PROJECT: Cultivating a community of practice to strengthen capacities for supporting the quality of life of young people living with HIV/AIDS

Overview

This South Initiative project aims at strengthening local capacity to support the quality of life of young people living with HIV/AIDS (YPLWHA) in the Rwenzori region of Western Uganda. The strategy is to establish and operationalise a Community of Practice (CoP) on quality of life of young people living with HIV/AIDS in the Rwenzori region. The project adopted the Community of Practice strategy to instigate interdisciplinary and multi-level collaboration between stakeholders including private and public practitioners, researcher and policy makers. The COP members interact regularly, share ideas and experiences about the care for young people living with HIV/AIDS in order to improve their practice and consequently the quality of life of the young people they serve. The project activities involves organizing varied learning activities(meetings, research, testimony/case study, debate, field visits to good practices, network event,etc), dissemination of the CoP outputs through varied media (website, radio programme, social media, policy guidance note, etc) and evaluation of value and performance (process and outcomes) of the CoP through formal feedback and review meetings.

Project contribution to developmental change
Improved Quality of Life (QoL) of Young People Living with HIV/AIDS in the Rwenzori Region of Western Uganda

Project objectives

  • Multidisciplinary and multilevel collaboration, that elicits comprehensive knowledge and innovative practices with high potential to facilitate the QoL of YPLWHA, has been operationalised into a Community of Practice
  • MMU Department of Public Health’s capacity to tap into this communal challenge and be a strong partner for stakeholders working with YPLWHA at community, organizational and policy level has been strengthened

Project Outcomes

  • Community of Practice (CoP) to facilitate improvement in the quality of life of YPLWHA established and operationalized
  • MMU partnership with stakeholders to engage in a concerted effort to facilitate the QoL of YPLWHA strengthened

Project Intermediate results

  • CoP aroused through practice-oriented scientific research on Young people living with HIV/AIDS (YPLWHA
  • CoP cultivated in a bottom-up, phased and sustainable manner
  • CoP’s outcomes are consolidated and disseminated widely

Project key achievements

  • Practice-oriented scientific research on quality of life for YPLWHA carried out
  • CoP established on 29th August 2018  in the Rwenzori region of western Uganda with 18 member organisations
  • Regular bi-monthly meetings of COP member organizations to share best practices, challenges and solutions together
  • Organized varied learning activities for CoP members (lecture, research presentations, testimony/case study, debate, field visits to good practices, network events, etc)
  • COP outcomes documented and disseminated broadly through varied media (website , MMU radio, social media, social events, etc)

Project Management

Flemish Promoters:

  1. Dr. Sofie Vindevogel, Department of Orthopedagogy, Fuculty of Education, University College Ghent, Belgium
  2. Dr. Jessica De Maeyer, Department of Orthopedagogy, Fuculty of Education, University College Ghent, Belgium
  3. Cathy De Raes, Department of Orthopedagogy, Fuculty of Education, University College Ghent, Belgium
  4. Anne-Mie Engelen, Department of Orthopedagogy, Fuculty of Education,  University College Ghent, Belgium
  5. Didier Reynaert, Department of Orthopedagogy, Fuculty of Education, University College Ghent, Belgium

Local Promoters:

  1.  Prof.John Rubaihayo, School of Health Sciences, Mountains of the Moon University, Fort Portal, Uganda
  2. Dr.Dan Magala, School of Education, Makerere  University, Kampala, Uganda
Back To Top