Strategies For Addressing Barriers To Effective Participation Of Faith-Based Organisations In The Control Of Hiv-Aids In Nairobi City County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is not only a major public health challenge, but also a huge threat to global security, stability, and economic growth. One in five organizations currently engaged in HIV and AIDS programming is faith-based. Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) have a wide reach and capacity to mobilize communities to respond to the HIV and AIDS crisis. The current study sought to establish the barriers which directly affect the operations of the FBOs thus compromising the quality and effectiveness of their responses. A purposive sampling design was employed in a cross-sectional study to assess internal and external barriers towards the effective participation of FBOs in the prevention and control of HIV and AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya. A total of 250 respondents from FBOs engaged in HIV and AIDS programmes were purposively selected. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive statistics (frequency, means and standard deviations) of the responses were generated to establish the extent to which the respondents agreed with the various factors. Out of the 250 sampled FBOs; 52%, 26%, and 22% were affiliated to National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), Evangelical Association of Kenya (EAK) and Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) respectively. The internal barriers were lack of technical capacity in programme implementation, poor leadership and governance practices, inability to access funding from external donors, inability to build external networks and collaborations, theological and doctrinal conflicts, shortcoming in documenting HIV and AIDS work, and poor participation in public policy dialogues and planning. The external barriers were: inability to access reliable, factual and up-to-date information on HIV and AIDS, lack of donor support and commitments to FBO’s HIV and AIDS work, lack of political goodwill and governments’ facilitation and a negative attitude by other organizations towards FBOs’ involvements in HIV and AIDS work. Further, the study found that there was no significant difference in the influence of internal (mean, 2.34) and external (mean, 2.45) barriers on FBOs’ participation in HIV and AIDS responses. The study findings showed that FBOs could participate more effectively in the fight against HIV and AIDS if strengthening FBO’s HIV and AIDS programme management capacity, training FBO leaders on HIV and AIDS knowledge, building FBO's capacity for resource mobilization and fundraising , building FBOs’ HIV and AIDS technical capacity and skills , challenging FBO's negative doctrinal and theological issues, strengthening FBO's governance and leadership, as well as building FBO's capacity on networking and partnership are strengthened. The study recommends that different collaborators implement identified strategies to enable FBOs address the barriers.