Overview

The Letlama (Lesotho Together Against HIV and AIDS Partnership) Project is a five-year project, supported by PEPFAR through the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Led by Population Services International (PSI), Letlama will improve the health of the Basotho people by reducing the incidence of HIV infection through the promotion of protective behaviours and support for healthier social norms among young people 15-24 and adults 25-35.

Working together with the Ministry of Health, public institutions, private sector partners, and an extensive network of community-based organizations, the Letlama Project will:

• Improve the capacity of Basotho institutions to lead, sustain and harmonize the HIV prevention response and deliver high quality HIV prevention services to scale;
• Empower communities to adopt social and cultural norms, attitudes, and values that reduce vulnerability to HIV; and,
• Improve the ability and motivation of Basotho youth and adults to change their behaviours through increased knowledge, risk perception, skills, and access to services.

JHU•CCP is working with local organizations to design, implement and monitor SBCC programs. Our goal is to work hand-in-hand with each of these organizations to support and strengthen their SBCC effort in country.

Accomplishments

• Conducted capacity building workshop in SBCC Materials Development with local partners (July 2012)
• Completed SBCC capacity assessment of local and ministry partners (October 2012)
• Provided technical assistance to local partner Phela Health and Development Communications to create new radio drama S'moko Feela.
• Launched first episode of S'moko Feela! Radio Drama on October 29, 2012.
• Provided technical assistance to Phela, a Letlama partner,technical assistance from the K4Health team and with funding from the Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to launch the Senakoangoeli HIV and AIDS Resource Centre on December 6th 2012. Senakoangoeli, or “glow-worm” in Sesotho, is seen as an omen of good luck and a bright future, which is what the center hopes to be to the country.The Centre has a physical space where everyone is welcome to visit and use materials as well as an online version that caters to users who would like to access materials on the web. Besides published books, reports and journals, the center has an array of grey literature especially on research work carried out in Lesotho. The collection will continue to be updated to include the country’s HIV resources for years to come. Starting in Year 2 of the Letlama project, funding for the Senakangoeli Resource Centre will be through the Letlama project via CCP.