The Family Awareness Consciousness Togetherness (FACT) program in Guyana helped two sisters, who were made vulnerable by HIV, to break the cycle of poverty and attend university.
On November 17th, 2016, Advancing Partners & Communities (APC) signed a ground breaking Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with partners in Guyana to strengthen services for members of key populations.
On Thursday March 17, the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) and the Advancing Partners and Communities (APC) – Guyana Project held their seventh monthly “Lunch Talk” forum focused on “Women and Workplace Discrimination” as part of a series of activities being held to commemorate International Women’s Day 2016 observed on March 8.
Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) and the USAID – Advancing Partners and Communities (APC) Guyana Project has began hosting critical conversations to ensuring that barriers to attaining the highest standards of physical, sexual and mental health of all Guyanese are removed. This recent “Lunch Talk” focused on the barriers Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people face in accessing services for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV).
Tashana Legall was born to a low income family in Guyana and lost both her parents to HIV/AIDS. In 2007, Tashana enrolled in a program for children orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV (HKID) at Comforting Hearts. The organization was a source of psychological, nutritional, spiritual and academic support to Tashana for several years. The continued nurturance and support from the staff at CH enabled Tashana to progress at school.
Gillian, a visually impaired 41-year-old, found out that she was HIV-positive when her family insisted that she go to the doctor because she was losing weight at a rapid rate. For 3 years she shut herself away from her family and friends, never disclosing her status to anyone. One day she decided to tell a classmate who happened to be a social worker at Lifeline Counselling Services (LCS) and enrolled Gillian in a People Living with HIV (PLHIV) and AIDS support group at LCS.
Queenie, or Q as she sometimes goes by, is an HIV positive, transgender (trans) person living in Guyana. When Q fell ill after defaulting on anti-retroviral therapy (ART), she was hesitant to resume her treatment. Given the stigma and discrimination Q had experienced in the hospital as a trans person, she was not looking forward to going back alone. So she reached out to Guyana Trans United (GTU), an organization that supports the trans community, for assistance.
Through a grant awarded under Advancing Partners & Communities (APC), the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) provides grants to NGOs and works with selected grant recipients to improve their ability to manage their respective organizational systems to meet USAID requirements while providing effective HIV services for key populations. The activities ICRW focuses on involve targeting stigma and discrimination efforts, addressing gender-based violence, and integrating stigma-reduction activities in the national AIDS response.
FACT (Family, Awareness, Consciousness, and Togetherness) is an NGO that supports the entire family. Ms. Annette Jaundoo, Executive Director and her dedicated team are proud of FACT’s accomplishments in strengthening families. Since January, FACT has assisted over 500 families.
The Family Awareness Consciousness Togetherness (FACT) program in Guyana helped two sisters, who were made vulnerable by HIV, to break the cycle of poverty and attend university.