UNDP has been at the forefront globally and at country levels to contribute to and support national HIV & AIDS responses together with other development partners. In Somalia, over the last five years UNDP has become one of the main actors in the response. UNDP is the Lead UN Agency to ensure that countries put HIV & AIDS at the centre of national development; build national capacities of government as well as networks of People Living with HIV & AIDS (PLHAs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). To help create an enabling environment and reduce stigma and discrimination which continue to fuel the epidemic, UNDP works to protect the rights of PLHAs, women, and other vulnerable population groups in Somalia.
UNDP is implementing four HIV and AIDS projects:

1. Strengthening the three HIV & AIDS Commissions and Secretariats:
UNDP supports the three zonal AIDS Commissions, Somaliland AIDS Commission (SOLNAC), South Central AIDS Commission (SCAC) and Puntland AIDS Commission (PAC), to ensure that all HIV work carried out in each zone is well coordinated. This work includes supporting the finalization of an HIV & AIDS Policy for each zone, as well as assisting each AIDS commission to develop and implement Annual Action Plans to support the recently revised HIV & AIDS Strategic Framework 2009-2013.

2. Religious Leaders Advocate Project
Since 2006, UNDP has been working with religious leaders in an effort to equip them to play a greater role in addressing issues related to HIV and AIDS in their communities. To date, UNDP has trained 249 religious leaders in HIV & AIDS advocacy. It is estimated that over 20,000 people have been reached by the religious leaders with messages on HIV & AIDS delivered during Friday prayers at mosques in Somaliland, Puntland and South Central Somalia. In addition, UNDP has supported religious leaders to set up 3 Religious Leaders Network to facilitate networking and training in Somaliland, Puntland and South-Central Somalia.

A toolkit ‘Compassion in Action’ developed by the UNDP HIV & AIDS Regional Programme for Arab States specifically for religious leaders, has been the main training manual used to support this training. The toolkit focuses on issues surrounding HIV & AIDS and Islam and emphasizes the role of religious leaders as ‘agents of change’, especially in addressing stigma and discrimination.

In the Somali context, religious leaders play a crucial role in influencing public attitudes and advocating for the rights of people living with HIV. Through this initiative, religious leaders are working closely with people living with HIV by providing counselling and support services.

All the above projects are supported by the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

3. HIV & AIDS Behaviour Change Communication Project
The HIV & AIDS Behaviour Change Communication Project, which started in 2006, and has supported training of peer educator programmes comprised of youth, women, religious leaders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and members of the uniformed services. This project is run in Somaliland, Puntland and South Central Somalia. Over the last 3 years, 574 people have been trained as peer educators and it is estimated that these educators have reached approximately 12,000 people. In addition, Peer Education Networks have been established in each zone to support and coordinate the work of all peer educators.

In December 2008, UNDP, in collaboration with SAHAN, the Somaliland HIV & AIDS Network, supported a workshop in Berbera for 30 truck drivers, with a focus on HIV & AIDS-related behaviour change. The main objective of the workshop was to equip the truck drivers with the relevant skills and information to protect themselves from HIV infection. The truck drivers have consequently set up a Truck Drivers Committee, whose main aim is to reach as many fellow truck drivers as possible with critical information on HIV & AIDS prevention, care and support.

In addition, UNDP works in partnership with Afgoye-Alifow Women Development Organization (AAWDO) to organize workshops targeting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in South Central. The most recent was a four-day workshop in Mogadishu in February 2009, attended by 45 participants, which aimed to equip participants with basic knowledge on sexually transmitted infections and HIV & AIDS. Apart from AAWDO, UNDP works with other partner NGOs in Somaliland, Puntland and South Central Somalia to educate people living with HIV about antiretroviral therapy and other available care and support services. A key outcome of these workshops was the setting up of a People Living with HIV Network in Puntland which aims to support the rights of people living with the virus. This was a huge achievement, which we hope will increase the support and involvement of people living with HIV in the overall response to HIV & AIDS in Puntland. The People Living with HIV Network will be supported by BADBAADO, the Puntland umbrella organization of peer educators. Similarly, UNDP is working with a network called Talawadag to promote the rights of people living with HIV in Somaliland. 

In 2009, UNDP will continue its efforts to target those populations most at risk in Somaliland, Puntland and South Central Somalia which include, truck drivers, IDPs and people living with HIV.

4. Multi-sectoral Capacity Development Project
When the Multi-sectoral Capacity Development Project began, UNDP collaborated with the three AIDS Commissions in Somaliland, Puntland and South Central Somalia to undertake an assessment of all existing HIV & AIDS-related training programmes and curricula. Several gaps were identified, which resulted in prioritizing a number of training programmes to support a multi-sectoral response to HIV & AIDS. The programmes are to be supported by various materials: a Behaviour Change Communication Toolkit focusing on HIV & AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, especially to support work with populations that are most at risk; a training manual on HIV & AIDS and the law to train judges, lawyers and paralegal workers; a training manual to support work with the uniformed services; and an HIV & AIDS university curriculum, to be integrated into universities. Each of these toolkits is in the process of being finalized, and the Behaviour Change Communication Toolkit has already been used to train truck drivers, IDPs, groups of women, and people living with HIV.

The HIV & AIDS and the Law Toolkit will be piloted in 2009 by the Law Faculty at the University of Hargeisa, training judges, prosecutors and paralegal workers in Somaliland. The manual recognizes that a country’s population relies on a strong, knowledgeable and effective judicial community to protect and defend the rights of individuals, in particular people living with HIV. The HIV & AIDS training manual to support work with the uniformed services will be tested through training the Inter-service Council, which has representatives from three Somaliland ministries: the Ministry of Interior (Police), the Ministry of Justice (Custodial Corps) and the Ministry of Defence (Military Personnel). Puntland State University will facilitate the testing of the HIV & AIDS curriculum developed to support university students.

This Multi-sectoral Capacity Development project started in 2005 with support from the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The overall goal of the project is to ensure that Somali HIV & AIDS partners have access to quality multi-sectoral and multi-discipline training curricula and programmes to support a strengthened response to HIV & AIDS in Somaliland, Puntland and South Central Somalia.