Supporting Women At-Risk and Vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in the Philippines (ADB- RETA 6143)

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Project Description

RETA 6321, Subproject 5, provides technical assistance to the Philippine Department of Health (DOH), local government units (LGUs), and NGOs to strengthen the country response to HIV/AIDS, specifically for two groups considered vulnerable, viz., injecting drug users (IDUs) and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). The outputs include (i) situation analysis on HIV, IDUs, and OFWs; (ii) training and capacity building for HIV/AIDS awareness and IDUs; and (iii) piloting harm reduction interventions among IDU populations. The Project for $600,000, financed by the Government of Sweden HIV/AIDS, commenced in June 2007 and will be completed by November 2008. Several gender-specific issues emerged during Project implementation and should be addressed to strengthen gender-related project outputs. (The current TA does not include women as a specific target group for Components 1 and 2, except in the case of the female spouses of seafarers who are research respondents.) First, the need for an in-depth understanding of the situation of female IDUs to enable the design of gender-specific responses for harm reduction (Component 1); second, addressing HIV vulnerability of female spouses of seafarers through the identification of specific HIV prevention strategies (Component 2); and third, gathering information on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV/AIDS- related issues of female seafarers to develop information and communication strategies and services for SRH and HIV/AIDS prevention and control (Component 2). These additional activities will enhance and strengthen the existing TA, especially in enriching the gender perspective in the analysis of HIV vulnerability of seafarers and IDUs. It will also facilitate community-based HIV prevention activities directly for the OFW sector, a component that is not included in the original TA. Additional funding from the Gender and Development Cooperation Fund (GDCF) is required to address the outlined issues.

The proposed activities will be the implemented through the TA consultant team in close collaboration with DOH and other relevant stakeholders. In addition, the following consultants will be engaged to implement the above activities: (i) Project Coordinator (8 person months [p-m]; (ii) Research Consultants (2 for total of 11 p-m) and Research Assistants (2 for total of 10 p-m); (iii) a Training Team; (iv) Behavioral Change Communication Specialist (1 p-m); and (v) Policy Advisor (1 p-m). Their terms of reference are in Appendix 2. The consultants will work closely and collaborate with relevant international organizations and with the following existing spouses’ associations in the respective areas in the conduct of training activities: Mary’s Star of the Sea Seafarers’ Families Association (MSSSFA) in Davao City and the Homeowners’ Association in Seaman’s Village, Dasmarinas, and Cavite. For the studies on female seafarers and female IDUs, the consultants will work in close cooperation with selected manning agencies, which deploy female seafarers, and with local partners in Cebu and Zamboanga City. The Project is envisaged to begin in March 2008 and end in November 2008. The research will run from March to September 2008 and hold a dissemination forum in October 2008. The trainings and the establishment of the local SRH referral mechanism will cover the period, March to July 2008, and the production of IEC/BCC materials will take place from August to October 2008.

PRIMEX team involved

Josefina Ma. Ferriols-Pavico – Project Coordinator

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