Community Department Overview
The Department is headed by the Community Support Coordinator, it was set up to link the Mbuya Parish community and Reach Out; raising awareness of Reach Out, encouraging positive living, providing treatment, spiritual support and helping clients fight discrimination especially as associated to HIV and AIDS. The Department manages six major programs, as below;
Community Network of Care
The Program provide care for clients in a community setting, offer family support, visit them in their homes, notify doctors and clinicians in emergencies, and also suggest beneficial programmes for the clients.
Food Support
Its aim is to provide essential food that helps improve the health status of our clients and to teach clients how best to use food in developing a sustainable, healthy lifestyle.
Operation Child support
Its aim is to provide education for HIV-positive children and for the children of clients in Mbuya parish; relieving clients from the stress of finding school fees while safeguarding the future of the children through education.
Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA)
Reach Out is proud to be one of the first organizations to implement VSLA in an urban and HIV and AIDS setting. In 2009, the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) came into existence under the funding from Care International. Under the VSLA, the clients also form groups and mobilize resources through small savings to lend to themselves.
Roses of Mbuya
Its aim is to be a creative, profitable, well-known source of beautiful artifacts, ornaments, and apparels, to generate income for Reach Out and its community. It’s a tailoring workshop offering practical skills and employment for Reach Out clients.
Community Prevention
The prevention and sensitization outreach operates under five broad objectives:
1. To understand the community’s nature and size of their problems.
2. To provide life skills
3. To prevent infection and re-infection in relation to HIV and AIDS
4. To reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDS
5. To empower the community in developing approaches to life challenges
To achieve these objectives, the prevention program runs four broad programmes:
The Community Programme, The good samaritan programme, The operation Gideon programme, Couples for life, Youth Out of Schools, the School Programme, and Mother to Mother support.
