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Provinces - The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)

 

The Church of Nigeria is legally registered in Nigeria. It has 10 Ecclesiastical Provinces and 97 Dioceses spread across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Abuja. The Anglican Province of Nigeria has a membership of about 18 million people, most of who are youth and women. There are well over 5,000 priests and Church workers. At the time of this documentation, it was anticipated that more Dioceses will be created in the future to enhance service (spiritual and social) delivery.

Vision

The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) is Bible  based, spiritually dynamic, united, disciplined, self supporting, committed to pragmatic evangelism, social welfare and Embraces the genuine love of Christ.

Commission

The Church commits itself to future generations born free from HIV/AIDS by: breaking the silence on HIV/AIDS, informing itself, ending stigma and discrimination and confronting - poverty, inequalities and conflicts.

HIV/AIDS Programme Background

  • In 1996, the Church began addressing the HIV/AIDS situation through some local parishes and diocesan programmes;
  • October 2001: The Church inaugurated her National HIV/AIDS Team, under the auspices of the Church Social Welfare Committee;
  • The same year, the Church officially established her National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care programme;
  • In June 2004, the Church National HIV/AIDS Policy and 4-year Strategic plan were developed, launched and widely disseminated to all Dioceses; The goal of the plan is to contribute to the reduction and prevention of spread of HIV/AIDS within the Church and communities as well as provide Christian care and support to those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS Activities

(a) Leadership, Advocacy and Networking

  • Held 3 national HIV/AIDS sensitization seminars for 82 Bishops and their wives in 2004, 2005 and 2006;
  • Conducted 5 days training for 82 Diocesan HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinators on Programme development, management and advocacy in 2004/5;
  • Provided technical and financial support to 25 Dioceses for community (grassroots) HIV/AIDS interventions in 2005/6;
  • Collaborating and forging linkages with national and International partners within
  • and outside the Church for funding and technical assistance to the National office and Dioceses;
  • Sourced funding to support Church Leaders (Archbishops/Bishops) to attend International and national conferences and dialogue on HIV/AIDS including study visits outside Nigeria.
  • Building alliances and strengthening partnership with development partners.

(b) Capacity Building (Institution)

  • A well-equipped office space within the Province has been established for administration and programme coordination;
  • Established coordinating structures at various levels of the Province. These include the Provincial Action Committee on AIDS (PACA), Ecclesiastical Province Action Committee on AIDS (EPACA), Diocesan Action Committee on AIDS (DACA) and Church Action Committee on AIDS (CACA) in most of the Dioceses;
  • Established 7 integrated VCT centres within existing Hospitals and Clinic across the 10 Ecclesiastical Provinces with functional referral network for accessing ARV;
  • Ongoing plans to strengthen the health related system and structures of the Province and capacity building activities are still ongoing at different levels of the structures.

(c) Capacity Building (Human Resource)

  • Different partners supported 5 of our Bishops on a HIV/AIDS learning visit to Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa;
  • A number of clergy and their wives have been trained on basic facts and pastoral care of HIV/AIDS;
  • Conducted training on HIV/AIDS Advocacy and Communication for 32 Diocesan HIV/AIDS Coordinators and 38 Diocesan Communicators in 2005
  • Trained 24 Education Coordinators on integrating HIV/AIDS into school curriculum, this has resulted to the development of a draft curriculum on HIV/AIDS for theological institutions;
  • Engaged more programme staff at the national office;
  • National and Diocesan Programme coordinators have been supported to attend local, regional and International learning workshops, visit and conferences.

(d) Programme Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation

  • National Programme Coordinator visited and provided technical support to Diocesan HIV/AIDS activities;
  • In the process of institutionalising quarterly reports from Dioceses and sharing feedback from the national office to Dioceses;
  • Quarterly meetings of coordinating bodies are held and yearly programme
  • evaluations of Dioceses activities on HIV/AIDS are carried out.

Major Programme Achievement

  • Increase in the level of leadership involvement and commitment in HIV/AIDS activities as well as ownership of programmes;
  • Increased collaboration with other development organizations and Churches;
  • A number of intervention strategies (VCT, Prevention, HBC, OVC, Care, Support and referrals activities) have been started in different Dioceses;
  • The number of Dioceses and Parishes involved in HIV/AIDS activities have increased.

Lesson Learnt

  • Working with FBOs and Church leaders requires a lot of perseverance, understanding and time;
  • Everyone in an organization is important in HIV/AIDS programming and implementation;
  • Regular communication and updating of stakeholders at all levels of the programme development is very crucial and needs funding support;
  • Church leaders were generally uninformed or wrongly informed on issues of HIV/AIDS;
  • HIV/AIDS programmes and policies need flexibility and sustained funding to be successful;
  • Understanding ones community and culture is essential for successful HIV/AIDS Programme.

Programme Challenges

  • Lack of commitment and active involvement among most Church leaders;
  • Inadequate skills among clergy to effectively carryout HIV/AIDS activities in and churches;
  • Communication gaps including lack of accurate data on HIV/AIDS activities from Provinces and institutions;
  • TB and Malaria programme are yet to be actively incorporated into the Church Social Welfare Programme;
  • Inadequate funds in the face of growing number of Dioceses and the rising need to implement and monitor HIV/AIDS Programmes n Dioceses;
  • Rigidity of donor policies;
  • Sustainability of programmes, interest and commitment of Church stakeholders;
  • Insufficient resource mobilization for HIV/AIDS programme;

Recommendation

  • Need for improved linkages and collaboration with each other in sourcing for funds and technical co-operation;
  • There is need to establish better working relationship at all levels of the Church;
  • Church leaders should be actively involved in community and resource mobilization;
  • Improve information dissemination and communication strategy;

 

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