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Our programme initiatives > RAISA
ContentsWhat's new on RAISA?RAISA II Launch
The second phase of VSO's RAISA project was launched on 24 Oct 2005 in Pretoria, South Africa. This launch celebrated the successful implementation of RAISA phase 1 (2000-04) and the beginning of a further 3 years (2005-08) of the initiative.
RAISA Conference 2005
VSO's Regional AIDS Initiative for Southern Africa (RAISA)'s 4th annual regional conference was held on October 25-27 in Pretoria, South Africa. The theme of this conference was You don’t belong here: fear shame and blame around HIV & AIDS. The conference analysed the sources and forms of stigma and discrimination, reviewed programmes working to reduce it, and built linkages among organisations and countries. Read more about the RAISA 2005 Conference » What is RAISA?
RAISA (Regional AIDS Initiative of Southern Africa) is a four-year VSO initiative seeking to strengthen the response to the HIV & AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa. It aims to join forces with government institutions and civil society organisations to provide effective prevention, treatment, care and advocacy for people affected by HIV & AIDS, and to mitigate the personal, social and economic impact of the pandemic.
Partnerships lie at the heart of all of VSO and RAISA's work, and the essence of RAISA is to provide in-country partners with building blocks which strengthen their capacity to develop their multi-sectoral programmes and to increase their impact.
RAISA focuses on marginalised groups - particularly people living with HIV and/or AIDS, women, children, and youth. By working with local partners, we aim to:
- Provide volunteer development workers to build capacity of civil society, NGOs, and governments to address HIV & AIDS. This includes providing technical assistance in areas such as organisational development, management skills training, fundraising, and marketing
- Provide health professionals in health education, sexual and reproductive health, clinical treatment, and psychosocial care to support the health sector in responding to the pandemic.
- Mainstream HIV & AIDS into VSO's work in rural and urban development, education, health, business and social development. To facilitate this, we provide on-going support such as training programmes, small grants, and resources to volunteer development workers and their colleagues.
- Increase political commitment, combat stigma and discrimination, and improve national and regional responses to the AIDS pandemic by supporting the advocacy and policy work of civil society, NGOs, and governments
- Document "best practice" and lessons learned regionally through information sharing, sectoral workshops, and exchange visits.
RAISA and volunteering
RAISA responds to the identified needs of partners in the specified countries. Through this cooperation, a key strategy of VSOand RAISA is to place low cost, long-term skilled and experienced volunteers with government institutions, community-based groups and non-governmental organisations in the areas of human resource deficiency upon their request and based upon identified needs.
VSO volunteers come from a wide range of professional disciplines and work with their in-country colleagues to share skills and strengthen the organisations' ability to manage and deliver their services more effectively.
VSO uses the term 'mainstreaming 'to describe the overall concept of a multi-sectoral response to HIV & AIDS in sectors where the pandemic may not ordinarily be addressed, eg teachers tackling prevention issues in classrooms or community extension workers raising awareness of good nutrition for HIV+ people as part of a rural livelihoods programme.
Other volunteers are placed in capacity building placements, these placements may either be with NGOs or government structures to build organisational capacity to implement better quality and more effective HIV & AIDS interventions. All volunteer experiences will be used to feed into RAISA's global learning around appropriate intervention methodologies.
A few volunteer placements are currently supported by the private sector (notably Barclays and Accenture) who are also keen to raise awareness among their staff about HIV & AIDS and to support VSO's work.
Some case studies of volunteers' experiences
 | AIDS within these walls (Carl Edmonds, Zambia) (pdf, 12.8kb)
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| Financial Manager (Iain McLaren, Muzama Crafts, Zambia) (pdf, 8.8kb)
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| Maths Teachers (Helen Rowlands and Beth Willamsom, Zambia) (pdf, 14.4kb)
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| Medical Officer (Ineke Linden, Namibia) (pdf, 7.4kb)
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| Physiotherapist (Erika Burger, Kachere) (pdf, 17.1kb)
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| Portuguese/English Teacher (Elsa Pinho, Mozambique) (pdf, 7.5kb)
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| Regional HIV & AIDS Co-ordinator (Carolien Aantje, Namibia) (pdf, 26.3kb)
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The RAISA Small Grants Fund
The RAISA Small Grants Fund (SGF) is a tool to provide support for capacity building and integration of HIV & AIDS activities by supporting innovative projects. The SGF operates in each country providing grants of up to £1,000 to enable partner organisations to build capacity, initiate training or undertake advocacy work. Small grants have proved to be particularly effective in being able to support community based organisations that are too small to access bigger funding or additional human resources.
The primary beneficiaries are grass roots community-based organisations whose interventions are serving communities, supporting people living with HIV & AIDS and incorporating work around gender and orphans & vulnerable children.
