16 Oct 2019

Humana People to People (HPP) country director, Mr Moses Ntsuke says all their projects in 2018 were a success and that it means improved lives for targeted groups. 

He revealed this at the non governmental organisation’s 2018 progress report launch themed promoting culture of civil society organisations, accountability and transparency in Gaborone on Thursday.

He said HPP has since the past year strived to achieve the second pillar of Vision 2036 which is human and social development.

He said they achieved that through the Humana Child Aid, Communities Acting Together to Control HIV (CATCH) and the Farmers Club.

Mr Ntsuke noted that they set up Child Aid in Selibe-Phikwe and Ghanzi where they provided psycho-social services to 2 950 orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) and empowered 6 000 families to create their own development.

“To help enhance household economies to be able to support children, HPP trained and supported families to set up savings groups called Grassroots Building Our Wealth (GROW) which are long-term structures through which women made savings and assisted each other with internal micro-loans and set up income generating activities.”

The director highlighted that last year, 896 vulnerable families benefited both financially and socially from GROW while 2 416 people were supported both in Selibe-Phikwe and Ghanzi by the GROW groups.

He said since June 2015, HPP Botswana has been implementing a community based strategy called CATCH which empowered communities to drive actions create  HIV/AIDS awareness spearheaded by chiefs in different places.

Mr Ntsuke said they implemented the malaria elimination project to contribute to the elimination of malaria infection and disease in Botswana in line with the country’s vision in 2020.

“HPP educated and empowered communities on strategies to eliminate the vectors of malaria such as draining breeding places, sleeping under insecticide treated nets among others.”

He said the Ministry of Health and Wellness and Global Fund supported HPP to increase coverage of malaria elimination activities in endemic districts through a community driven approach led by villages’ leadership.

By the end of 2018, the project had reached 91 883 people with malaria messages through 49 campaign sessions conducted with 17 069 people screened for malaria, 13 456 tested and nine received treatment.

He said the Farmers Club was introduced to reduce vulnerability and food insecurities through the club’s collaboration with the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security extension workers who provided training on best farming methods.

In a mission to bring services to the people, the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) project was introduced to achieve an empowered AIDS-free generation of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Kweneng East and Gaborone Districts.

Over 300 DREAMS beneficiaries received mentorship, life skills education and prevention of HIV and violence services through safe space enrollment in which 9 353 adolescent girls and young women were reached with HIV prevention messages through door-to-door drives.

Giving a testimony on the programme, Ms Ipelo Nkomba, who was enrolled in safe space, said she used to be shy and lacked confidence but through the project she has grown to be free and confident to stand before crowds.

“Through safe space, I have managed to come out of my shell, resist peer pressure and got back to my straight A’s I used to get before being badly influenced by my peers.”

Despite her intelligence she had in the past she dropped to a B/C pupil

Ms Nkomba said that through the family matters programme, DREAMS mentors taught them about matters affecting dream girls and their parents.

She said that safe spaces were places where they felt most safe and free to talk about any issue affecting them, be it sex, unhealthy relationships or conflict.

HOPE-90-90-90 project beneficiary, Mr Thabang Maano said he started working with HPP in 2017 when he defaulted with his medication.

“The HPP workers did not lose hope on me but helped me to take my medication loyally, and they never got weary as they visited regularly. Given HPP’s good work the community’s role is essential to ensure that they reach out to more people.”

A representative from one of HPP’s partners, BONASO, Mr Gobe Taziba encouraged HPP not to do things for people but to let them do things for themselves for sustainable development. ENDs