Faraja Trust Fund (hereinafter referred to as Faraja) is a registered non-governmental organization founded in 1991 by a specialist medical doctor in psychiatry and public health. It is registered by the Registrar of Trustees in Tanzania. Its office is in Morogoro Municipality on plot BB104 along old Dar es Salaam Road. Faraja, which started in 1991 with only three volunteers, has grown into a vibrant institution with 83 volunteers including peer educators, home care nurses, credit advisers and life skills trainers. Faraja is led by a Management Advisory Board and managed by the founding director who is assisted by an administrator and six programme coordinators.

Mission
The mission of Faraja is to alleviate suffering among the HIV/AIDS vulnerable people and affected individuals through counseling, care and coping support, income generation activities and preventive health education.

Vision
The vision of Faraja is to be the foremost competent and effective service provider in alleviating suffering through care and support of HIV/AIDS affected individuals in Morogoro.

Faraja started as a project to resocialize 250 commercial sex workers (CWSs) in Morogoro Municipality. The CSWs were the main reservoir of HIV/AIDS in Morogoro Municipality and the surrounding areas. The CSWs were granted start-up funds for small-scale income generating activities (IGAs) to enable them shift from the risky behavior to form self-help groups for income generation. The idea emanated from a research project for a masters degree carried out by the founding director. Given the HIV/AIDS epidemic the problem was how could the CSWs be helped to shift from their risky behavior into socially acceptable economic activities? The main problem for these women was, therefore, how to earn a decent living. The intervention idea was to make them aware of HIV/AIDS, preventive measures, available alternative income generating activities (IGAs) and provide them with start-up capital to exploit the IGA opportunities.

The motto of Faraja is:
Alleviate suffering through building self-help capacity of the affected persons.

Functions and Objectives

The main functions and objectives of Faraja are to:

1. Prevent and control the spread of HIV/AIDS by providing information to the members of general public as well as tailor-made information for specific initiative groups.

2. Decrease significantly suffering among the HIV/AIDS affected persons and vulnerable groups, especially women and children at the risk of contracting the disease.

3. Decrease significantly stigmatization and discrimination of the HIV/AIDS affected persons through education and information to communities and the general public.

4. Improve the quality of life of those affected by HIV/AIDS by providing medical, psychosocial and material support.

5. Inculcate positive behaviours, raise awareness and understanding about preventive measures necessary to decrease the spread of HIV/AIDS among members of various communities in Morogoro.

6. Increase access to legal and human rights advice and support to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups such as women and orphans.

7. Provide skills training and capacity building support to other HIV/AIDS service organizations in Tanzania through the School Without Walls (SWW) programme.

8. Provide small loans for improvement of small-scale income generation activities of women and other vulnerable groups.

Organization and Management of Faraja

Faraja is led and managed by the founding director and advised by a ten-member Management Advisory Board. The Director is assisted by an administrative officer and seven program coordinators who make up the Faraja Management Team. Eighty three volunteers carry out the Faraja service operations. Operations of Faraja are guided by a five year strategic plan (2003/04-2007/08).

Faraja Programmes

The following eight programmes and projects are being implemented by Faraja:

1. Home Care and Counseling Programme

2. Youth and Orphan Support Programme

3. Community and Peer Education Programme

4. School Health Programme

5. School Without Walls Programme

6. Legal Aid and Human Rights Project

7. Women Neighbourhood Associations

8. Out of School Youth Project.

Target Groups and Intervention Strategies

Faraja targets people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children, youths out of school, groups in religious organizations, work places, schools, colleges and universities. In the rural areas the target groups are farmers, traditional healers and traditional birth attendants.

Faraja programmes are implemented through various approaches and strategies including radio programmes, peer education meetings, sports, and games for life clubs, out reach activities, school health clubs, promotion of income generating activities, and training of trainers, individual counseling and voluntary testing for HIV /AIDS. In order to achieve Faraja objectives and sustainability, communities are empowered through peer action facilitation skills to ensure community ownership of programmes.

The major partners and sources of funding for Faraja programmes are:

1. The Ford Foundation

2. South African AIDS Training (SAT) Programme

3. Swiss Development Corporation

4. Bavarian Lutheran Diocese

5. Social Action Trust Fund (Tanzania)

6. Individual donations.

Recorded Achievements of Faraja

Major successes of the various Faraja programmes so far are;

1. Two hundred and fifty commercial sex workers (CSWs) gave up the commercial sex work and started operating small- scale income generating activities. Some of them are now community home-based homecare volunteers.

2. Coverage of about 90% of top leadership of local government, 98% of hamlet leaders and about 96%of all Morogoro residents by the Community Mobilization, Sensitization and Peer Action Programme

3. Facilitation of the formation of at least one peer action program in each of the 19 wards of Morogoro Municipality.

4. Increased number of community members turning at Faraja Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) for HIV/AIDS.

5. Formation of working AIDS committee at grass-root levels (streets and wards).

6. Faraja receives an average of 24 requests for education on HIV/AIDS every month from different communities in Morogoro.

7. Facilitation of the establishment of an association of people living with AIDS in Morogoro (WAVUMO) in 2000.

8. Reduction of social stigma and rejection within the community. This has been possible through community counseling and HIV/AIDS sensitization programme.

9. Formation of the community counselors and home-based volunteers in every ward in Morogoro Municipality. These are men and women who take care of patients in their communities.

10. Managed to bring together the community care givers (mostly grand mothers) to form support groups for affected children.

11. Establishment of complementary traditional therapy clinic. The clinic is operated in partnership with a traditional herbalist who has undergone training in counseling, home care and basic nutrition for the people living with HIV/AIDS.

12. All schools and colleges in Morogoro have been reached by the School Health Programme. Teachers have formed AIDS committees and School Health Clubs (SHC) have been established in primary and secondary schools. Ten of the SHCs are supported by Faraja

13. The School Without Walls (SWW) has built and enhanced capacity of 34 NGOs and CBOs and 40 community initiatives groups at local level.

14. A 30-minute local radio programme on HIV/AIDDS is being aired twice a week in a local Radio Ukweli. The radio station covers 6 regions of Tanzania.

Challenges Facing Faraja

The following challenges face Faraja in the implementation of programmes:

1. Increasing need for services which are unmatched by available resources.

2. Dependence on external financial resources to support Faraja activities.

3. Increasing spread of the AIDS epidemic.

4. Low level of community acceptance and ownership of care and support activities.

5. Low rate of reduction of stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.

6. Shortage of working equipment and facilities.

Future Directions and Expectations

1. Mobilization of local financial resources to support Faraja activities.

2. Recruitment and development of more professional service providers.

3. Increasing networking with similar NGOs and other stakeholders.

4. Establishment of support groups for children living with AIDS.

Finally, Faraja Trust Fund believes that, with a multi-frontal concerted effort based on genuine partnership of all societal stakeholders, the scourge of HIV/AIDS will be contained.