ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND

By Ahead Staff

June 7, 2007

ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND

AHEAD-Tanzania

Adventures in Health, Education, and Agricultural Development (AHEAD, Inc.) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization. Its mission is to work with underserved communities in developing countries and in the United States to improve the quality of life by implementing programs that lead to self-sufficiency and self-reliance.  AHEAD was founded in 1981 by Dr. Irving C. Williams, a pediatrician and public health specialist, and his wife Elvira Felton Williams, to provide hands-on, people-to-people assistance to underserved communities. The goals of the organization are: (1) to reduce and eliminate disease and premature death; (2) to cultivate and advance healthy living; and, (3) to foster sustainable environmental activities.

Over the past 22 years, AHEAD has focused its attention in the Shinyanga Region of Tanzania, which is located in the north central part of the country, 80 miles south of Lake Victoria. AHEAD’s headquarters is in the village of Mwanhuzi, where it has a small office and house. A team of nurses traveled daily to remote villages to provide essential health care, otherwise nonexistent for the villagers. Mothers walk for miles to bring their children for Village Health Outreach Day, often a baby on the back and one or two toddlers in tow. The Health Outreach Program provides immunizations for infants, children and women, conducts growth monitoring; implements nutrition intervention for malnourished children, provides antenatal care for women, provides family planning services, and conducts health education sessions for mothers and fathers. AHEAD also conducts training workshops for Village Health Workers (VHW), Primary Health Committees (PHC), and other health providers. AHEAD’s Teen Action Project (TAP) provides a much needed health prevention program, including HIV/AIDS, for pre-adolescents and adolescents. All programs and projects are implemented at the community level and involve the beneficiaries in all aspects of planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation in order to assure sustainable impact.

AHEAD’s effective primary health care services have resulted in an immunization rate of 98% for complete coverage of children five years and under in AHEAD’s target villages, earning accolades from UNICEF. Prior to AHEAD’s Health Outreach Programs to these villages, the immunization coverage of children was less than 27% in this region. AHEAD has made a difference in the health of mothers and children in Tanzania, having touched the lives of more than 1,000,000 people.

Other AHEAD accomplishments in Meatu include the following:

o       The number of individuals receiving Family Planning Services has increased from 4% to 35%.

o       Malnutrition has declined from 19% to 2%.

o       The percentage of women attending antenatal clinics has steadily increased from a negligible percentage in 1992 to more than 70%.

o       Health education sessions are conducted daily during outreach activities.

o       School health programs are operational in all primary schools in all AHEAD target villages.

o       AHEAD’s TAP program has benefited children in primary schools in Mwanhuzi, Itaba and Nkoma villages since 1998.

Other AHEAD accomplishments in Tanzania are as follows:

·        Supported the establishment of health outreach programs to 32 villages

                  in Meatu and Kishapu Districts.

·        Developed Nutrition Rehabilitation & Oral Rehydration Therapy Training Programs.

·        Constructed a 50,000 Gallon Rain Water Catchment System for a rural health center.

·        Constructed & renovated multiple health care facilities in Shinyanga Region.

·        Installed photovoltaic systems for lights and refrigeration in health facilities in Shinyanga Region.

·        Completed a women’s agri-health training program for rural women.

·        Conducted health education programs in primary schools in Shinyanga Region.

·        Conducted training seminars, workshops & conferences for health care workers.

·        Donated over 500,000 medicines & medical supplies, books & educational materials, vegetable seeds & agricultural supplies to hospitals, schools, and women’s groups.

AHEAD TEEN ACTION PROGRAM (TAP)

Students from three primary schools in Meatu District have participated in the AHEAD-Meatu TAP program.  The AHEAD staff along with consultants from the District Agriculture, Community Development and Health Departments worked with TAP students and health teachers. 

As a result of a survey given the students, the following subjects were identified for focus: Gender Equity and Equality, Human Biology, HIV/AIDS, Alcohol & Drugs, Nutrition, and Water and Sanitation. Open discussions are held to allow free expressions of concerns and interests.

Empowerment, Gender Equity and Equality are key topics of discussion among our TAP students.  We start by emphasizing that “gender is not sex.”  “Sex“refers to the biological characteristics, physiological attributes and differences between males and females with which they were born.  Gender refers to the roles that men and women play in relations that arise out of these roles, which are socially constructed, not biologically determined. Though the concept is eventually understood, time and patience has to be given to change attitudes, for students constantly observe the women’s subordinate positions and men’s power and control in their communities.  As we discuss career options, it is heartening to hear the female TAP students express interest in working in fields where few or no women participate at this time.  We were delighted to hear female students say they want to be engineers, lawyers, and even the Prime Minister and President of their country.  We realize that focus on Gender Equity and Equality must be ongoing. We have observed an improved relationship among the students and an improved level of respect for the female participants. 

TAP students work on special projects related to their interests and concerns.  Skits, poetry and songs relating to HIV/AIDS and other high-risk behaviors are created and performed for the entire school and community.  These creations are videotaped and to be shared with other primary schools. 

