Page Title

On a bitterly cold and rainy evening at the beginning of May, two small children arrived at the gate of Sheelagh Antrobus’ (a Southern Africa Trust associate) home in the KZN Midlands. Barefoot, dressed in thin t-shirts and shorts and drenched from the icy rain, they handed her a note, written on the back of an old envelope. “Please help. I am sick and cannot work. We have no food in my house. My husband is dead. Please help me feed my children.”

Sheelagh had come face to face with the harsh reality of how HIV/AIDS is decimating rural farming communities. This family farms a few hectares in a fertile valley 30Km from Pietermartizburg, but with the lingering death of the father a year before, the mother in the terminal stages of HIV/AIDS and both children too small for heavy labour, they had not planted their usual crops of maize and vegetables.

In the dark and damp home, as the children fed a few twigs onto the small fire, the bedridden mother explained that she had sold their cattle and goats over the previous months to pay off mounting debts and had slaughtered their last chicken the week before. The family was starving.

Further enquiries revealed that this family is not alone. Throughout the valley, other rural families are in a similar predicament and their ability to help each other is almost non-existent.

Sadly, this scene is being played out across 14 countries in southern Africa, in millions of rural households. In October 2006, the World Food Programme sounded a warning that the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS was having a direct, negative impact on food security in southern Africa.

Health experts estimate that between seven and eight million farmers have already been lost to the pandemic in the past few years.

In rural communities, where small-scale farming is the sole means of survival for the entire families, the impact is very real. HIV/AIDS wreaks havoc with farming calendars as people become too ill to work. Farming activities are neglected as more time is spent nursing the sick. No crops planted mean no food for the family and no income. Health expenses creep up. Livestock is slaughtered or sold off. Fields lie barren and soil fertility declines. Children stop attending school, either to care for ill parents or to undertake farming activities. Inevitably, it is women and children who are most affected.

In all countries in southern Africa, HIV/AIDS has accelerated rural poverty and the breakdown of family structures that have over many generations, been the foundation of traditional safety-net mechanisms.

The devastation of HIV/AIDS may be impossible to quantify in human suffering and financial terms, but using tools such as the Household Vulnerability Index (HVI) it is possible to measure the effects of HIV/AIDS on households and communities and plan effective interventions that directly assist those most affected.

The stimulus for the HVI’s development was the realization of the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in southern Africa and the difficulty of accurately quantifying its effects, particularly on rural households.

In 2004, the Food, Agriculture and Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) was commissioned by the Southern Africa Development Community Secretariat to evaluate the impact of HIV and AIDS on rural households in seven SADC countries. This was fundamental to ensure that interventions in the HIV/AIDS crisis were effective.

The study found that traditional targeting mechanisms were largely inaccurate; some vulnerable households were left out of aid programmes because they did not meet the rigid criteria for targeting. For example: households were targeted if they had at least one member who had been positively identified to be living with HIV/AIDS and were living with AIDS orphans. The implications of this, is that those households with one or two members living with HIV/AIDS but who have not been tested, are excluded from intervention programmes.

In 2007, the Southern Africa Trust (along with the SADC and the EU), funded the development of the Household Vulnerability Index by FANRPAN. It is a statistical tool that measures a household’s vulnerability to the ravages of HIV/AIDS, especially on agriculture and food security. It uses three broad classifications: coping, acute and emergency.

Being a home-grown tool, it has the added advantage of being able to take into account the complexities of the real way of life of people in southern Africa, particularly in rural communities.

The HVI uses indicators such as a household’s access to natural assets (land), physical assets (livestock, equipment), financial assets (savings) and human capital assets (farm labour). These are assessed and a vulnerability score is calculated for each household in a community. By categorizing households in this way, a more impactful and beneficial response can be made.

What makes the HVI so valuable is that in being able to quantify a family’s vulnerability, governments and NGOs can target the worst affected households first and possibly, save lives. Where a relief agency has a package of interventions, such as food distribution, income generation or agricultural production, the HVI helps to identify which households require which intervention, within the same community. In this way, the aid offered will have a far greater and more sustainable impact.

Over time, the HVI also helps to check if a household’s vulnerability has decreased and now requires a new intervention. It is also able to spot and compare trends across communities. It can also be used to assess household vulnerability due to other impacts, such as drought, unemployment and poverty.

