At the core of this collaboration is the concept that communication flows are the cornerstone for good health care. Whether it is information flowing between the health care provider and patient, or between health centers and the referral hospital, it is crucial to understand the information that currently flows throughout the system so that we can work together to improve efficiency and minimize bottlenecks. This summer, 2013 William Davidson Institute Fellow Anna Chan, will work to better understand the information flows between rural community members, Community Health Workers, and Health Centers. In addition, she will work on a community-based survey to identify factors for self-efficacy amongst community members with children under 5 years of age.  Stay tuned for more!

We are very honored to be recognized by the Center for Health Market Innovations for our work.

What is Most Effective?

Management or Leadership

In my ‘day job’, I work for a governmental health department. I find myself continually frustrated by the top-down, dictatorial management style that is all too common in the United States. As I sat in traffic today, I pondered where this approach has come from.  Is it a sense of need to ‘control’ the work so as to control the outcome? Is it the sense that funds are scarce, and must be tightly managed?   I began to wonder if it is because managers often do not understand the work of those who they are managing. Most managers are trained to be “managers”, not doctors or medical assistants, or even receptionists. Is this the problem? Maybe…..but then I thought of Stephanie Blount, our first Country Director for The Ihangane Project, and realized that it does not have to be this way!

Stephanie has a Master’s Degree in Global Public Policy. She is not a physician, an agronomist, or business specialist. Yet, in the two short months since she has been in Rwanda, she has shown immeasurable leadership on programs that range from clinical care for HIV-exposed infants to farming cooperatives and business development for women artisans. How has she accomplished this? She has sat with all stakeholders, asked questions, listened to the answers, developed clear expectations and encouraged empowerment of team leaders. Her ability to lead, rather than manage, has created an effective team of thoughtful and motivated partners who feel respected for the expertise they bring.  Steph does not pretend to know more than those who she is leading. Instead, she allows them to educate her.  

Managers who ‘manage’ may believe that they need to keep employees in line to assure productivity. Unfortunately, this stifles innovation, causes poor morale and creates a mediocre product at best. This is true whether the ‘product’ is a service or a physical commodity. This is the old, dusty way of managing. The wonderful news is that we have “breathes of fresh air” young leaders like Steph Blount who can show us the way out of management and into leadership! ~ Wendy

IGIHE.com In Rwanda

Gakenke: The women from Ruli have decided to participate in business even though, they met some problems.

Written on 7-08-2012 – Time 09:55′ by Abdou Nyampeta

 (Original Post in Kinyarwanda)

’’Now, we decided to stand up to specify our inventions whether in Rwanda or abroad, in selling for gaining funds and continuing to own respect.’’

Said by Mukankuranga Beata, a member of handcraft cooperative called (COVARU) localized in Ruli sector. She lives in Busoro cell, Ruli sector, Gakenke district, Northern Province, and she spoke in an interview with IGIHE  on Monday, 06^th August 2012 at Gikondo where the 15^th  international exhibition take a place.

This cooperative is composed by ladies who are determined to fight against the poverty by making handcraft products fabricated in banana leaves and sisals sponsored by the National women council.   

Mukankuranga Betty said it is the first time our cooperative gets here in the international exhibition. She said ’’ We came here to publish our inventions for being known and selling to gain money. Secondly we came to learn how others work in order to get something from them or they get something from us”. Some problems emerged for them are: Delay to go back to their hotels caused by the lack of transportation and a bit matter of stopping for a short while of electricity power in the exposition area.

The Ihangane Project Selected as Global Village Participant on Sustainable Health Innovations

Our Marketplace Booth is an Official Global Village Activity for the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012)

July 15, 2012, Santa Cruz, California—The Ihangane Project has been selected to participate in the Global Village at the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012), which will take place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. from July 22 – 27, 2012.

The Global Village, open to conference delegates and the general public, aims to intensify the involvement of key stakeholders in the conference and in the global response to AIDS. The Ihangane Project’s selected activity will be a marketplace booth to support business development for a large women’s artisan cooperative in rural Rwanda. In Sub Saharan Africa, lack of access to food due to extreme poverty is a risk factor for HIV. The Ihangane Project supports economic development for those at highest risk of HIV.  Additionally, it was one of only 280 Global Village activities accepted for inclusion in the AIDS 2012 programme out of over 1,000 submissions. Examples of other activities at the Global Village include sessions, forums, oral presentations, awards, networking zones, NGO exhibition booths, marketplace booths, art exhibits, film screenings and performing arts.

The Ihangane Project empowers Rwandan communities to develop integrated approaches to the complex challenges of HIV by supporting community-driven projects that increase access to health care, improve health care quality, and foster long term success through economic development. We envision a world in which preventative health care is the norm, access to health care is considered a basic human right, and short term health gains are not cut short by socioeconomic marginalization.

