Southern Africa is the epicenter of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, and much of Options' work in Southern Africa is directly linked to HIV & AIDS. Our Johannesburg-based southern Africa regional office, leads on work in Southern Africa.

 

See below for illustrations of Options' work in the region:

Malawi:

Mid-Term Review of Malawi's National AIDS Commission's Grants Facility
This review covered the Grants Facility's impact, efficiency and contribution to the overall implementation of the NAC's Strategic Management Plan.  In addition to undertaking a top-down approach to reviewing the successes and challenges of effective distribution of grants to a wide range of sectors, advising on means to strengthen the facility's operations and impact, and the NAC's documentation, monitoring, and reporting related to the grants facility;  this review also took an innovative bottom-up approach to investigate whether the grants facility was responding adequately to the needs of the many civil society organisations who are working in prevention, care and impact mitigation of HIV and AIDS.

Mozambique & South Africa:
Building on Options reputation as a lead organisation in highlighting the impact of HIV and AIDS on fishing communities (see Eastern Africa profile), Options Alliance SA undertook a desk based review of existing evidence to assess the extent and impact of HIV and AIDS on the fisheries sectors in Mozambique and South Africa for the International Organization for Migration.  This work was the first to simultaneously investigate the impact of HIV and AIDS on artisanal, subsistence and commercial fisheries. 

South Africa:
Between 2001 and 2004 Options was contracted by the EU to provide long-term technical assistance to South Africa's Public Health Sectoral Support Programme. A Health Systems Policy and Planning specialist worked with senior managers in the National Department of Health to strengthen priority setting, support development of draft policies and evaluate the impact of national policies at provincial government level.  For seven months, a Public Private Partnership specialist supported the DoH to initiate and develop a policy framework and guidelines for PPP in procurement, management and transfer of health technology assets.

Mozambique:
Options provided technical assistance on food security, vulnerability and issues relating to HIV and AIDS to Mozambique's PROAGRI II programme for SIDA.  PROAGRI II is the second phase of a sectoral program designed to improve the effectiveness of  Mozambique's public agricultural programmes and institutions in supporting environmentally sustainable equitable growth in rural areas.  Options role included appraising the relevance, feasibility, cost effectiveness and sustainability of the Programme's second phase, and identifying bottlenecks influencing implementation. The work led to the production of a set of recommendations and actions for addressing identified needs, leading to an Aide Memoire between donors and GOM for further implementation of the programme.

Madagascar:
Options has also worked with Marie Stopes International's programme providing high quality, low cost obstetric services to low income women in Madagascar, conducting a clinical and management evaluation of obstetric services, reviewing achievements against project objectives, identifying constraints encountered during implementation, and made recommendations to assist with management of reproductive health centres and implementation of future projects.