Reality Byte:

Reality Bytes:

E-Newsletter : Issue 3, May 2008

Originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Bruno has worked as a consultant for the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the Institute of Security Studies (ISS). He previously served as advisor to various ministers in the DRC government at different times, including the ministers of higher education, transport and communications, and defense, and also has extensive experience as a trade representative for public business corporations.

Bruno holds a Masters degree in Diplomatic Studies from the University of Pretoria and is currently a candidate for a PhD in International Politics from the University of South Africa. A diplomat by training, Bruno is a strategic thinker who has solid experience on negotiation, peace, security and development issues.

A very compassionate and sociable person, Bruno is convinced that his abilities can contribute to the welfare of humankind. He believes in positive thinking and is a passionate reader of motivational books. His hobbies include reading, sport and travel. Bruno can be contacted by email at bdindelo@southernafricatrust.org

Meet the Team

This e-newsletter was sent to you because we believe you are interested in the updates. If you would like to unsubscribe from our e-mailing list, please click here. (communications@southernafricatrust.org)

If this was sent to you by a friend or colleague and you would like to add your e-mail address to our mailing list, please send an email to communications@southernafricatrust.org

The Southern Africa Trust is run by a young, energetic, and diverse team. In each edition of Southern Africa CHANGEMAKERS, we will introduce you to one of our dynamic team members.

The Southern Africa Trust appreciates the support it has received from:

Action Update

World Vision, the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and Food & Security Network of Zimbabwe are some of the organisations that are keen to test the HVI in their southern Africa programmes.

A further, long-term goal is to have the HVI tool used by all SADC governments in their policy development processes.

Adding further momentum to tackling the issue of food security in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic is the recently concluded SADC Poverty & Development Conference, which the Southern Africa Trust played a significant role in the preparations for the conference. The Conference Declaration identifies food security as a major priority for all 14 countries in the region.

Policy Alert

Partner Links

News from the Trust

Southern Africa CHANGEMAKERS is an e-newsletter for our donors, friends, partners and anyone concerned about the need to overcome poverty in southern Africa. Please feel free to forward this e-newsletter to any of your colleagues who want to see southern Africa transform into a vibrant, caring and prosperous community!

Do you have a question or comment to share on the Human Vulnerability Index? Please email communications@southernafricatrust.org

Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) is Southern Africa Trust’s grant-partner that promotes food, agriculture and natural resources (FANR) policies through research, analysis and dialogue at the national, regional and global levels.

FANRPAN works through a network of national nodes in twelve countries in southern Africa. Each country node has members comprising stakeholders from government, private sector, farming unions, policy research institutions and non-governmental organizations.

FANRPAN’s core programme encompass HIV/AIDS, Food systems, Agricultural Systems, and Natural Resources and Environment. Visit www.fanrpan.org for more information.

The Southern Africa Trust collaboration with FANRPAN on projects such as HVI, ensures that the research undertaken on the ground filters through to policy makers and influences policy processes and aid programmes. Through this type of intervention, we work to change the root causes of poverty— in this case, the loss of food security caused by HIV/AIDS—and other organizations to plan more effective responses.

Measuring the impact of HIV/AIDS

Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)

Get Involved!

Where your donation goes in grants to other organisations:

Changing Lives Forever

Giving online

Giving online is one of the best methods for us, as it helps us to keep our costs to a mini-mum, so that even more of your donation goes to those who desperately need it. You’re only a few clicks away from providing the support that could change lives forever in southern Africa.

Please go to www.change4ever.org and make a difference, now!

Or, you can always do a direct internet banking transaction from your bank account into ours (details are on www.change4ever.org).

Please be sure to put your name in the Reference section and send a copy of your donation receipt – with your contact details, to info@southernafricatrust.org so that we can accurately register your donation and thank you.

Contact Itumeleng Kgotlagomang on +27 (0)11 318 1012 or email:

ikgotlagomang@southernafricatrust.org if you have any questions about donations.

24,7 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV/AIDS; 59% are women and children. 2007 Southern Africa Trust research study finding

Health experts estimate that between seven and eight million farmers have already been lost to HIV/AIDS

“The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS is having a direct, negative impact on food security in southern Africa.” World Food Programme, 2006

The countries most affected by HIV/AIDS also experienced a slow growth in agricultural productivity and an increase in food insecurity in the past 20 years. This has lead to the establishment of national AIDS commissions in every SADC country.

