Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop

Gede Foundation is a recipient of the World Bank/NACA grant for HIV/AIDS Fund (HAF-II) in Oyo State. The Foundation’s core target in the grant is to implement HIV prevention activities in 2 local government areas-Ibadan North East and Ibadan South West over the course of a two year period, 2014-2015.

The grant will reach 3000 adults with a minimum HIV prevention package intervention (MPPI) and, working with the Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN) as a sub-recipient, the two organizations will ensure that grant guidelines are adhered to.

On January 22 2015, a Performance Workshop in Ibadan underlined the importance of M& E and supported the strengthening of agencies involved in the project. For more information on HAF-2 grants, you can reach Peter Oshadami through poshadami@gedefoundation.org.

Synapse/Reconnect

Today, senior managers from the Gede Foundation met with members of Synapse/Reconnect, a leading private mental health institution based in Abuja whose work also extends to community outreach to raise awareness about the dangers of substance abuse, most particularly drug addiction. The purpose of the meeting was to exchange insights into the projects being run by the respective organisations and resulted in a commitment to explore avenues through which the core competences of both Gede and Synapse/Reconnect could be harnessed into potential projects for the benefit of those suffering from a range of mental health disorders, especially in community based settings.

Calabar

Working with senior Officers from 146 Battalion, Gede made a presentation to over 70 personnel on the importance of good mental health. As is widely recognized, members of the armed forces experience unique challenges in terms of developing and maintaining good mental health and the presentation by the Foundation to members of the Battalion reflects both this growing recognition and the motivation of senior Battalion Officers to ensure that all aspects of the working and living conditions of their personnel are considered. 

Gede would like to thank, through this blog, all members of 146 Battalion who were instrumental in making the presentation such a success. The Foundation will continue to work with senior Battalion Officers to develop an appropriate and long term programme of mental well being skills over time. Watch this space for further developments.

2015 OVC Enrollment

Orphans and Vulnerable Children were screened and enrolled into 2015 Gede’s OVC project in Jikoko, Durumi and Katampe communities. The exercise will continue in 12 selected communities in the FCT and will allow 125 beneficiaries to be registered into several vocational training centres and schools for this year’s support.  

Using the National child-vulnerability index as a guide for enrollment, the exercise raised one very important issue on the plight of the increasing number of children in rural communities who are orphaned by AIDS and other causes. They remain vulnerable to a range of social vices as there are limited safety nets to engage them and address their basic needs.  Gede’s partnership with Addax & Oryx Foundation since 2010, has offered a platform for stigma reduction activities through regular stakeholders’ participation  and  has empowered hundreds of orphans (who were initially out of schools) to be reenrolled and acquire basic education and life skills in order to give them the foundations on which to build promising futures.  An added intervention is being planned, which will promote the mental health of this target population.

Reducing the plight of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Nigeria

In 2003, Gede Foundation began a journey of hope for children orphaned by HIV-AIDS in the FCT. Orphans and vulnerable children who were out of school were reenrolled into various schools and vocational training centers to support their households. Through working with partners, the Foundation has touched the lives of over 4,000 vulnerable children in rural communities across the country and is still exploring more avenues to support this population.

Gede focuses its project activities on ensuring that (i) school age OVCs are provided with the appropriate resources to acquire basic education, and,(ii) older OVCs are enrolled into skills acquisition classes which provide them with  sustainable skills for  income generating activities such as computer engineering, knitting, soap making, bead making ,hairdressing, tailoring, catering, laundry, metalwork and auto mechanics.

On the 17th December, 2014, 90 older orphans who succeeded in this year’s training in various communities were provided with equipment and materials to start their businesses.

Next year, Gede will also work with national partners to develop a programme through which the mental health needs of OVCs and their trainers and carers are also factored into future programming.

Training on WHO CIDI tools

Team members from Gede Foundation attended a 3-day training on the use of the ‘Composite International Diagnostic Interview” (CIDI) tool at WHO’s collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health at the University of Ibadan.

