UN Women UBRF Project

In 2021, UN Women in collaboration with the Association of Women Living with HIV&AIDS under a project tagged ‘Enhancing the Institutional and Technical Capacity of Women and Girls Living in Nigeria towards more Inclusive and Sustainable HIV Response in Nigeria (EITC)’. Two batches of zonal and steps down training on Gender Based Violence and Stigma Reduction trainings were conducted for 1000 coordinators and members of the Association of Women Living with HIV in Nigeria (ASWHAN) of Nigeria from across the thirty-six states and the Federal Capital Territory with representatives from Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN), Association of Positive Youths Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (AYPIN) and other relevant partners.Through the Gender-Based Violence and Stigma Reduction trainings, the women, girls, and representatives gained knowledge and skills on how to prevent, mitigate and respond to GBV and stigma. In addition, commitments for more political and strategic partnership for AWSHAN were obtained from the heads of NACA, National Human Rights Commission, UNAIDS and other development partners. Furthermore, the Pili Film and the Toolkit for Action: Making the HIV Response Work for Women through Film were disseminated and popularized at the trainings too. Another major milestone achieved in the course of the training and advocacy workshops was the level of increased visibility created for ASWHAN as several media organizations that covered and reported the training called on the need to re-prioritise the group in terms of policy, Programme and investment in line with the living-no-one-behind principles of the sustainable development goals In 2022, UN Women engaged a consultant and provided technical and financial support for the development of a five-year strategic plan for ASWHAN. The strategic note came with a plan for resource mobilization and relevant perspective donors and supporters. The UN Women provided technical support for the development of a one year Operation plan for ASWHAN which highlighted key and relevant activities to be implemented within the one year period. It is against this background that UN Women supported ASWHAN to implement the HIV-UBRF activities across 16 states. ASWHAN conducted the training of 30 Mentor-Mothers to enhance their capacity for uptake of PMTCT and EID services, Mental health and wellness, and GBV SRHR for Adolescent girls and young women, online Relationship coaching. During sessions discussion and interaction participants shared their learning experiences on PMTCT services in their various facilities and states majorly were tracking of pregnant HIV positive women and nursing mothers back to care and ensure retention, address challenges associated with disclosure, breastfeeding education with practical demonstration of right positioning of babies for effective breastfeeding as well as how to be a good counseling.