Pledge-based report HIV and AIDS Youth Peer Education Project M1207069 30 September 2013 Cash pledge No. M1207069 Donor`s name: Italian Red Cross Pledge amount in donor currency: EUR 49,800 This report covers the period from 18 July 2012 to 31 July 2013. Peer education session at school Photo: IFRC Pristina Office In brief Programme outcome For 2012-2013, the programme areas in Kosovo supported by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have been health and care, disaster management, organizational development and principles and values. These areas are based on the priorities and capacities of the Red Cross organizations in Kosovo. All programmes supported by the IFRC in Kosovo are aligned with, and contribute to, the global aims of the Strategy 2020 of the IFRC and the priorities of the Red Cross organizations in Kosovo. The main emphasis of the International Federation`s work in Kosovo is placed on supporting the Red Cross organizations in developing their operational capacities to better respond to the basic needs of the most vulnerable people. Programme summary Thanks to the funding by the Italian Red Cross, the HIV and AIDS Peer Education Project in Kosovo was carried out under the scope of the health and care programme, in which the International Federation continued supporting the Red Cross organizations in Kosovo in implementing HIV and AIDS Peer Education activities among young people in order to improve their knowledge and raise their awareness about HIV, AIDS and risky behavior as well as ways of protection / prevention in order to influence the change in behavior and habits. Financial situation The total pledge received from the Italian Red Cross was CHF 61,247 (EUR 49,800) out of which the sum of CHF 61,247 (EUR 49,800) was fully spent.
2 I M1207069 Pledge-based report July 2012 to July 2013 No. of people we have reached The number of people that benefited directly from the project funded by the Italian RC during the reporting period was 11,815 direct beneficiaries. The number of beneficiaries that were reached indirectly is 23,630. Working in partnership Overall, the International Federation Office in Kosovo is cooperating and coordinating its activities with a number of different partners both within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement such as the Italian Red Cross, the Swedish Red Cross, the British Red Cross, the German Red Cross, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and non-movement partners such as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Cooperation Office in Pristina, UN agencies as well as local and central authorities. Context Kosovo has been under direct United Nations administration since 1999. In February 2008, the Kosovo Assembly announced its independence from Serbia. Since then the political, economic and social situation has been dominated by issues related to its international status. This has affected the transformation process that Kosovo is currently undergoing, and this means that little or no progress has been made on vital internal issues such as health, social welfare, economy and education. Kosovo continues to face a vicious cycle of low growth, significant trade imbalance and fiscal constraints. The World Bank report Unlocking Growth Potential from 2010 confirms that economic development since 2000 has been insufficient to address Kosovo s most pressing challenges. Kosovo has one of the youngest populations in Europe, with 50 per cent under the age of 25 years and 40 per cent under 18 years of age. Youth is, however, officially defined as the group between 15 and 24, which covers 21 per cent of Kosovo s total population. Therefore, the challenges related to political, economic and social development during the ongoing transition period are first and foremost the challenges of young people, who are Kosovo s future workers, business people, parents, citizens and leaders. 1 The limited data available on the health status in Kosovo suggests that it ranks among the lowest in Europe. The actual health system in Kosovo is not able to cover even the basic health needs of the population, so there remain significant needs in the distribution of health services and health-related information. Based on existing data and UNAIDS classification system, Kosovo remains a low level HIV epidemic place, but factors that increase risk of HIV transmission are rather high: such as high poverty and employment rate, increased number of drug users, sex work related with crime, a stigmatized and discriminated men having sex with men community, the high percentage of youth among general population, with changing social norms including sexual behaviour, the presence of a large mobile population. The risk factors become more potential in a health sector with difficulties in responding to the needs of different groups of population with a low level of HIV/AIDS knowledge among youth in Kosovo. In Kosovo, the young population remains ill informed about their rights or life skills, including risks from unprotected sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco and HIV/AIDS. Similarly to many other Eastern European countries, information on HIV and AIDS incidence is not widely available. Cultural barriers often prevent information and services from reaching young men and women, and it has been observed that there is a general reluctance within families, community and in schools to discuss youth issues related to reproductive health and sexual behaviour. It is, therefore, possible that the incidence of AIDS is much higher than it appears to be. Consequently, according to UNDP, due to the severe lack of reliable information on HIV positive people, as well as prevention programs that enhance testing and monitoring, the real threats are unknown. 2 1 UNDP Kosovo: KHDR 2006 A New Generation for a New Kosovo, 2006, p 15. 2 UNFPA: Young People in Kosovo: their situations, needs and the prospects, 2007.
