Join Project SOAR for a webinar featuring the latest evidence and insights from implementation science research in Malawi and capacity-strengthening activities with DREAMS implementing partners (IPs) in Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti, Namibia, and Rwanda.
The DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) Partnership aims to significantly reduce HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW).1 DREAMS is groundbreaking in its commitment to deliver evidence-informed approaches that go beyond the health sector to address structural factors that fuel AGYW’s HIV risk, including poverty, gender inequality, sexual violence, social isolation, and lack of schooling.
Our role in DREAMS is to generate evidence and strengthen local capacity to translate local, real-time information into programming.
In this webinar, SOAR/Population Council researchers will cover:
- What AGYW in Malawi tell us about their vulnerability to HIV.
- How this information is being used to inform programming.
- Lessons learned from strengthening DREAMS implementing partner capacity to improve their ability to reach at-risk, marginalized AGYW who are often—inadvertently—overlooked by conventional HIV prevention efforts.
Presentations
Moderator
Amelia Peltz, U. S. Agency for International Development
HIV risk among out-of-school AGYW enrolled in DREAMS programming in Malawi. Nanlesta Pilgrim of Project SOAR/Population Council will present findings from a survey with 1,672 out of school AGYW, aged 15–24, recruited early in the implementation of the DREAMS Go! Girls Club Program. Dr. Pilgrim will discuss their risk profiles—including their sexual behavior, relationship characteristics, use of HIV services—and the program implications of the findings. Subsequent data collection will assess how engagement in the program influences HIV vulnerability among AGYW.
Strengthening the capacity of DREAMS IPs to design and implement girl-centered programming. Miriam Temin of Project SOAR/Population Council will discuss insights from using the Population Council’s suite of evidence-informed tools and tactics to promote evidence-informed DREAMS programming, which were the focus of SOAR’s technical assistance workshops and coaching in DREAMS countries. Ms. Temin will describe progress in building knowledge and skills among the IPs to improve coverage in reaching the “right” AGYW, and lessons learned, challenges, and recommendations regarding the capacity strengthening process.
1 The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Girl Effect, Johnson & Johnson, Gilead Sciences, and ViiV Healthcare are together supporting the DREAMS Partnership in 10 sub-Saharan countries.
Photo credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture