[pronut-hiv] Renewal - Regional Network on AIDS, Rural Livelihoods and Food Security

["Janet Feldman" <kaippg@earthlink.net>]

Renewal - Regional Network on AIDS, Rural Livelihoods and Food Security
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Dear
Friends,
Hello and hope this is helpful! The url is
http://www.isnar.cgiar.org/renewal .

 Many thanks and all best wishes,

 Janet
(Feldman, kaippg@earthlink.net )


  Regional Network on AIDS, Rural Livelihoods and Food Security

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      "AIDS is a development problem, not just a health issue" has become a
mantra, repeated in speeches and sermons across Africa and now increasingly in Asia and Latin America. But what does it mean in practice? Mainstreaming requires an understanding of the interactions of HIV infection, AIDS impacts and different sectoral concerns. Agriculture, the main source of livelihood for the majority of Africa's people, is a key sector, and food and nutrition security are growing worries as the impacts of the pandemic expand and deepen. Food is the main priority for many people affected by HIV/AIDS, while the crucial role of nutritional status -- both in HIV transmission and in the quality and quantity of life of HIV-positive individuals - is increasingly recognized.

      But the capacity to act on this growing awareness, particularly at an
institutional level, lags behind. There is a real need to quickly gear up
and re-orientate agriculture, food and nutrition security programs to take
account of HIV/AIDS, and to fill critical gaps in our knowledge where these
exist.

      RENEWAL - the Regional Network on HIV/AIDS, Rural Livelihoods and Food Security -- is an emerging regional network of national networks of
agricultural institutions, public, private, NGO and farmers' organisations,
together with partners in AIDS and public health. Networks are getting on
their feet in Malawi and Uganda and others in eastern and southern Africa
are expected to form in a year or so. The joint purpose of these networks is to show that fresh thinking in agricultural research and development policy and concerted action can help prevent HIV infection and lessen the impact of AIDS.

      The link between agriculture and HIV/AIDS is not an obvious one for
most researchers and development workers. Yet historically, changes in the way people live and how and where they make a living have had a decisive effect on the ravages caused by major diseases, including TB and malaria, long before medicines or vaccines became available. Mostly, those changes were the by-product of wider development and the health benefits a happy accident. The challenge RENEWAL confronts is to enhance understanding of the links between rural livelihoods and food security on one side and HIV infection and AIDS-linked illness and death on the other so that actions can be more conscious and targeted and their effects felt in years, not decades.

      RENEWAL' s objectives are:

        1.. To fill critical gaps in understanding of the links, in both
directions, between HIV/AIDS on one side, and agricultural systems, food
security and rural livelihoods on the other.
        2.. To fill critical gaps in understanding of how agricultural
policies and programs can contribute to prevention and/or mitigation of AIDS impact and how this knowledge can be used to support local responses.
        3.. To enable agricultural R&D institutions to act on realistic
priorities for responding to HIV/AIDS epidemics in partnership with at-risk
and affected communities and institutions in other sectors.
      Some aspects of the link between AIDS and agricultural economies are
well known. How could grandparents and orphans be expected to grow as much food as did the once able-bodied generation between? The FAO estimates that for every person who dies of AIDS there is another full year of labour lost through the need for others to provide care. Children are withdrawn from school to perform the role of careers and to provide farm labour, or for lack of school fees. What will be the impact as this younger generation
grows up? Other aspects are less well recognized. HIV/AIDS can break the
chain of knowledge that links one generation to another. It can seriously
erode institutions, from those at the village level that manage critical
natural resources to those at the national level, such as research
institutes, whose experienced staff are critical human resources.

      Agricultural research has a key role to play in devising ways of
mitigating the impact of the disease and techniques that reduce the need for labour are but one aspect of this work. It is equally important to answer the question, what can be done by agricultural research and development to control the spread of infection? Indeed, are agricultural policies contributing to that spread?

  2001 saw the publication of reports on HIV/AIDS and agriculture in
Malawi and Uganda. These were prepared by in-country experts in
collaboration with ISNAR and presented an assessment of the present
situation, the apparent trends, and the responses of institutions to the
challenge. The reports formed the basis for a 'think tank', a meeting of
scientists and development workers from state sector agricultural research, health ministries, national AIDS commissions, NGOs, and so on. By agreeing to leave their affiliations 'at the door' the Think Tank participants were able to concentrate on what should be done, deciding priorities for action research and recommending how the network, as the initiative came to be known, should be organized. They then presented their recommendations to stakeholders - ministers, heads of AIDS commissions, deans of agricultural faculties and other senior representatives of government and non-government organizations. Their decisions have set the networks on their feet in each country. Action research studies, focused on at least one of the priority areas will be selected and funded from Action Research Funds. The findings of these studies along with the results of immediate policy modifications will be discussed in local, national and regional forums.

 RENEWAL is jointly facilitated by the International Service for
National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) and the International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI), and coordinated by ISNAR, with the support of
Norway, Canada (CIDA and IDRC), USAID, DFID and WFP. Funds are being sought to expand and deepen the initiative. These networks are committed to forging effective partnerships among national and international institutions that will make a real difference to the lives of those affected by or at risk of HIV/AIDS.

      Publications:


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Working Paper No. 2 HIV/AIDS, Food Security and Rural Livelihoods:
Understanding and Responding
 Michael Loevinsohn and Stuart Gillespie
 E-format:  pdf (size 369 Kb)


 Report on the Regional Workshop on Methods and Indicators.
 Jinja, Uganda: November 26-28, 2002
 E-format:  pdf (size 745 Kb)


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Working Paper No. 1: HIV/AIDS, Agriculture and Food Security in
Malawi: Background to Action.
 Naomi Ngwira, Sam Bota and Michael Loevinsohn.
 E-format: pdf (size 346 Kb)

 Targeting agricultural R&D for poverty reduction: HIV/AIDS in
sub-Saharan Africa
 ISNAR Discussion Paper 01-1, 2001, M. Loevinsohn and D. Bigman
 E-format: pdf (size 346 Kb)

 HIV/AIDS, Food and Nutrition Security: Impacts
 and Actions. In: Nutrition and HIV/AIDS. UN SCN Nutrition Policy Paper
No. 20, SCN, Geneva. Gillespie, SR. Haddad, L. and Jackson, R. (2001)
 http://acc.unsystem.org/scn/Publications/NPP/nutpolicypapers.htm 

 Effective Food and Nutrition Policy Responses to HIV/AIDS: what we
know and what we need to know.
Journal of International Development 13, 487-511. Haddad, L. and
Gillespie, SR (2001)
(also FCN Discussion Paper No. 112)
 http://www.ifpri.org/divs/fcnd/dp/papers/fcnbr112.pdf 
 (http://www.ifpri.org)

      Contacts:
      Michael Loevinsohn, RENEWAL Coordinator, ISNAR
      Stuart Gillespie, IFPRI
      Grace Malindi, Min. of Agriculture, Malawi
      John Aluma, NARO, Uganda
      Catherine Barasa, Min. of Agriculture, Uganda

      (send an e-mail to team members)

      Webpage address: http://www.isnar.cgiar.org/renewal/index.htm 
      This page was last updated: March 2003
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