About Us
Empowering Youth, Ending HIV: Together for a Healthier Zambia!”
Mwaka Nawila Foundation (MNF) is a grassroots organization that was founded by Georgina Mabezere in 2020. The organization was founded to reduce the plight and support vulnerable children living with HIV in Lusaka communities which later expanded to impact wider catchment areas and a wider scope of young people to include Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and Adolescent Boys and Young Men (ABYM) subsequently targeting Adolescents and young people (AYP) across Zambia.
The Organizations’ aim is to create a conducive environment for young people championing sustainable social change and justice, promote meaningful youth representation in decision making, and access to information, support livelihood, and services provision, and raise awareness on various social and development issues including Health, Child Protection, Education, and Governance.
The organization has supported the creation of networks for adolescents and youth organizations to promote collaboration and peer learning on key issues affecting them. The organization also provides technical support to adolescents and youth organizations for capacity building for high quality services provision and sustainable development programs. MNF thematic areas are Child safe and guiding, Health, Education, Entrepreneurship, Climate change and gender justice.
Our Objectives
- To collaborate with the government and other non-state actors in promoting and supporting grassroots-led development initiatives,
- To ensure availability, accessibility, quality, affordability, and acceptability to service delivery of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, HIV/AIDS, GBV, Child Marriage, and Mental Health,
- To promote girl child education through creating a conducive environment through community engagement and support, and
- To advocate and support child protection policies that aim at eliminating various forms of abuse and neglect in Zambia.
Collaboration with the Government.
In line with Zambia’s National Public Health Policy which prioritizes reducing the spread of HIV and AIDS by increasing access to quality HIV and AIDS and STIs interventions for prevention, care and treatment, MNF prioritizes the development of children and youth.
The Government cannot Soley implement these programs without the collaboration of private sector and civil society. Community-Based Organisations (CBO) and Non-governmental Organisations (NGO) play a pivotal role in the prevention. Care and treatment of HIV, as it is a link between service delivery and the grassroots.
Our Approach
Using lessons learnt from previous similar implementations, MNF adopted recommended strategies to meet the project objective of “Accelerating Towards Epidemic Control II “. This World Health Organisation Approach Differentiated HIV testing services.
Situational Analysis:
Recognizing the vulnerability of AYP to HIV due to factors like lack of awareness, limited access to healthcare, and socio-economic challenges.
Defined Challenge:
Addressing barriers to HIV prevention, testing, and treatment among AYP.
Target Recipients:
Focusing on AYP (both adolescent girls and young women, and adolescent boys and young men) in the districts of Lusaka, Chipata, Ndola, Kitwe, Chililambombwe, Lufwanyama and Livingstone.
Model for Mobilizing, Testing, and Linking:
Using community-level advocacy to promote access to HIV services, including testing, prevention (e.g., condoms, PrEP), and treatment (e.g., ART), while linking AYP to youth-friendly health services.
Community-Based Testing Strategy
2.1 Community-Based Testing:
MNF utilizes its social media platform that has an excess of 2 million followers to conduct social media advocacy campaigns to promote access to HIV testing service within communities. The advocacy campaign messages include where to access services, how to access them and who can access services. This focus on accessing differentiated AYP HIV Testing services. Messages also highlight the available pre and post counseling as well as options of testing including the correct use of oral and blood based HIV testing for AYP.
2.2 HIV Prevention Condom Programming:
MNF uses the same platform to conduct social media campaigns to Promoting the use of condoms. The messages encourage AYP to access outlets and physical outreach events to access information on the correct use of condoms and learn sensitization to reduce HIV transmission.
2.3 STI Screening and Testing:
Outreach activities conducted in response to the demand created to access services provides additional services to HIV testing which will include routine STI screening for all eligible AYP. AYP found with STI will be referred for treatment at the local DHO (District Health Office) and other Youth friendly facilities and safe spaces within clinical settings where HCW (Health Care Workers) will have been trained to provide stigma-free Youth friendly HIV treatment services as well as within the community. The advocacy campaign shall aim at strengthening awareness and education on STIs, including symptoms, prevention, and the importance of early treatment. These services shall be integrated with existing HIV prevention programs to provide holistic sexual and reproductive health services.
2.4 HIV Prevention-Communication and Demand Creation:
MNF develops developing innovative communication strategies for the advocacy content to increase awareness of and uptake of HIV prevention services as well as intimate partner violence prevention services and post care services. The innovative strategy will link beneficiaries to a support structure such as other NGOs and CBOs providing GBV/IPV post care services to facilitate psychosocial and mental health therapy. The strategy will also provide a platform for information dissemination and education to empower AYP through Social behavior change communication (SBCC) to make informed health-related decisions about their HIV prevention options, to reduce vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
2.5 Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Programming:
As part of the Social media advocacy campaign, specific messages will promote expanded access to PrEP for AYP populations at higher risk of HIV infection, using existing community models that have access to social media. Other platforms will include schools and higher learning institutions. MNF will use its existing community structure including relationships with DHOs, community and basic schools. Linkages will also be created to link PrEP beneficiaries to family planning community-based volunteers in integrating family planning delivery with PrEP using existing community-based delivery models such as the DHO, local health posts and other Youth friendly facilities.
2.6 Sexual and Reproductive Health Services:
Existing MNF SRHS interventions in the four districts shall be expanded and used to strengthen linkage models with facilities and community partners with STI management, hepatitis management, and post-violence care for adolescent girls, young women (AGYW), and their male sexual partners. This will be part of the differentiated health care delivery model which constitutes linkage beneficiaries to existing MNF and DHO violence prevention and post care services, PrEP and self-testing, with family planning community services.
2.7 Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC):
All eligible Adolescent Boys and Young Men (ABYM) shall be routinely linked to VMMC services as part of the differentiated service delivery model.
2.8 Linkage to HIV Treatment and Differentiated Service Delivery:
The HIV awareness campaign shall create demand for the uptake of HIV testing service which will identify non-reactive AYP and link them to PrEP, while reactive AYP will be linked to ART and adherence support as part of the differentiated care models for adolescents and young
people living with HIV
2.9 Strengthening Community-Led Monitoring:
Previous MNF interventions have been designed as community led and this project will aim at strengthening community led monitoring by supporting community structures or networks to track and address barriers to HIV service delivery and ensure program accountability. This feedback mechanism shall be facilitated via the existing interactive MNF social media platform channels.
2.10Training and Mobilizing Community Peer Promoters:
As part of the approach to strengthening community-led monitoring, community capacity building shall include training of peer educators, Community health care workers and lay counsellors to promote sustainable HIV prevention, testing, treatment, and care services within their communities.
2.11 Establishment of youth friendly Safe Spaces:
Existing Youth safe spaces shall be used as a platform to create safe spaces to link to health facilities and under the direction of the districts to support youth focused HIV prevention services. These facilities shall facilitate youth empowerment programs including career guidance and social and entrepreneurship mentorship to reduce the prevalence of anti-social
behaviors among AYP.
MNF Organizational Structure
Board Of Directors
Executive Director
Finance, HR & Admin Manger
Advocacy & Communication Manager
Program Manager
Admin Assistant
Program Manager
Project Officer
Monitoring & Evaluation Officer
Community Volunteers
Organizational Capacity
MNF is a registered NGO under the Societies Act of Zambia, with a robust structure led by a Board and supported by qualified professionals in finance, HR, program management, and M&E. Our staff and volunteers are trained in psychosocial counseling, treatment adherence, and advocacy, ensuring impactful interventions.