NORSAAC currently runs programmes in two broad areas namely, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Women’s Rights and Governance with livelihood and skill training as a cross-cutting issue. Various evidence-based strategies are employed in programming mainly including advocacy, partnership and collaboration, coalition building and networking, research and BCC. Rights-based approach forms the basis of programming in NORSAAC. These strategies are used to achieve the dual objectives of increasing coverage and impact of programme interventions.
PROJECTS UNDER SEXUALITY AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
- Community Based Sexual Education Project (CBSEP)
- Innovative Sexual Education Project (ISEP)
- Society Tackling AIDS through Rights (STAR)
- Project Resource Mobilization and Awareness (Project –RMA)
- Act Right and Stop HIV
- Global Fund Round 8 HIV/AIDS Project
Community Based Sexual Education Project (CBSEP)
CBSEP is a partnership project of NORSAAC and DANIDA through AXIS a local NGO in Denmark. The project was to develop and integrate dialogue-based educational methods and materials to strengthen the knowledge and attitudes of youth in the operational districts of the Northern Region of Ghana on SHSR (Sexual Health and Sexual Rights).
The project trained 28 teachers who served as facilitators in schools and 18 youth group leaders to facilitate sexual education in their schools and communities respectively. About 2,100 youth in and out of school were reached with the information and have themselves used the participatory tools to discuss their sexual issues.
14 schools and 9 communities from 3 districts are currently covered by the project.
Innovative Sexual Education Project (ISEP)
The idea behind the project arose with basis in the experiences from the Community Based Sexual Education Project (CBSEP). During CBSEP, tools for dialogue-based teaching methods were developed and Axis, NORSAAC and a great of number of stakeholders from CBSEP and the present project and have come to an understanding of which focus-areas to include in a new project on SRHR in the programme area.
The s project in all the implementing districts will help curtail the issue of sexuality among the youth aged 10-25 in the region and also have a realistic majority of the youth understanding and embracing their sexuality and making positive choices that will help build the region. Especially among the females, the youth will come to understand how to deal with certain issues that confront females in the society.
Society Tackling AIDS through Rights (STAR)
NORSAAC partnered with Action Aid to implement this project in selected districts of the Northern region. 5 communities were used as pilot. The project was to empower communities in the face of HIV and AIDS. Communities were able to see HIV/AIDS as a development issue and related it to other development areas like education, health, agric among others using participatory tools. 12 facilitators from 6 communities were trained during the first phase.
Project Resource Mobilization and Awareness (Project –RMA)
NORSAAC has become a member of the National Strategic committee on Reproductive Health commodity security and has been working with International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) through the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) to step up advocacy strategies to ensure RH commodity security in Ghana. The project among others is to ensure functioning budget lines for Reproductive Health commodities with special emphasis on contraceptives. The project is run in 4 districts within the Northern region targeting government agencies especially health sector actors.
Act Right and Stop HIV
Act Right and Stop HIV is a Ghana AIDS Commission supported project aimed at preventing HIV in communities with outreach programmes such as community sensitization durbars. Counseling and testing, film and video shows among others. 20 communities are beneficiaries of this project from Savelugu Nantong and Central Gonja districts. 30 volunteers and peer educators on the project leading activities at the community level. Formation of new HIV/AIDS and Gender Clubs are also integrated in this project.
Global Fund Round 8 HIV/AIDS Project
NORSAAC is a sub-recipient of the Global Fund round 8 HIV/AIDS programme working closing with PPAG.
The Program addresses gaps in the national response such as
1) Superficial understanding of HIV in many segments of the population including youth, and an inability to move people from general knowledge and awareness of risk to actually adopting safer behaviors;
2) Insufficient targeting of most-at-risk populations (MARPS) and vulnerable groups
3) slow integration of HIV/AIDS and Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH);
4) shortfalls in institutional and community capacities to rapidly scale-up comprehensive HIV services.
The two years pilot project will assist the organisation distribute over 700,000 condoms to most at risk population (MARPS) and the general public. 56 peer educators in 26 communities and one tertiary institution have being trained to reach out to 70,000 young people and the general public within the project implementation period.