Dataset / Tabular

Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity Study 2001-2003 (South Africa)

author(s) Rural AIDS & Development Action Research Programme (University of the Witwatersrand) - Small Enterprise Foundation - London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
from World Bank Group (WB)
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themes
regions
  • Northern Europe
  • Europe
  • World
  • Southern Africa
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Africa
citation

Rural AIDS & Development Action Research Programme (University of the Witwatersrand); Small Enterprise Foundation; London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 'Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity Study 2001-2003 (South Africa)', 2012

Publications and datasets provided via GARDIAN

Abstract

In 1999, in response to the escalating AIDS epidemic in South Africa, the National Department of Health established a new initiative to design, implement and evaluate strategies for addressing HIV/AIDS within three pilot sites across the country. All three sites we re responsible for implementing a core re package of HIV- related services and support, including the provision of voluntary counselling and testing services and the training of health care workers in the implementation of National HIV/AIDS clinical care guidelines. However, in addition to this basic package, the pilot sites we re encouraged to test more innova t i ve and multi-sectoral approaches to HIV control, and it is in this context that the IMAGE (Intervention with micro-finance for AIDS and Gender Equity) Study was developed.

The IMAGE study 2001-2003 is a programme of intervention research based in Sekhukhuneland - a densely settled rural area of South Africa’s Limpopo Province. Collaborative partners include a microfinance NGO, the Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF), academic institutions from the South and North - the University of the Witwatersrand's Rural AIDS & Development Action Research Programme (RADAR) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine - and national government (South African
National Department of Health).

The study combines a poverty alleviation programme and participatory learning and action intervention. The intervention comprises participation in TCP and access to "Sisters for Life" training sessions. The Small Enterprise Foundation Credit Program, (TCP) is a poverty-targeted micro-finance programme operating in the Limpopo Province. The "Sisters for Life" programme, a two phase participatory learning and action curriculum developed in South Africa, and implemented with TCP clients during fortnightly centre meetings. The IMAGE study seeks to evaluate the impact of this work among clients, their households and their communities. The research provides an opportunity to explore the potential for d e velopmental programs to have a role in pre venting HIV infections and g e n d e r-based violence.The study is built around the prospective follow-up of three cohort pairs; IMAGE clients, young people living in the household of IMAGE clients and young people living in communities where the IMAGE programme was operating.

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