It was a Tuesday afternoon when I heard my phone ring at my desk. I glanced over and saw that it was Peter Gondwe, the executive director of Life Concern (LICO), a community-based organization in Rumphi, Malawi, that I’ve been working with over the past year. I picked up the call with my usual greeting for Peter:
Me: Hey Peter, let me call you right back. I know airtime can be expensive.
Peter: No, no, no, Sam! This cannot wait!
Me: OK, Peter, are you alright? What’s going on?
Peter: We’ve won! We did it! We won!
Me: Woah, Peter, slow down. What did you win?
Peter: The Red Ribbon Award! We did it! And I wanted you to be the first to know!
Our conversation continued as I absorbed everything Peter was telling me: Life Concern was going to be one of ten organizations worldwide to win the prestigious Red Ribbon Award given biennially by UNAIDS to community-based organizations that have shown outstanding community leadership and action on AIDS; two of their staff members would be traveling to the International AIDS Society Conference in Australia to receive the award; they would receive a $10,000(!) grant to expand their capacities and continue to serve their community; and all of this information was strictly confidential.
While Peter spoke, I tried to keep up with well-deserved repeated congratulatory interjections. For such a normally reticent person, his enthusiasm was overwhelming and infectious. I hung up the phone, overjoyed and wishing I could tell the world how proud I felt in that moment. His words echoed in my ears, I wanted you to be the first to know.
Over the past three years, with support from ViiV Healthcare’s Positive Action for Children Fund, EGPAF has helped strengthen the organizational capacities of six CBOs in Malawi in specific domains, including PMTCT knowledge and services; strategic planning; monitoring and evaluation; communications; and project management. In my role as a Global Health Corps fellow this year with EGPAF, I’ve managed this project. Through participating in supportive supervision visits to Rumphi and trainings in Lilongwe, I’ve witnessed LICO’s progressive growth and development as an organization. With EGPAF’s mentorship, the internal functioning of their organization fortified, providing a sound structure to grow and develop their programs.
As a result, they’ve implemented community-based PMTCT initiatives such as male study circles, which bring men together to learn more about the pregnancy and childbearing process and encourage them to partake. The rates of male involvement in antenatal care in the areas where LICO works are now much higher than in surrounding areas, which means that more men are getting tested for HIV and more women are feeling supported throughout the PMTCT process. In fact, LICO has even aided a couple of their male study circle members to witness the birth of their children – an exceptionally rare practice in Malawi.
Today, as Peter walked across the stage and accepted his Red Ribbon Award on behalf of LICO with the world watching, I could finally release all of the pride and excitement I’d contained for months, cheering at the top of my lungs. The dedication and passion of Peter and his team are unequivocal and success will surely continue to follow them along their journey. I know that EGPAF is grateful to LICO for the work they have done in working towards a generation free from AIDS in Malawi. And I know that EGPAF is proud of the partnership we’ve cultivated: the kind of partnership that goes beyond trainings and contracts – the kind of partner that wants you to be the first to know.
