Be healthy - Know your viral load - Online training

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Be healthy - Know your viral load - Online training

23 October 2017

The AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) is inviting applications for the 2017 online training course on the rights of people who use drugs (PWUD), harm reduction, and drug policy reform. The course will take place using the ARASA online learning platform from 30 October to 01 December 2017.

ELIGIBLE TO
PWUD activists, Civil Society working with and for PWUDs, and service providers in Southern and East Africa

COST OF COURSE
Free

COURSE AT A GLANCE
5 weeks of study
4 hours / week
Language (English)

CERTIFICATION
Certificate of Participation upon completion of the course

BACKGROUND

As part of the capacity building effort of the Southern African Drug Policy Reform Network, the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa is offering a 5 week online course to people who use drugs (PWUD) activists and other Civil Society representatives who are committed furthering the rights of PWUDs in Southern Africa.

The course is aimed at providing a brief introduction to the key issues that PWUDs face. It will further introduce participants to evidence based harm reduction approaches, as well as drug policy reform. The course itself is designed to provide participants with the basic tools to both understand these issues, as well as to find ways of integrating harm reduction and drug policy reform in the advocacy work of their respective organisations.

PURPOSE OF COURSE

The course aims to ensure that participants:
Understand the rights and reality of people who use drugs;
Understand and be able to explain why harm reduction is an essential aspect of HIV prevention for PWUD;
Understand why criminalising personal possession of drug makes PWUD more vulnerable to HIV infection, and contradicts the human rights they are entitled to;
Understand current drug policies and how they affect PWUD, and understand what good drug policy looks likes;
Articulate Rights-Based arguments in advocacy for harm reduction and drug policy reform;
Understand the necessity of PWUD leadership when working for the rights of PWUD; and
Understand the basics of advocacy planning in the context of harm reduction and drug policy reform.

Completion of the course will be assessed through various existing tools that will be shared at the beginning and end of each module, such as written assignments and quizzes. A final assignment in week 5 will consist of an advocacy plan based on the lessons learnt from the first 4 weeks of the course. The final assignment is not meant to practically implemented, but rather to show that participants understand the various steps in developing a plan; however, participants are encourage to make this as practical as possible in the context of their country and the work they do at their organisations.

WHO MAY APPLY?

In the selection of participants, preference will be given to persons who:
Are a PWUD activists from Southern or East Africa who seeks to gain skills on harm reduction and drug policy reform advocacy
Are a person(s) or activist(s) working for an organization in Southern or East Africa and/ or committed to rights of people who use drugs
Are committed to participating fully in all the elements of the short course and utilise the gained skills and knowledge in their organisations to further the rights of PWUDs
Are fluent in English
Have regular access to the internet as well as access to a computer with the following specifications:
Operating System: Windows 95 or higher; MacOS 9 or higher
Hardware: Minimum 128 Mbytes of RAM preferably 512 MB, 1GByte of free disk space
Software: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel 2000 or higher Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 or higher
Internet speed: 56 kbps minimum

HOW TO APPLY

Kindly send us the following:
A one page letter of motivation, setting out why you feel that you would benefit from participating in the short course, and outlining how you will use the skills acquired during the course in your own country;
Your resume / CV;
A letter of support from the organisation you are currently working with / affiliated to.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

All applications must be received by no later than start of business, Tuesday, 24 of October 2017. Kindly note that applications received after the closing date will not be considered. Application should be submitted by email to HeJin Kim at hejin@arasa.info (and copy Bruce Tushabe at bruce@arasa.info). Successful applicants will be notified by no later than 26 of October 2017. Should you not receive any feedback from us by that date, kindly consider your application unsuccessful.

The course will take place from the 30 October – 01 December 2017