Baylor - Project Concern International Collaborative TOT and Community Volunteer Training

In 2009, the COE undertook a new and exciting training partnership with Project Concern International Building Bridges Program, which provides grants and technical assistance to 12 of Botswana's NGOs with a goal of delivering integrated HIV/AIDS services to families. Services being integrated at family level are: support services for orphans and vulnerable children, palliative care, ART access and adherence support, and prevention for PLHA and vulnerable children/adolescents. The major approach used by NGOs to providing services to the family is through home visits, during which clients are identified, needs assessed, services provided when necessary and referrals made. At the centre of service provision in a home are community volunteers.

In the first of two Baylor-PCI trainings, COE trainers facilitated a course designed to familiarize NGO leadership with age-appropriate ART access and support for children, adolescents and their families. The COE training team then conducted a second course, this time using a training-of-trainer approach to certify trainers among the NGO workers so that they might in turn capacitate community volunteers to provide needed support to children and families affected and infected by HIV/AIDS, including: (1) ART access and adherence support to enable them identify needs of the families, (2) appropriate home-based care services and (3) appropriate referrals as necessary.

In the coming months Baylor and PCI will support the ToTs to mobilize and train community volunteers. This model of training has been highly appraised by attendees. Baylor intends to standardize the training model and make it available to other organizations and planning to train on community based Pediatric HIV/AIDS treatment and care.