3 I M1207069 Pledge-based report July 2012 to July 2013 In Kosovo, official figures on the number of registered drug users are still not available, but the trend reported by the NGO who work in the sector of drug addiction, shows a daily increase of young people at risk who use substances not only in the city but also in rural areas. The most widely used drugs are cannabis and heroine, either inhaled or injected. There is still a lack of strategies and preventive and rehabilitative programmes for young drug users. Progress towards outcomes Health and Care In order to address the health needs in Kosovo, the Red Cross organizations kept working to strengthen their capacity in health and care as well as to offer services to the community to raise awareness in the community on HIV and AIDS and healthy behaviour as well as on health education on reproductive health, better child care and child development. The project entitled HIV and AIDS Peer Education supported by the Italian Red Cross is part of the IFRC`s plan for Kosovo and fits into the Programme Component under Health and Care that is Community-Based Health. Objective Increase awareness and reduce stigma associated to HIV and drug use through awareness-raising sessions and social mobilization among youth. Outcome Increased awareness among youth to decrease risky behaviour about the risk of HIV and AIDS and drug addiction. Achievements The Red Cross organizations in Kosovo play an important role in strengthening local communities and developing civil society. The programmes strong focus on gender issues, including health education and healthy behaviour among the population and particularly among the youth, contributes to this end. The Red Cross organizations have been among the few local humanitarian organizations to work in this area and have been supporting the vulnerable youth population through the implementation of HIV and AIDS Peer Education Project. The International Federation, with the funding from the Italian Red Cross, supported the Red Cross organizations in Kosovo to implement an HIV, AIDS and harm reduction peer education project for youth for another year. The project was implemented in 13 branches / municipalities of Kosovo covering Albanian, Serbian and Roma (RAE) communities. The supported activities aimed to reduce the vulnerability to HIV and its impact through increasing awareness and reducing stigma and discrimination among the youth. This project has been very motivating for the youth volunteers as well as their peers participating in the project. During the project implementation, the Red Cross organizations in Kosovo worked to increase the awareness of the risk of HIV and AIDS and increase healthy behaviour among the targeted youth population. This project involved youth from all different communities in Kosovo including ethnic minorities and drug users as well. The project provided basic knowledge to the targeted youth, volunteers and staff of the Red Cross organizations about the risk of HIV and AIDS and increase healthy behaviour. A refresher training of trainers on peer education was conducted by the Red Cross of Kosova. The training was facilitated by a local trainer on social mobilization of youth peer education. A total of 32 volunteers participated in the advanced training of trainers from the selected branches. This training resulted in refreshing, strengthening and improving the knowledge and skills of trainers for the methodology to make a good trainer, facilitation skills focusing on peer-to-peer education and
4 I M1207069 Pledge-based report July 2012 to July 2013 learning, and provided more information about counselling on HIV and AIDS, STDs 3 and their risks, personal hygiene and reproductive health issues. The training has also strengthened and improved knowledge on the problematic use of drugs and their effects, on addiction and abstinence crisis, and on outreach work with drug users. Following the above training, the participating Red Cross youth volunteers from the respective branches started organizing HIV and AIDS peer education workshops at schools and for out-ofschool youth to disseminate information about HIV and AIDS, STDs and their risks, drug consumption and its risks, and increase awareness and reduce stigma among the youth. During the reporting period the two Red Cross organizations conducted 390 HIV and AIDS peer education training workshops for youth in school and out of school in 15 RC branches: Gjilan, Rahovec, Ferizaj, Kamenice, Drenas, Lipjan, Prishtine, Obiliq, Fushe Kosove Mitrovice south, Zubin Potok, Zvecan, Mitrovica north, Gracanica and Novo Brdo. 32 volunteer trainers were involved and there were 5,281 participants who benefited from these workshops. The topic in the workshops for school and out-of-school youth participants provided facilitation skills as well as information on what HIV and AIDS are; how one can get infected with HIV; how one can protect themselves from HIV and AIDS; the inclusion of HIV and AIDS infected people into our society; HIV, AIDS, STDs and their risks, personal hygiene and safe reproductive health issues to improve awareness and increase healthy behaviour among young people. It was also explained what the major problems were in relation to drug consumption and its effect and humanitarian treatment of drug users, according to Red Cross Red Crescent principles and values. Locally developed and printed ICE (Information, Communication and Education) training materials were used during peer education workshops. Teachers were also invited from the respective schools to participate in the sessions in order to increase their knowledge and skills as well on the above mentioned topics. This helped teachers to advise school children about HIV and AIDS in case of need. With the support from the International Federation, the Prishtina and Gjilan RC branches of the Red Cross of Kosova conducted outreach peer education sessions with drug users on harm reduction in cooperation with the NGO Labyrinth who were also active in this field. Initially, the training of the 12 volunteers was conducted in order to teach them how to approach this specific target group. The volunteers selected for this session had a background in psychology. The trained volunteers conducted 48 outreach sessions with 720 drug users on hot spots. After the sessions, the target group was provided with sterile injection needles, disinfectants and information leaflets. Red Cross youth volunteers in ten branches organized 26 awareness raising sessions about HIV, AIDS, drugs in the community and Red Cross activities with parents in the targeted schools. A total of 270 parents participated in these sessions. Also, Red Cross Branches with their youth volunteers staged ten theatre performances on HIV, AIDS and drugs abuse in six RC branches. The performances were held inside the schools. Around 3,000 students, teachers, and school principals came to watch these performances. Awareness campaigns on HIV, AIDS and drug addiction targeting young people at risk and drug users were also organized by the RC organizations through peer-to-peer to activities, distribution of leaflets containing information about HIV and AIDS as well as the harm caused by drugs. This was done in the main streets where youths spend the majority of their free time. Around 2,000 young people were reached through this activity. Both Red Cross organizations in Kosovo celebrated the World HIV and AIDS Day. Volunteers gathered in the main squares of the biggest cities and disseminated information about HIV and AIDS, distributed awareness raising material and condoms. Red Cross volunteers also played music to entertaind others. Some 500 youths were reached. This project s target group was young people aged between 15 and 27. 11,815 participants of different age groups were reached through this project directly. It is assumed that around 23,630 3 Sexually Transmitted Diseases