One of AHEAD’s Professional Summer Volunteers conducted pilot projects in water testing and pasteurization in the Meatu District.  The project provides information about the water sources to the villages and is very successful in purifying contaminated water using the sun. TAP students are trained to conduct these tests and assist their families and others in their villages to use this process.

Finally, the AHEAD Team collaborated with the Shinyanga Regional Medical Officer, Shinyanga Town Medical Officer, Shinyanga Town Education Officer, and Shinyanga Town Ward Officer to conduct youth surveys in Shinyanga Town. We successfully surveyed seventh graders from two primary schools, students from two secondary schools and male and female school dropouts between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. The latter group of youth was mobilized at the bus depot; some conducting small business, such as polishing shoes, selling food and other small items; and, some just “hanging out.”  We presently have baseline data on the status of youth in urban and rural areas, their concerns, challenges and desires.

In 2001 AHEAD extended the Teen Action Program (TAP) to Kisarawe District in the Coast Region of Tanzania. The goal of this program is to improve the quality of life for youth through improved access to educational opportunities; prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS among adolescents; and, preparation of women and youth to enter into the world of work. 

In addition to health education, counseling, education and recreation activities, TAP participants are trained to provide home based care to people living with HIV/AIDS. These services include provision of basic needs for patients, e.g., food, clothing, water and other essentials.

Two hundred students have received academic scholarships and are attending secondary schools in Kisarawe District; fifty percent (50%) of these students are orphans. Peer Counselors and other AHEAD volunteers provide after-school and Saturday tutoring sessions for students.  One hundred and fifteen girls and boys have completed vocational training in Electrical Installation and Electronics, Computers, Horticulture, and Carpentry. The third year vocational students will complete their training in December 2005.

AHEAD VOLUNTEER WORK PROGRAM

AHEAD, was founded 21 years ago as a people-to-people exchange between Americans and people of goodwill from other countries with those in developing countries.  Since 1985, AHEAD has provided unique opportunities for professionals as well as undergraduate and graduate students to work side by side with their African counterparts in community projects in rural Africa. Volunteers spend from one month to one year working with development projects.  Volunteers are challenged physically as well as intellectually as they work with projects in health care, agriculture, construction, renovation, water, engineering and education.  The volunteers leave their assigned project not only with the feeling of giving, but also with the joy of receiving.  They return home with the knowledge of a new language and culture, first hand experiences in diverse fields, a renewed sense of self-worth and, a desire to volunteer again.

Since 1994 AHEAD has conducted three International Teleconferences on Women’s Health focusing on such diseases as HIV/AIDS, Violence against Women, Female Genital Mutilation, Maternal Health, Breast and Cervical Cancer, and Refugee Health. These teleconferences have been broadcast to more than 90 countries in Europe, Africa, Caribbean, and in the United States. Other activities have included seminars for Africans and Africans in the Diaspora focusing on working together to improve relations among people of African descent and other groups around the world.

THE GAMBIA

AHEAD’s projects and programs in The Gambia serve the rapidly growing youth population in urban and rural areas. AHEAD has provided support for adolescent skills development since 1993. The projects are designed to empower youth with knowledge and skills that will help them make wise life choices. Gambian youth are exposed to information on HIV/AIDS, addictive substances prevention, environmental awareness, health and fitness, first aid training, and community development. The youth share their knowledge and skills in various creative ways with other village and town residents, thus creating a better-informed society. Community projects, such as refurbishing a well, repairing school furniture, painting school buildings, are essential components of the youth development program.

AHEAD’s WATER TESTING & SOLAR PASTEURIZATION INITIATIVE

To tackle the scarcity of fuel sources, AHEAD has turned to the sun to provide the energy needed to power water purification systems in rural communities. 

AHEAD, Inc. has successfully demonstrated a method to test and pasteurize contaminated water using a simple, low-cost solar device, the Cookit. We partnered with Solar Cookers International to initially conduct water testing and solar pasteurization pilot programs in Tanzania. This process ensures the reduction of infant and childhood mortality from water-borne diseases, the 2nd leading cause of infant and childhood deaths in Tanzania. As a result of their work on issues relating to health and the environment, AHEAD was a recipient of the prestigious Ashden Awards for Renewable Energy awarded by the Whitley Foundation of Great Britain. 

AHEAD has sponsored workshops and training sessions in Tanzania for policy makers, administrators, health professionals, university students, secondary school students, development workers, village chiefs, Village Health Workers, village subgroups, Water Groups, women’s groups, village youth groups, and mothers in remote rural villages.  Three hundred and fifteen individuals have been trained as trainers, who have trained approximately 15,000 individuals.

AHEAD, Inc. and its beneficiaries, i.e., families living in remote rural villages in Meatu and Kisarawe Districts in Tanzania, are grateful for the financial resources from AGI, New England BioLabs and other donors. These funds have promoted the AHEAD Water Initiative in Tanzania, conducted more than 800 tests on water sources in rural communities and Dar es Salaam, trained more than 300 trainers, and supported the training of many more. To date, more than 100,000 individuals have benefited from the AHEAD Water Initiative.

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