Background
Rakai Community Based AIDS Organization (RACOBAO) may be a newly formed NGO, but many of its programs and dedicated staff have been a part of this community for more than fifteen years as a project of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). The Lutheran World Federation’s Department for World Service (LWF/DWS) came to Uganda in 1979 to provide assistance to the Church of Uganda’s relief, emergency and rehabilitation efforts. In January 1992, LWF/DWS initiated a program that would include rehabilitating the educational infrastructure, providing counseling and support to HIV and AIDS affected families and building capacity of specific departments in the social sector of Rakai District. At the time, Rakai was the worst hit district by the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Uganda, and remains today, one of the worst.
The growing incidence of HIV and AIDS and its socio-economic consequences necessitated the expansion of the AIDS education and counseling component, which resulted in the establishment of the Rakai Community Based AIDS Project (RACOBAP) in October 1995. The project, operating in the two districts of Lyantonde and Rakai, immediately targeted people living with HIV and AIDS, the marginalized women and children, the orphans of the pandemic and the community based groups and initiatives.
The overall goal of RACOBAP was to support communities, to reduce the incidence of HIV and AIDS and to mitigate the adverse effects of the plague. In the 1990s, the prevalence in Lyantonde and Rakai Districts was as high as 25%; though after more than a decade, due largely to the efforts of LWF, RACOBAP, and their partners, visible achievements were made in the area of reducing the incidence and prevalence of the disease (decreased to 12% in recent years) and tackling the socio-economic effects of the epidemic. However, the HIV and AIDS endemic is an ongoing issue in this and many other parts of the world and the prevalence of the disease in the Lyantonde and Rakai Districts is still unacceptably high at 12% (Lyantonde Town currently has an occurrence rate of 21%) compared to the national average of 6.4%.
The decreasing HIV and AIDS prevalence in Lyantonde and Rakai Districts is partly attributed to raising awareness on the disease especially among youth in and out of school, to providing counseling services to over 5,000 people affected by the disease and to the strengthening of the power of community initiatives to support HIV and AIDS affected households. In addition, the project began supporting Child Headed Households (CHH), of which there are at least 900, and strengthened food security systems among those infected and affected by the disease.
In January 2008, LWF’s Rakai Community Based AIDS Project transitioned and became Rakai Community Based AIDS Organization (RACOBAO). This change occurred in order to ensure that the project would never faze out, something that could eventually happen within an international NGO; everyone involved wanted to be sure that the projects were sustained and the good works in Rakai and Lyantonde Districts continued. RACOBAO remains a partner with Lutheran World Federation and for as long as there is support and funding for its projects, this new local non-governmental organization will continue its fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic. RACOBAO intends to continue moving forward in its fight against HIV and AIDS by keeping in mind past lessons learnt while pushing forward with strategies that include behavioral change, communication, empowerment, gender sensitivity, rights based approach, capacity building, and networking.
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