5 I M1207069 Pledge-based report July 2012 to July 2013 people indirectly benefited by the improvement of their knowledge and skills about HIV and drug use, and stigma associated with it. The Federation Office with the two Red Cross organizations (RCK and RCKM) in Kosovo has closely cooperated in the implementation and monitoring of the project. Constraints or Challenges No major challenges or constraints hampered the implementation of the programme activities. The International Federation was supporting the local Red Cross organizations to ensure sufficient and stable programme implementation through building their organizational and operational capacity. Contributing to longer-term impact The Red Cross organizations in Kosovo are playing an important role in strengthening local communities and developing civil society. Their programmes strong focus on gender issues, including the family health education project, the social welfare programme and the attention paid to humanitarian values, contribute to this end. With the help of awareness-raising, people are more able to cope with difficult situations once they cannot avoid them. The Red Cross has been among the few humanitarian actors providing such assistance to the most vulnerable. The integration of the fundamental principles and humanitarian values in all programme activities influences people s behaviour by promoting respect for diversity, reducing discrimination, intolerance and violence. The Red Cross organizations in Kosovo, supported by the Italian Red Cross through the International Federation and in cooperation with the Kosovo Ministry of Health, UNICEF and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Cooperation Office in Pristina, worked to improve healthcare knowledge and raise health awareness of the general population through family health education courses. The courses focused on reproductive health, family planning, general family health issues, good parenting and prevention of diseases in rural and urban areas. The courses were held by certified Red Cross public health trainers and were open to both females and males with a special emphasis on mothers and young people. These courses managed to provide information to the participants on the related topics and to improve their knowledge as well as contribute towards their behaviour change. It is, however, difficult to measure or observe immediate results. Results are to be expected only at a later stage, through continuous work with this population. It is important to remember that the social and economic situation very much hampers the speed of change in behavioural patterns. The emphasis of the Red Cross in Kosovo continues to be on implementing programmes through direct services. In doing so, capacity-building is pursued in parallel. Yet, the Red Cross organizations cannot address the existing needs in Kosovo presently without external support. In order to ensure the sustainability of its programmes, and subsequently to contribute to longer-term impact, the Red Cross in Kosovo needs to develop a stable resource base. This will also help in developing capacities further and increase the likelihood for developing more sustainable projects. Looking ahead The Red Cross organizations in Kosovo, supported by the International Federation, will continue to assess the situation of the most vulnerable people living in Kosovo. In its support to the organizations, the International Federation puts an emphasis on identifying new partnerships and new sources of funding. Various stakeholders will be approached for possible joint assistance. In the coming period the International Federation will be particularly focusing on two areas. Firstly, it aims to assist the Red Cross organizations in further improving their level and quality of services to the vulnerable population. This will be achieved through family health education with a special emphasis on women; awareness-raising activities on HIV with a special emphasis on youth; increased response and support to people affected by natural disasters through better trained and equipped disaster response teams; and decreased vulnerability and impact of disasters through risk reduction activities. Secondly, the organizations will strengthen their operational capacities. This will result in a more effective use of the available financial and human resources for the greater benefit of vulnerable people. This objective will be achieved through an enhanced capacity and skills of
6 I M1207069 Pledge-based report July 2012 to July 2013 management and governance structures; the increased number of trained volunteers actively contributing through improved volunteer training and management; the increased number of partnerships through enhanced transparency; and improved public image and better capacity to manage partnerships. How we work All IFRC assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Disaster Relief and the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (Sphere) in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable. The IFRC s vision is to inspire, encourage, facilitate and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies, with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering, and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world. The IFRC s work is guided by Strategy 2020 which puts forward three strategic aims: 1. Save lives, protect livelihoods, and strengthen recovery from disaster and crises. 2. Enable healthy and safe living. 3. Promote social inclusion and a culture of non-violence and peace. Contact information For further information specifically related to this report, please contact IFRC Office in Kosovo: Shafiquzzaman Rabbani, Head of Office, Pristina; phone: +381 38 244 678; email: shafiquzzaman.rabbani@ifrc.org IFRC Europe Zone Office: Getachew Ta`a, Head of Corporate Services and National Society Support, Budapest; phone: +361 888 45 18, email: getachew.taa@ifrc.org