GEDE FOUNDATION MEETING WITH MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR AFRICA

Monday June 29

Today, Gede's Managing Director, Mr John Minto, met with the CEO and Founder of Management Strategies for Africa (MSA), Mr Marc Okunnu. MSA is a leading UK based and diaspora led civil society organisation which supports capacity building health programmes in both Ghana and Nigeria. With deep ties to the professional Nigerian diaspora in Europe, MSA is well placed to work with Gede in order to address the mental health 'treatment gap' through the appropriate engagement of expertise within the UK initially. Working with other partners such as Medicine Africa, Gede and MSA are developing ways in which to link facility based Drs in Nigeria to diaspora experts through the use of an existing online training platform. Watch this space for further information.

HAVING THE TIME OF MY LIFE-Shirley, Interviewer of the Prevalence Study

I may never be able to fully explain how it feels to be a part of this project. Having majored in psychology both at an undergraduate and postgraduate level, it is easy to tell how desperately Nigeria as a nation needs to better appreciate the profession and incorporate mental health needs in medical care, especially in the treatment of special populations like those living with HIV/AIDS.

I consider this project the beginning of greater things to come and the stepping stone for improved care not only for those living with HIV but the general population. Thumbs up to Gede Foundation for  making this possible. I will be back with more update on my experiences on the study as we continue with data collection.

HIV Infection and Depression- PLWHAs’ Comments

Gede’s HIV- prevention project in Oyo State (Sponsored by the World Bank) is reaching out to 3000 adults in 2 LGAs with activities designed to mitigate the impacts of the HIV infection in the State.

The one-year grant will contribute to the reduction in the incidence of HIV infection among adults in rural communities using the minimum prevention package intervention (MPPI) strategy with focus on Peer Group Sessions and Focus Group Discussions.

An important meeting was recently held in Oluyoro HIV treatment centre, with a group of PLWHA accessing ART services. Everyone in the group agreed that depression and HIV infection are inter-linked and that people living with HIV are more likely to require superior psychosocial support against the ‘regular’ counselling sessions.

This revelation from the group is significant and will add depth to Gede’s current prevalence study of depression, alcohol use and suicidality among 1200 people living with HIV-AIDS in the FCT. Stay on this page for more update on the survey

Gede’s Programme Support Officer – A Personal Journey

Throughout my 9 years’ experience in Gede’s laboratory (working as a Laboratory Assistant), I came across many cases of people with the double burden of HIV and mental health disorders. Those were years that I was so stranded due to inadequate knowledge in mental health and was unable to help people with their predicament! How I wish those years were these few months that I have been opportune to work in a mental health programme.

Some people were disheartened thinking what the future holds for them in the areas of life partners, how to cope with the drugs (antiretroviral drugs)-every day of their lives, how to disclose their status to their spouses or friends, how to cope with day-to-day challenges and lots more. Clearly, some were depressed, anxious and so on – and these were mental health issues which then I didn’t know and thought it was just a feeling that would soon pass away.

Gede’s evolving focus on mental health is something good that has happened to people living with HIV (PLHIV) as their mental health issues can better be addressed. I hope that you will keep in touch with our work through these blogs and that you learn as much as I have about mental health as our journey continues…John Adokolo

Building a Learning Organization

 In its 2015+ Business Plan, Gede Foundation aims to start the process of building a learning organization as a way of gradually building its brand and be able to sustain its operations in the future.  After months of preparation, a framework for the Learning Organization was developed for Gede Foundation and its very first activity kicked off today, 11 June 2015.  The activity focused on the presentation of the framework to all Gede Team members in Abuja by the Managing Director and the Performance Director for Organisational Development and Support Services.  The aim of the activity is to solicit the team members’ support for the process of building a learning organization. 

 The activity started with interactive sessions among team members on their real-life learning for the past 6 months  and moved on to the presentation of the framework and expected activities for the remaining months of 2015. 

 Please check on this site regularly for more updates on this topic and other activities of the Foundation. 

Gede's Meaningful Impact on Civil Societies

The Gede Foundation continues to impact positively on Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and subsequently on individual lives. This was the feedback given at today’s Mental Health Dialogue where participants attested to the fact that the different topics being presented at the dialogue sessions have helped to give focus and transform their programme activities. One of the participants (a Youth Corper) told the assembled guests that he was determined to attend as many Dialogue sessions as he could because of the exposure he gains to so many issues related to the mental health of young people in particular - essential in his work as a youth coordinator and activist in his community. There was overall consensus that Gede should be given a pat on the back for job well done in this regard. Today’s dialogue had in attendance a fore most Psychiatrist as the presenter. Watch this space for more details.

