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Sexual Health Exchange 2004-1

South Africa

Interfaith collaboration: the example of FOHAP

The Government AIDS Action Plan, a unit of the South African Department of Health, spearheaded a national capacity building process for the interfaith sector, in collaboration with the POLICY Project. An interfaith programme, Faith Organisations in HIV/AIDS Partnership (FOHAP), was established in early 2002. FOHAP has the following objectives:

    vTo critically reflect on the current response of FBOs to HIV/AIDS and explore the key challenges facing this sector

    vTo provide a platform for sharing ideas and experiences to assist participants in their future HIV/AIDS planning, and

    vTo facilitate networking and collaboration across faiths, and between this sector and broader HIV/AIDS initiatives.

The different faiths that participate in this programme include: Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and African Independent Churches. There are FOHAP structures at the national, provincial and district levels. The key responsibility of the district level networks is to build the response of the various faith communities around the common challenge of HIV/AIDS. FOHAP has organised workshops at the provincial level for faith leaders. The workshop participants look at problems that they are faced with at the community level. They also explore the strengths that they have and the role that they can play in strategically responding to the HIV/AIDS call as an interfaith group. At the moment, FOHAP is active in three of South Africa's nine provinces: Limpopo, Western Cape and Gauteng.

Achievements

    vInterfaith collaboration contributes to the mass mobilisation of resources for people living with HIV/AIDS. In the case of South Africa, where the government has long opposed an antiretroviral treatment programme, the combined voice of different faiths had an impact on the message that the government was receiving. As a key sector for HIV/AIDS advocacy and lobbying, the faith-based community through FOHAP has mobilized support for the treatment plan.

    vFOHAP also provides advice to government interventions that impact the faith-based sector. As a government-initiated intervention, FOHAP is represented at the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), which plays a key role in influencing policy formulation.

    vSince initiation of this initiative, many individual religious groups have asked for assistance in developing both strategic and advocacy plans. Different religious groups are learning from each other and are freely transferring information as good practice lessons.

Some lessons learned

    vReligious groups need to find a common intervention point that does not compromise any religion's doctrine and beliefs. At present, many faith structures have prevention programmes ranging from encouraging young people to abstain from sex, married people to be faithful, and a few that promote the use of condoms. A lot of emphasis is also given to caring and supporting the dying, and caring for orphans and vulnerable children. These activities provide entry points for a common approach.

    vCapacity building has been identified as a crucial need in enhancing the role of the religious sector and within this is the need for assistance in developing "working" networks and to build partnerships beyond the faith community. Other capacity needs are to enhance the faith sector's spiritual counselling skills and to promote the meaningful involvement of PLWHA in their faith's HIV/AIDS response.

Conclusion

FOHAP has taught us that it is possible to have an interfaith structure both at national, provincial and district levels. That it was a government-initiated intervention served as a common meeting ground and allowed individual faiths to be aware of their traditional doctrines, but also set them aside so as to achieve a common purpose. The challenge for FOHAP and other interfaith networks is in finding a common strategy to be adopted, and to secure resources within this strategy.

This article was written on behalf of FOHAP by Yoliswa Notshe & Melanie Judge, the POLICY Project South Africa.

More information: Thami Skhenjana, National Director FOHAP, tel.: +27-12-312.01.52


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