South-South collaboration in Côte d'Ivoire
In 2005, the Alliance opened an office in Côte d’Ivoire, a post-conflict country with one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in West Africa (seven per cent). The Côte d’Ivoire programme aims to increase HIV/AIDS prevention and care services, strengthen voluntary counselling and testing, and support access to anti-retroviral treatment.
Remarkably, this new organisation was built up to a fully functioning office in less than a year. At the end of 2005, the organisation had already awarded 54 grants to 38 NGOs for a total of nearly $1 million, covering 13 out of 19 regions in Côte d’Ivoire. It has supported nearly 7,000 orphans and vulnerable children and provided voluntary counselling and testing to 2,500 people. In addition, just 18 months after its inception, it will be bidding to receive funds directly from USAID. Remarkably, all this was achieved against a backdrop of ongoing violence and conflict.
This record accomplishment was achieved by harnessing resources from across the Alliance. South–South assistance provided by the Alliance organisations Alliance Nationale Contre le SIDA (ANCS) in Senegal and Initiative Privée et Communautaire Contre le SIDA (IPC) in Burkina Faso played a key role in strengthening the capacity of the Alliance in Côte d’Ivoire.
ANCS provided the Côte d’Ivoire office with training in financial and grants management, community assessment and prevention techniques for highly vulnerable populations. In addition, IPC’s experience of working with orphans and vulnerable children in Burkina Faso became the basis for the development of a similar strategy in Côte d’Ivoire.