Any organisation interested in applying for a small grant should contact their RAISA country co-ordinator directly.
Examples of small grant funded projects
Exchange programmes
In order to share learning and build regional links, RAISA arranges study tours and exchanges between our partners. RAISA encourages partners to make links either nationally or regionally to provide a forum for learning. If you have identified key learning needs for your organisation or if you have positive experiential learning to share with others please contact your local country coordinator for more information.
Examples of previous exchanges
Workshops and conferences
RAISA also shares best practice and learning on HIV & AIDS through national and regional workshops. Every year each country office organises a workshop based on a particular theme. Additionally there is one regional workshop also based on a set theme. The purpose of the workshops is to bring together both partners who are already involved in the specified theme or those who would like to become involved, to share lessons learnt and suggest ways forward. Contact your coordinator to be kept up to date on when and what the upcoming workshop theme will be.
Reports from workshops and conferences
| Challenges of Care Report 1-2007 (pdf, 2971.5kb)
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| RAISA 2007 Food and Security conference report (pdf, 4207.4kb)
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| Read the report from the 2005 RAISA conference (pdf, 2916.1kb)
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| RAISA II launch (pdf, 84.6kb)
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| Capacity building in times of HIV & AIDS (pdf, 1859.5kb)
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| Orphans and vulnerable children conference (pdf, 3663.2kb)
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| Orphans and vulnerable children conference (without photos) (pdf, 903.4kb)
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| HIV & AIDS and disability (Full report) (pdf, 1421.1kb)
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| HIV & AIDS and disability (Text-only version) (pdf, 409.6kb)
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| Taking action towards positive behavioural change (Malawi) (pdf, 20.9kb)
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| Orphans and vulnerable children (Zimbabwe) (pdf, 184.1kb)
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| Education sector employer workshop (Mozambique) (pdf, 48kb)
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| Tomorrow's future: Today's choices (Orphans and vulnerable children) (pdf, 35.7kb)
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| 3rd regional RAISA conference (Men, HIV and AIDS, initial conference brief) (pdf, 14.3kb)
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| Men, HIV and AIDS (Full report) (pdf, 2681.6kb)
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| Men, HIV and AIDS (Text-only version) (pdf, 506.6kb)
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| 2nd regional RAISA conference (Volunteerism in response to the AIDS pandemic) (pdf, 154.1kb)
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| 1st regional RAISA conference (pdf, 98.5kb)
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Research and materials
RAISA works to support and improve existing material which includes the development and production, procurement and dissemination of HIV & AIDS materials (eg training manuals, information, videos, posters.) The project also develops and disseminates its own materials, for example training for development workers on how HIV & AIDS issues impact on development and how HIV & AIDS issues can be integrated into diverse development activities.
Each country has a Resource Centre with a specific HIV & AIDS section, contact your coordinator for further information.
Global Challenge Local Response
This training pack consists of a video and facilitator's guide. The video focuses on how VSO as a development agency is integrating HIV & AIDS in all sectors within Southern Africa. Introduced by Elton John, the video was shot in Namibia and Zambia and is 28 minutes long. The pack is available for sale at £20.00 (excl postage and packing). To order, please e-mail lorna.robertson@vso.org.uk.
Download other materials
| RAISA newsletter (April 2005) (pdf, 52.4kb)
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| RAISA newsletter (November 2004) (pdf, 69.9kb)
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| HIV & AIDS and disability (Full report) (pdf, 1421.1kb)
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| HIV & AIDS and disability (Text-only version) (pdf, 409.6kb)
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| Men, HIV and AIDS (Full report) (pdf, 2681.6kb)
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| Men, HIV and AIDS (Text-only version) (pdf, 506.6kb)
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| Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS (Looking beyond awareness) (pdf, 2552.2kb)
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| Knowledge to behaviour change (pdf, 462.3kb)
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| Home care of the terminally ill (produced by the training department at Island Hospice, Zimbabwe, with RAISA small grant funding) (pdf, 83.5kb)
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| VSO/RAISA annual review 2002 (pdf, 4197.2kb)
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| RAISA newsletter (March 2004) (pdf, 64kb)
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| RAISA newsletter (December 2003) (pdf, 168.4kb)
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| RAISA newsletter (November 2003) (pdf, 165.3kb)
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| RAISA newsletter (September 2003) (pdf, 63.2kb)
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| RAISA newsletter (June 2003) (pdf, 69.2kb)
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| RAISA newsletter (March 2003) (pdf, 70.7kb)
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| RAISA newsletter (Yebo) (January 2003) (pdf, 47.5kb)
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| RAISA Zambia: Boys' Gender Awareness Programme (pdf, 300.3kb)
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| RAISA Zambia: Girl's Empowerment Programme (pdf, 348.9kb)
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If you'd like more information on RAISA, please contact your nearest RAISA coordinator. 
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