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HIV&AIDS Awareness Program for CSW: NEICORD in partnership with Reach Shillong Ministry conducted organized an outing program for CSW on 8^th July 2011. Twenty participants including church partners and volunteers attended the program. The CSW aged between 17 – 30 years had a wonderful time of interaction and sharing. Kong Biulanty Thadah, Project Officer, Valuable To Jesus shared on the basic facts of HIV&AIDS and the importance of Moral life. The CSW felt good communicating and having a fellowship with the people who cared for them. They also express their willingness to participate in such programs in future.

Slum Awareness on HIV&AIDS: NEICORD in partnership with Reach Shillong Ministry conducted awareness program on HIV/ AIDS on 7^th June 2011 in the slum area of Police bazaar, Shillong. 50 participants including youth age group 13 – 18 years and women attended the program. The program was facilitated by NEICORD on the basic facts of HIV and AIDS. Related to the topics, films on HIV&AIDS “Mein Jeena Chahata Hoon, A Reason to live” was shown.  NEICORD church partners and placement students too attended the program.

World AIDS Sunday: All the Partner churches have been observing World Aids Day on the first Sundays of December every year. Churches invites PLHAs to share testimonies, church leaders delivers sermon on stigma and discrimination based on biblical teachings and special prayers for PLHAs are being conducted. Most of the churches distributed Red Ribbons on that day as a sign of solidarity for the PLHAs.

Partners Consultation: Partners’ Consultations have been conducted on a regular basis. This is a time of sharing and learning for Church leaders through interaction. Leaders from different churches share their experiences and lessons learned to motivate and encourage one another for better implementation in future. It is an also an event to make action plan together for the coming year.

PLHA speaking in church: Identification of PLHA is going on and NEICORD has a good link with the positive network of four states; Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland.  NEICORD Raphael is also linking the positive people with the churches, who are actively participating in their programs. PLHAs are very instrumental in challenging and sensitizing the church through their sharing and testimony, which has motivated the people to come out openly on these issues.

Monitoring and Church visit to four states: The project team visits different churches in all the states from time to time to monitor and motivate their actions. One of the main purposes of staff visit to churches is to give them training on capacity building as a result of which the partners will be equipped and be capacitated to take initiative in the implementation process.

Core group:  In each church, a core group consisting of 7-10 members is formed to initiate HIV/AIDS activities. They make plans and take decisions. This group includes church leaders, representatives from women department, youth department and Sunday school teachers and take responsibilities for HIV/AIDS activities which includes awareness, trainings and workshops for the identified church volunteers, youth, Sunday school children and providing services to PLHAs.

Church Leaders and Core group Training program: The core group members selected are  trained to enable them to take initiatives in implementing HIV programs in their respective churches. Trainings are given to church leaders, youth and Sunday school teachers. The topics usually covered under these training programs are Basic Facts about HIV/AIDS. Prevention and care, Counseling and church response towards HIV/AIDS. Resource persons are Doctors, Counselors from different NGO’s and NEICORD staff. Trainings are conducted in all the four states of North East India i.e. Manipur Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland. 

Coffee house: This is run by one of our church partners where free coffee and snacks are distributed. Music and games is also a part of this activity. This coffee house is run once a month and is open to all. The cost of this is borne by the Church and also supported by NEICORD to some extent. It is an informal gathering where 250 to 300 youth gathers every month. It is one of the important platforms to reach out to young people who are at risk of drugs and HIV/AIDS. Through this coffee house we are able to reach these high risk groups.

Poster Campaign: Every year, Project Raphael organizes Poster Campaign for HIV&AIDS awareness. The theme for 2010 is “You can stop HIV/IDS. Spread the Word, not the disease”. The Local church partners organize and participate in poster campaign in their respective places. Posters are distributed to the people of all age groups and also pasted in and around the city in different locations of the project areas in the states of Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram. On several occasions social work students during their internships have volunteered in the poster campaign program which gives them opportunity to learn and participate in giving awareness about the disease.

Exposure Trip: NEICORD organizes exposure trip for partners every year. The main aim of the trip is to enhance the capacity of the partner churches, to help them gain first hand experiences and also to reflect upon the experiences and put into action by developing scope of implementation of best practices learned from the site and implement them as per local adaptation. The places visited till date are Chennai, Madurai and Dimapur. And on the month of November 2010 all the partners will be taken to Kolkota for another exposure visit.

Moral education plan: The project is mainly focused on youth and related issues in most of its working areas. As a result, a special program for youth called moral education is one of the main activities of the project. Under this program, youth and related problems like drugs, sex, alcohol, relationships, depression etc are discussed and taught. Pastors or guest speakers’ talks about moral values based on biblical teachings in the church. This program is done once or twice a month depending on the convenience of the churches and has shown a lot of impact among the young people.

World AIDS Orphan day:  On 7^th May 2010,  World AIDS orphans' day was observed by the NEICORD staff with orphans who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. A quality time was spent by giving gifts and in prayers.

Street Awareness: The main aim of street awareness is to reach the masses. It is done openly in the market places. Posters and pamphlets are pasted and distributed. Speakers from other NGOs are also invited to speak on prevention and care for HIV/AIDS.