|
A SYNOPSIS OF RFFA
·
Prior to 2001 many Rotary districts/clubs throughout the world
engaged in diverse programmes and projects for combating or
alleviating the misery caused by HIV/AIDS.
·
Included amongst these was the Rotary D6900 AIDS Awareness
Program in the schools of Georgia/USA.
This program (begun by RFFA Founder, Marion Bunch) was
the genesis of the concept of Rotarians partnering with an AIDS
service organization to do a project.
It commenced in 1998 and continues today to reach 30,000
youth annually through Rotary Clubs financial support and AID
Atlanta’s program design and implementation.
·
Some of these districts/clubs AIDS projects took booths in the
House of Friendship at Annual RI Conventions.
Important global connections were made at the 2001 RI
San Antonio
convention by Rotarians interested in HIV/AIDS projects.
·
At the 2002 RI Presidential Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, at
which Marion was a keynote speaker, RI President Bhichai
Rattakul, approached her after her address and asked, “Will you
help me put together a plan to help the victims of AIDS,
especially the children?”
A challenge of note met by a response of note!
·
Marion sought partners experienced in the HIV/AIDS field in
Africa and teamed up with HOPEWW (an FBO out of Philadelphia,
PA) and looked for funding for helping AIDS Orphans and
Vulnerable Children.
·
In putting together the partnerships, there was a need for a
global Rotary “partnering entity”.
So Marion
wrote the Constitution for the Rotary Fellowship for AIDS and
got RI Board approval in September 2003.
Marion was appointed Chair and Eric Henderson (RC Sandown,
D9300/South Africa) was the
Vice Chair.
·
The Coca Cola Africa Foundation (TCCAF) contributed $50,000 USD of seed
funding to RFFA for organisational capacity building.
·
Armed with this funding, Marion and Dr Mark Ottenweller of
HOPEWW, wrote proposals in 2005
which resulted a 5-year US$8.1 million PEPFAR
(President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) grant for ANCHOR
(Africa Network for
Children Orphaned and at Risk).
The ANCHOR partnership included HOPEWW (Primary Grantee),
RFFA (Support Partner), Emory University
(monitoring and evaluation) and TCCAF.
Later, TCCAF also
contributed US$1.2 Million over a 3 year cycle.
·
ANCHOR programmes were instituted in six African countries:
Botswana,
Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria,
South Africa and Zambia.
·
In 2005, those Rotary Fellowships which were concerned with
actual community projects rather than hobbies or interests were
transformed into Rotarian Action Groups (RAGS) [of which there
are now 15].
RFFA was the first to be approved by the RI Board and is
one of the most active RAGS.
·
In 2008, additional ANCHOR programmes were initiated in
Mozambique
as a result of the injection of US$320,000 RFFA Funding from
Canadian Rotarians (CRCID) and the Canadian IDA.
·
To date 120,000 children have been beneficially assisted by
ANCHOR programmes.
·
Collectively RFFA has injected over $600,000 USD through
donations and grants that were more often than not, leveraged
through Matching Grants of The Rotary Foundation.
·
In 2008 RFFA organised the largest Rotarian Medical/Dental
Mission
ever. 72 medical and non-medical volunteers from 12 countries
travelled at their own expense to
Nairobi,
Kenya, to test
and treat more than 10,000 youth (aged 1 month to 24 years) in a
10 day period. The
cash, pharmaceuticals and equipment + ‘in-kind” contribution was
in excess of US$1,000,000.
·
In 2008 Zimbabwe
suffered a cholera epidemic.
Sparked by a small donation from HOPEWW, TCCAF donated
$100,000 worth of food and goods plus transport from
South Africa. Zimbabwean
Rotarians oversaw the distribution of the food and goods to more
than 22,000 OVC and families.
·
In 2009 the retiring CEO of Coca Cola (who began his CC career
in Zambia)
expressed interest in a disadvantaged community at Chongwe
outside Lusaka. TCCAF and RFFA
funded the project with $30,000 each and Zambian Rotarians
administered the project which has resulted in a derelict school
being refurbished and equipped and 240 OVC afforded educational
opportunities.
·
At Montreal in 2010, RFFA signed a groundbreaking
MOU with Family Health International (FHI) which will define our
activities, areas of operation and direction in the immediate
future.
However this does not proscribe the desirability, indeed the
necessity, for further partnerships, increased geographic
expansion and any legitimate projects or activity that will
impact beneficially on Orphans and Vulnerable Children.
·
In April 2011, Rotarians from 102 Rotary clubs in the countries
of Kenya
and Uganda
did something that
has never been done before in the
history of Rotary.
A nationwide HIV Testing & Counselling Day at 125 sites
throughout the two countries included ancillary health services
that promoted the wellness of the entire family. Thousands of
people came to the event which was manned by over 1000 Rotary
volunteers. RFFA’s global partner, Family Health International
(FHI) provided pro bono services to help plan the overall
project and along with AIDS Information Center were engaged as
the technical partners in Kenya and Uganda respectively. The
Coca-Cola Africa
Foundation (TCCAF) provided $100,000 in mobilization costs for
this event. RFFA leaders and the key partners worked with the
Ministry of Health in each country in planning this event which
became known as ‘Rotary Family Health Day’.
|