HUMAN VULNERABILITY INDEX

Coping: The family is able to get by.

Acute: The family desperately needs assistance.

Emergency: Point of no return – requires the best possible expertise.

Families farming—the numbers are declining due to the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Bruno Dindelo - Coordinator: Multi-Stakeholder Policy Dialogue

The HVI is a vital tool for policy makers, development and relief agencies. Not only does it identify who are the worst affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it also ensures that affected households get the most appropriate form of assistance to enhance their resilience to the effects of HIV/AIDS and improve their food security and livelihoods.

“Not only are we now able to tell who is worst affected, we even know the source of their vulnerability.

We are thus able to calculate how much is required to move that household from its situation, to a desired level.”

Tendayi Kureya, Development Data

Projects such as the HVI can, in the long-term, make a difference in the daily lives of millions of people. From Angola to Zimbabwe and in hundreds of communities, the Southern Africa Trust and its grant partners are actively motivating, developing, supporting and lobbying for change at the highest level. By talking to each other and working together, we find home-grown solutions and multiply our efforts to eliminate poverty from southern Africa.

Not only do we support over 70 organisations and through them , thousands of people living in poverty; we also create awareness of the needs of the poor amongst decision-makers and help to create sustainable, workable policies, so that overcoming poverty in southern Africa becomes an achievable goal, one that will benefit every sector, person and country.

To be even more effective, we urgently need your support. Please go to www.change4ever.org and help us, together with our partners, change the lives of people living in poverty. It doesn’t matter how much you give, every single cent counts.

SADC Poverty and Development Conference, Mauritius, April 2008

We are pleased to report back on the inaugural SADC Conference on Poverty and Development which took place in Mauritius last month. What makes this conference so significant is that it was the first time that government, business, donor agencies and civil society were brought together at a regional level, around the issue of sustainable poverty eradication in SADC.

The Southern Africa Trust was deeply involved in the planning for this initiative on various fronts, including technical and financial support to the SADC Secretariat and national governments. We seconded a senior policy advisor to the SADC Secretariat to support the preparations for the conference and also involved the business sector and civil society organisations (NGOs, trade unions, and faith-based organisations) at both a national and regional level in the pre-conference planning.

One of the key achievements of the conference was the agreement to establish a SADC Poverty Observatory to monitor progress made in the implementation of actions to eradicate poverty across the region.

SADC Declaration

All 14 SADC countries signed a Declaration on poverty eradication and sustainable development, committing themselves to prioritize the following key issues:

* Achieving food security in a situation of growing global food shortages;

* Addressing the adverse impact of climate change in the fight against poverty;

* Increasing capacity in power generation and transmission as well as secure greater use of renewable and alternative sources of energy;

* Achieving higher economic growth through accelerated regional integration, pro-poor trade liberalisation and economic development;

* Developing and sustaining human capabilities through increased access of the population to quality and appropriate education, training, welfare and social development, nutrition, health, and sporting services as well as information in all Member States; and

* Accelerating development, rehabilitation and maintenance of Infrastructure for Regional Integration.

The Declaration went further to outline the major steps that all SADC countries will take to achieve these objectives – one of them being to, “Strengthen our partnerships with the private sector and civil society at large, to mobilise financial and technical resources to combat poverty at its roots.”

To read the full Declaration, please click here.

Theme: “Regional Economic Integration: A strategy for Poverty Eradication Towards Sustainable Development

The role of civil society in policy development around regional poverty eradication cannot be emphasized enough. The conference was a significant step along the road to an integrated, multi-stakeholder approach to tackling poverty in 14 countries.

Following the conference, the main role of civil society will be to participate in the planned regional Poverty Observatory, bring their valuable expertise on sustainable poverty reduction strategies to the table, and interact with government, business and donor agencies, to ensure that meaningful actions are taken to reduce poverty throughout the region.

The CSO Declaration highlights a number of areas where poverty eradication efforts must be focused. These include agriculture and food security, land reform, migration, labour, education, health (HIV/AIDS), trade and investment, foreign investment and inter-regional trade.

To read the full SADC Civil Society Declaration, please click here.

Southern African Civil Society Declaration on Poverty and Development

How HIV/AIDS affects food security of agriculture-dependent families

We dream of the day when poverty in southern Africa is but a long-distant memory.

We believe it can happen...Do you?

Upcoming Events