Training focused on three modules namely; depression, suicide and alcohol use. This training is part of the preliminary activities which Gede is undergoing to ensure that the proposed prevalence study ( in early 2015) on depression and substance abuse in the FCT  among  a sample of  1200 people living with HIV is carried out with standardized  and reliable data capturing tools.

Partnering with IHVN, the study will be carried out within an urban and semi-urban ART sites in the FCT.

The overall aim of this survey is to show the prevalence and impact of mental health conditions as a precursor to integrating the screening and treatment of common mental health disorders into HIV-AIDS care and support.

For further information about the study, you can contact Cynthia Ticao-PhD via cjticao@gedefoundation.org

ARFH 25th Anniversary

Today, Gede attended the 25th anniversary of the Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) and participated in the event’s NGO Dialogue Meeting which explored the role of NGOs in national development. ARFH (www.arfh-ng.org) was established in Nigeria in 1989 and has become a leading agency within the sphere of reproductive and family health, with a focus on service delivery as well as providing essential public health information for youths and adults. Gede pays tribute to the significant contribution ARFH has made to a wide range of health issues in Nigeria and wishes them even greater success in the next 25 years.

Gede hosting Mental Health Dialogue and NACA’s Sub Committee on Mental Health meetings

Today, Gede hosted and Chaired two important meetings – (i) a presentation by the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (as part of Gede’s Mental Health Dialogue Programme) on the Psychological Impact of Sexually Transmitted Infections, a much overlooked yet serious public health issues, most particularly in teenagers and adolescents. As with so many mental health issues, the key issues focus on stigma and awareness raising as well as the gap between the number of people needing treatment and the number of health care professionals available to provide it, and, (ii) NACA’s Technical Working Group for Care and Support Mental Health Sub-Committee which is tasked with developing a working model of integrating the screening and treatment/referral of a range of mental health conditions (yet to be defined) in HIV-AIDS care and support regimes run by Adherence Counsellors. The first meeting of the Sub-Committee reflected on a number of key issues, particularly the practicality of asking busy lay health workers to add even more activities to their already full work load. The Sub Committee is due to report back to the Technical Working Group by the end of April 2015

GEDE TO CHAIR THE NATIONAL AGENCY FOR THE CONTROL OF AIDS’ (NACA) MENTAL HEALTH SUB-COMMITTEE ON MENTAL HEALTH

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS in Nigeria reports into the Presidency and is responsible for the overall coordination of the response to HIV-AIDS.
 
At the most recent meeting of NACA’s Technical Working Group held to discuss the National Guidelines on HIV-AIDS Care and Support, participating agencies (including the Association for Reproductive and Family Health, FHI360, PEPFAR, Society for Family Health, USAID) nominated Gede to Chair the newly established Sub-Committee on Mental Health.
 
The work of the Sub-Committee, which will meet for the first time on December 3 2014, will, in part, focus on assessing ways in which mental health can be integrated into national HIV-AIDS care and support regimes. Gede’s Chairing of the Sub-Committee reflects the Foundation’s work in terms of undertaking (with partners) a peer reviewed study into the prevalence and impact of common mental disorders in a sample of people living positively in Federal Capital Territory coupled with a project which will assess ways in which the screening and treatment/referral of depression and substance abuse can be integrated into HIV-AIDS care and support.
 
Please return to the site to receive updates on the Sub-Committee’s progress.

Mental Health Dialogue-PRAWA

On Wednesday November 13 2014, as part of Gede’s ‘Mental Health Dialogue Programme’, PRAWA (Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action) delivered an insightful presentation to 18 representatives from Civil Society Organizations in Gede’s meeting room at 13 Danube Street, Maitama, Abuja.

PRAWA’s presentation focused on the innovative work they have done in terms of the treatment of prisoners, conditions of imprisonment, coupled with the training of Prison Officers on human rights and good prison practice. PRAWA’s work also covers a range of issues involving the mental health of both prisoners and those responsible for their care. For further details about Gede’s ‘Mental Health Dialogue Programme’ and to obtain the list of speakers for November 2014-March 2015, please email Solape Bamijoko.