USAID Roads Project addresses HIV along transport corridors in Africa

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is currently wrapping up its multi-country ROADS II Project that invested USD $200 million over five years, and reached more than five million people with integrated services related to HIV, Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health, and Nutrition. 

 The ROADS II Project focused on vulnerable populations moving along transport corridors, such as truckers and other migrants, as well as the local communities living along the transport corridors in several African countries, including Tanzania, where nearly 1.5 million people have been reached.  The project helped individuals and communities reduce vulnerability to HIV by expanding economic opportunities and improving food security.  The ROADS II Project also provided care and support for orphans and other at-risk children, and it worked to protect women and girls from sexual exploitation and abuse.

In Dar es Salaam on May19-20, the accomplishments of ROADS II were discussed at a Dissemination Meeting that included a diverse set of stakeholders including USAID staff, government representatives, ROADS implementing partners, regional inter-governmental institutions, international organizations, other development partners, and local partners and beneficiaries.

USAID/Tanzania Health Officer Janean Davis said “This program reached more than five million people; addressing their economic vulnerabilities with innovative income generation and savings programs and mitigating HIV risk factors such as substance abuse and gender-based violence.”

One of the best practices employed by the project and highlighted at the Dissemination Meeting is the formation of Group Savings and Loans Associations (GLSA).  In Tanzania, these GSLAs helped close to five thousand people generate a cumulative savings amounting to US $ 407,800 which supported members to access food, pay school fees, meet medical expenses, etc.  The GSLAs also provided free and accessible loans totaling USD $446,688 that helped members expand and engage in legitimate income generating activities as alternatives to sex work.  During the meeting, one Tanzanian beneficiary provided a testimony that described her journey from illicit brewer to successful poultry farmer as a direct result of the training and loan she received through the ROADS program.

The ROADS II Project, implemented by FHI 360, linked communities along transport corridors with critical HIV/AIDS and other health services by collaborating closely with national AIDS control programs; government ministries; district health management teams; health facilities; and local, national and international companies. ROADS II was active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia and over the life of the project, ROADS was also implemented in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda.