Siyancuma Municipality HIV/AIDS Task Team

In August of 2003, the Municipal Development Unit (MDU) approached the Siyancuma Municipality located in the Karroo District in Northern Cape regarding the establishment of an HIV/AIDS Task Team.  The project quicky gained the support of the Municipal Manager and the Mayor after workshops about prevention and destigmatising social perceptions were held.  Funding from the Swiss SIDA/IDA and the Municipal Training and Development Institute (MTI) was provided, and subsequently the Siyancuma Municipality Task Team was launched in February 2004.  The Core Task Team (CTT) and Broader Task Team (BTT) participants included municipal officials, Community Based Organisations, Non Government Organisations, schools, the National African Farmers Union, churches and the Department of Social Services.

The main objective of the of the CTT and the BTT was to educate members of the community about the realities of AIDS/HIV stigmas, prevention and social impact.  They created 4 mini-awareness campaigns. The campaigns distributed condoms, ran door to door sessions encouraging VCT, conducted meetings with churches and gender committees of schools, extended the hours of the local mobile medical clinic, and ran awareness activities in farm schools.

5 development activities were also initiated to complement the awareness campaigns, as the task teams baseline study identified poverty and unemployment as major contributing factors to the prevalence of HIV?AIDS.  The projects included: upgrading and renovating the trading centre and taxi rank at Douglas, the revamping of the Riverside Douglas Holiday Resort to encourage tourism, and the development of Khoisan tourism throughout the municipality.  The fifth endeavor involved the construction of a service station outside Schmidtsdrift. 

Innovation

The creation of a successful task team of this nature, that combines a municipal and community-based partnership, established to specifically address health issues and negative social perceptions, directly resulting from AIDS/HIV infection is innovative. 

Effectiveness

Several awareness campaigns and public meetings have been held in the participating towns; consequently, people have begun to seek out more information about prevention and living with AIDS/HIV.
 

Poverty Impact

Specific projects have been identified to address the high unemployment and poverty levels that have contributed to the spread of the disease and these include, 5 local economic development projects, 3 of these will support local tourism, 1 project will develop and upgrade the local river resort, while the fifth involves the construction of a service station outside Schmidtsdrift.

Sustainability

Support funding was provided by SALA/IDA (Sweden), administered by the Municipal Training and Development Institute (MTI). The total cost of the project is estimated at R800,000. SALA/IDA funding ended in April 2005. The municipality, the project host, will take responsibility for continued support of the task team and the project.

Replication

The Siyancuma Municipality HIV/AIDS task team is a replicable model for other municipalities, particularly in the Northern Cape, where remote municipalities can benefit for such local expertise.
 

Partnerships

• Siyancuma Local Municipality
• Swedish Association of Local Authorities (SALA)
• Computer and Information Science (IDA)
• Municipal Training and Development Institute
• Broader Forum of NGOs
• Community Representatives
• Service Providers