Print
this page
Email
this page Provinces - The Anglican Church of Southern Africa
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa covers six countries, namely the Republics of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa, the Kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland, and the British Dependency of the Islands of St. Helena and Ascension. The Province is divided into 26 Dioceses with current membership of 4 million baptized people. 19 of these dioceses fall into the Republic of South Africa, representing approximately 2.5 million Anglicans in over 815 parishes.
In May 2001 Canon Ted Karpf was appointed the Provincial Canon Missioner for HIV/AIDS. He organised the All Africa (Boksburg) Conference of August 2001, which marks the public commitment of the Anglican Church to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
By October 2001 the Provincial Standing Committee (PSC) and the Synod of Bishops in Southern Africa considered the proposed strategic planning process and embraced its six focal concerns. The PSC formally established a Provincial Office of HIV/AIDS Community Ministries and Mission (OHCMM). In April 2003, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) officially launched its first comprehensive and Provincial-wide response to the pandemic in Southern Africa the Isiseko Sokomoleza (Building the Foundation) HIV/AIDS Programme.
The main purpose of Isiseko was to reduce stigma and the impact of HIV and AIDS by building and strengthening the capacity of ACSA to respond to the growing pandemic in Southern Africa. The Isiseko Sokomoleza Programme identified four main output areas:
- Strengthened capacity on the part of ACSA to advocate for and provide an effective and expanded community-based response to HIV and AIDS in partnership with other development actors;
- Increased intensity, improved quality and extended geographical coverage of parish and diocesan HIV and AIDS-related services, particularly for the poor;
- A reduction in HIV vulnerability through increased knowledge, encouraging responsible behaviour and promoting positive attitudes to people and families living with and affected by HIV and AIDS;
- An effectively managed programme with timely reporting, dissemination procedures and replicable lessons.
HIV and AIDS Programmes
Although many parishes and some Dioceses in South Africa had already begun to initiate projects in response to the effects of HIV in their communities in the 1990s and the early years of 2000, in April 2003 the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA) launched its first regional,programmatic response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and implemented in partnership with Christian Aid, Known as Isiseko Sokomeleza (Building the Foundation), the programme aimed at mobilising and building the capacity of the Anglican Church on regional, diocesan and parish level to plan, implement and run projects offering care to those living with or otherwise affected by HIV/AIDS, and to establish initiatives to prevent the further spread of HIV and development of AIDS.
ACSAs Approach to the HIV Pandemic
Through the Isiseko Sokomeleza programme, ACSA has employed a comprehensive and multi-layered approach to addressing the effects of HIV/AIDS in the region. Recognising that HIV/AIDS affects every aspect of human existence and experience, interventions have been holistic, understanding HIV/AIDS not just as a health issue, but a social issue, a development issue and a human rights issue. In a bid to address every aspect of individual and community experience, ACSAs approach has been Christian-based, ecumenical and multi-sectoral, partnering with other denominations, faiths and NGOs and engaging with Government departments at all levels. Many people experience despair, pain, discrimination, rejection and death. The Church, through the ministry and love of Jesus Christ, has been able to make a unique contribution to this crisis in providing hope, comfort, community, acceptance, love and life. ACSA sees its role as more than just eradicating HIV and AIDS. It commits the Church to breaking the structural cycles of inequality, patriarchy, discrimination, poverty, and oppression which have perpetuated and aggravated the effects of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa.
ACSAs Implementation Strategy
At the launch of Isiseko Sokomeleza in April 2003, each diocese appointed a Diocesan HIV/AIDS Task Team, which was supported by the Diocesan Bishop and headed by a Diocesan HIV/AIDS Coordinator. Dioceses plan their own intervention strategy in response to the unique manner in which HIV/AIDS manifests itself within their diocese. Through the support and coordination of these diocesan structures by the central ACSA HIV/AIDS Office, over 600 projects have been initiated or strengthened in partnership with other denominations, NGOs and government departments. These projects include the care of orphaned and vulnerable children, care for care-givers, home based care, wellness management, skills training, food security, promotion of voluntary counselling and testing, support groups, pastoral care, retreats for Christians living with HIV and counselling as well as capacity building, raising awareness, HIV education programmes (including peer education) and empowerment projects.
The ACSA HIV/AIDS Office has recognised the central role the global Church has played in the generation and perpetuation of HIV/AIDS-related stigma. In an effort to turn this tide, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa has launched a region-wide anti-stigma campaign with the central slogan In Christ, there is no difference between positive and negative. ACSA has also commissioned the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) to conduct substantial research into HIV/AIDS-related stigma in the Church in order to inform more effective interventions.
The ACSA HIV/AIDS Office now coordinates two other separately funded, yet actively integrated programmes:
- Siyafundisa (Teaching our Children) targets young people between the ages of 10-24 with the aim of reducing the incidence of HIV through promoting abstinence before marriage and faithfulness within marriage. This programme is implemented in partnership with Fresh Ministries Inc, and is funded by a 5-year grant from the Government of the United States, channelled via USAID, as part of the Presidents Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR);
- Anglican Care for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) mobilises Church communities to provide care and support to children who have been orphaned or otherwise made vulnerable by the HIV pandemic, as well as those caring for them. This programme is currently funded by The Desmond Tutu Trust and Johns Hopkins, and has recently put in a successful application to PEPFAR via USAID.
ACSA and the South Africa National HIV/AIDS Plan
The ACSA HIV/AIDS programme compliments the South African Governments National HIV/AIDS/STD Strategic Plan for 2000-2005. The programme focuses on 4 main priority areas, namely:
- Prevention - especially through the promotion of safe and healthy sexual behaviour and voluntary counselling and testing (through the Isiseko Sokomeleza and Siyafundisa programmes);
- Treatment, Care and Support - through providing and supporting adequate treatment, care and support in communities as well as the development and expansion of care to children and orphans (through the Isiseko Sokomeleza and OVC programmes);
- Research - ACSA has funded substantial research into HIV/AIDS-related Stigma in the Church, as well as a Youth Sexuality Survey in 64 Anglican Churches in the Western Cape;
- Human Rights through the comprehensive approach to HIV and specifically its campaigns against HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination and the disempowerment of women, children andother marginalized groups. ACSA has also published an internal Workplace Policy Document protecting the rights of people living with HIV and AIDS;
All three programmes coordinated by the ACSA HIV/AIDS Office have given particular focus to young people (children, as well as youth between 14-25 years) as the group most vulnerable to both contractions of the virus as well as the broader effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on their families and communities.
Top
