LIVELIHOODS

The Problem

HIV/AIDS has a profound economic as well as an emotional toll on a household. It has a negative impact on household income, as it is often the productive members of the household who are sick or become carers, and it causes increased expenditure, with expenses like medical bills and funeral costs. These have a devastating effect on families already struggling with poverty.
 

"More than a quarter of all children in the developing world are malnourished"
MDG report 2005  

Adequate nutrition is essential to the health of anyone living with HIV, yet a UNICEF 1999 study showed a 41% reduction in food consumption in families affected by HIV/AIDS. Reducing essential household expenditure like this is one coping strategy, as is trying to increase income through any means possible, often leaving women no choice but to resort to sex work, thus further increasing their vulnerability. Loss of labour, particularly to work agricultural land, is also often made up by children withdrawn from school.
 

AIDS deaths frequently leave a widow, a granny or even just an older sibling in charge. These household heads often do not have the skills or resources to be able to provide or care for themselves or the younger children of the household, making them even more vulnerable to abuse or exploitation and at renewed risk of HIV/AIDS infection. 
    

"[HIV/AIDS] impacts will continue to be felt for years to come and the situation will get significantly worse before it gets better."
UNAIDS Global Epidemic Report 2006

Our Response

EJAF is committed to addressing livelihood and food security issues at a household level through many of its programme areas including risk mitigation, home based care, support for positive people and vulnerable children. This livelihood assistance comes in many guises but is primarily aimed at empowering households to thrive independently with adequate nutrition, shelter, medical care and with children in school.
 

In the developing world our support has been directed through vocational training and income generation activities for positive people, AIDS widows and orphans and at risk groups, enabling them to gain employment or start up and market small businesses. It has been directed at helping rural communities to establish low maintenance, high yield food gardens containing nutritionally balanced foods and it has been used to set up revolving loan funds administered by positive people's support groups in order to provide capital for businesses and help cover emergency costs.
 

Whilst these programmes have had a profound impact on their beneficiary households, the majority have remained relatively small scale. The next challenge for EJAF is to try and find ways to scale up and replicate this livelihood support without flooding the market and decreasing the value of products/services. 
 

HIV/AIDS also causes poverty in the developed world and, in the UK, we support an adult and a children's national hardship fund that provides emergency grants to people in need. We also support an organisation providing nutritious home delivered meals for those who are not able to get out or cook for themselves. 
 

For more information on some of our current programmes on this theme, please click on one of the projects featured above.
 

To learn more about which countries feature this theme as a current funding priority for us please see our country and grant strategy pages.