical safety, and reduce stigma. If you’d like to read more about the impact of the project, you can link to my article Preventing HIV/AIDS through Microeconomic Development here: http://unpackingdevelopment.com/?page_id=48
*Name has been changed.
I am always fascinated by vocational training projects, because it’s so find skills to train on that will actually lead to income. Will you be able to keep in touch and find out if Makeda suceeds?
Hi Alanna,
Thanks for your comment!
One of the things the project worked hard to do was a market survey so that the skills were relevant and in demand. As I mention in my paper, the women experienced increased incomes from before the project while the men usually had taken a pay cut in exchange for more control over their labour. What most of the participants suggested when I was there is that while they still didn’t make “enough” they made more than they did, and in ways that they preferred.
My experience was that the social benefits of the project (like peer support, self esteem, etc) outshone the economic benefits, but I don’t know enough about the situation now (I have been gone from Ethiopia for a year).
The project has just come to an end and hopefully the final reports will be out soon. I’d rather visit Makeda again, but don’t live around the corner anymore!
If you want to read my full report, you can find it here: https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/10370
kate