Gede presents at the International Committee of the Red Cross

Workplace stress is common and may be overwhelming if allowed to continue unnoticed.

In tough economic times, workers at every level are experiencing increased tension and uncertainty in the course of their daily lives and this may result in a number of negative consequences including low productivity.

A humanitarian organization- International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC www.icrc.org ) invited Gede Foundation to present its Managing Stress in the Work place Programme to staff members and their families during ICRC’s family day in Abuja on Saturday June 6.

Dr Sola Ephraim-Oluwanuga (a Consultant Psychiatrist and Head of Department with the National Hospital) represented Gede and took participants through scenarios in which they identified   possible stressors both in the work place and at home, and how they can deal with them. ICRC is currently providing support to internally displaced persons in Adamawa, Borno, Plateau and Gombe States. At the presentation, they were able to appreciate the relevance of addressing ‘burn- out’ among staff members in the course of their work and presented an opportunity for Gede to design and engage more with ICRC in developing a Work place programme among their staff.

Gede’s Managing Stress in the Workplace Programme is aimed at promoting a healthy workforce through a range of work-related interventions among employees. You can contact Godwin Etim via godwin@gedefoundation.org for more information.

Learning to say ‘no’

One of the seductive aspects of ‘strategic planning’ for many NGOs is that it produces a menu of possible programme options which all appear to be ‘do-able’ and, indeed, fundable. However, an increasing number of progressive NGOs are concluding that one of the key skills to be developed within strategic planning is focused on a sharpened ability to say ‘no’. This is deeply counterintuitive to many NGOs who feel that ‘development’ should focus on an all-inclusive approach to problem identification and that ‘all options should remain on the table’. In the case of Gede, we have been working hard on ensuring that our work in (at the current time) researching the links between mental health and HIV-AIDS is well focused and results in the famous three Is of development – Impact (alleviating the negative impact of mental health on people living with HIV-AIDS), Innovation (doing so in a way which adds value to the body of existing approaches) and Influence (raises the awareness of major issues within key stakeholders and decision makers vis-à-vis the evolution of appropriate policies). Within this, we have been careful to clearly identify a ‘sunset clause’, essentially a set of indicators which indicate when our work is ‘done’ – more of which in the next blog tomorrow

The sunset clause – myth or reality?

One of the golden rules of the NGO world is focused on developing an intervention which addresses the clearly identified problem and capacity builds ‘local’ communities to such an extent that they are then able to ‘cope’ for themselves (ie address the problem ‘sustainably’). While seductive as an exercise in logic, reality is often very far from the mark. Modern NGOs are more often than not driven in their programming by the possibility of donor funding and this, in itself (as well as a deep desire to be seen as a sectoral ‘expert’) often leads to an inability to identify a ‘sunset clause’ through which the NGO will ‘leave’ a local community. More often than not, additional donor funds are sourced, sometimes for new of associated ‘problems’ identified within the same local communities. This is also a reason why so many communities suffer from an almost excess of NGO work – look at any low or middle income country and then see where the NGOs are concentrated. The results are often deeply revealing and often reflect an inability of NGOs to re cognise when their work is ‘done’, or faces so many obstacles that it will never be done (often for extremely understandable reasons). Put another way – the real growth in NGO numbers has been experienced in the period from about 1960 – but when did you last hear of an NGO (voluntarily) implementing a sunset clause in their work?

Peer Support Networks

If one looks at the astonishing strides made by HIV-AIDS networks (such as the highly effective Network of People Living With HIV-AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN)), with their focus on high profile advocacy work, as well as the ‘political pressure’ exerted on decision makers and key development community stakeholders, then it is not difficult to start thinking about whether or not mental health would also be well served with similar forward-thinking and well focused groups. At the time of writing, peer support networks (or even, for that matter, user and carer led organisations) are few and far between for those suffering from mental health conditions in low and middle income settings. This has tended to result in the fact that it is often down to NGOs and progressive donors to raise awareness about the prevalence and impact of even common mental disorders such as depression and alcohol abuse. While this is admirable, it also leads (often) to the conclusion that those who suffer most from mental illness remain without a voice through which to advocate for their basic human right to health care. The time will fast some when civil society will need to support the development of these key mental health support groups, surely?