“We are extremely proud that this activity was chosen to be a part of the AIDS 2012 programme,” said Executive Director, Wendy Leonard. “This conference comes at what has the potential to be an historic moment in the AIDS epidemic. The world’s attention will be on Washington in July to see how all of us – clinicians, scientists, policymakers, and advocates – are able to come together to chart a path forward in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in a way that is integrated with overall improvements in health care delivery systems around the world.”

All are encouraged to attend the Global Village Programme at AIDS 2012. Returning to the U.S. after a 22-year absence, the Conference is expected to be a landmark event. The return to the U.S. is due in large part to years of advocacy to end the nation’s entry restrictions on people living with HIV (PLHIV). This return represents a huge success for human rights and will have a positive impact on the response to HIV and AIDS both at a national and international level.

The theme of AIDS 2012, Turning the Tide Together, has been selected to emphasize how a global and decisive commitment is crucial to change the course of the epidemic now that science is presenting promising results in HIV treatment and biomedical prevention.

More information on the selection process for the International AIDS Conference Global Village Programme is available here.

About AIDS 2012

AIDS 2012 is expected to convene more than 20,000 delegates from more than 200 countries, including more than 2,000 journalists. As the largest gathering of professionals working in the field of HIV, including people living with HIV and other leaders in the HIV response, the biennial International AIDS Conference plays a fundamental role in shaping the global response to HIV and in keeping HIV and AIDS on the international political agenda. www.aids2012.org.

Conference Organization

AIDS 2012 is convened by the International AIDS Society and the conference’s international partners: the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+); the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO); the International Community of Women with HIV/AIDS (ICW) and the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS): the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC); Sidaction. 

The U.S.-based Black AIDS Institute; the District of Columbia Department of Health (DOH); the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA); the National Institutes of Health (NIH); the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) at the White House; and the U.S. Positive Women’s Network (USPWN) are serving as local partners.  

AIDS 2012: Join the conversation

Get the latest conference updates and share your thoughts and ideas through the Conference Facebook and Twitter.   We are tweeting – @aids2012 – and hope many of you will tweet along with us, using #AIDS2012 to keep the conversation going. Become a fan of AIDS 2012 on Facebook and stay in touch with the latest conference updates and developments. Please visit www.facebook.com/aids2012 to become a fan.

About the IAS 

The International AIDS Society (IAS) is the world’s leading independent association of HIV professionals, with over 16,000 members from more than 196 countries working at all levels of the global response to AIDS. Our members include researchers from all disciplines, clinicians, public health and community practitioners on the frontlines of the epidemic, as well as policy and programme planners. The IAS is the custodian of the biennial International AIDS Conference and lead organizer of the IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 30 June– 3 July 2013.   www.iasociety.org | www.ias2013.org 

 Contact:

Wendy Leonard, MD, AAHIVS

(831)234-6053

wendy@theihanganeproject.com

AIDS 2012 Media Team

Sian Bowen (Geneva, Switzerland), AIDS 2012 Senior Communications Manager                           

Email: Sian.Bowen@iasociety.org / Tel:  +41 22 710 0864                                                     

Adina Ellis (Washington, D.C.), AIDS 2012 U.S. Communications and Public Affairs Manager

Email:adina.ellis@aids2012.org / Tel: +1 (202) 714-6793

Shawn Jain (Washington, D.C.), AIDS 2012 U.S. Communications & Media Relations Coordinator

Email: shawn.jain@aids2012.org / Tel: +1 (202) 470-3127

Association leadership standing next to the keyhole kitchen garden at Nyange Health Center:

Cabbage growing at the Nyange Clinic kitchen garden:

Duteraninkunga Association just days before beginning cultivation:

Duteraninkunga Farming Association:

James Radawich, a horticulture specialist and TIP volunteer, worked with the association to improve on cultivation techniques and expanding the project:

Dr. Avite, Ruli Hospital Director, and Michella, TIP Assistant Director of Programming. Working closely with Dr. Avite in expanding the projects and improving the health status of the Ruli District:

We would like to share a recent email that we received from our pilot farming cooperative in Nyange…..

Report of activities of DUTERANINKUNGA Association

       Hello Wendy; how is your news? For us we are well.

        DUTERANINKUNGA Association wants to wish you the good Labor Day.

       We wish to send you the report of activities DUTERANINKUNGA Association.

1.      We already finish cultivating the Ground and on the photos, you find that the culture are well because we have the rain season.

2.      We still prepare the materials to build the cow House.

We didn’t build it because we have the rain season, it rains a longtime the reason why to build in this season became difficult, on the photos you find the briquettes for building and photos of cultivated ground.

We hope that we will have sufficient  harvest because we had the good time.

Now the Project is well, we didn’t have the problems

Thank you; you will Great our Friends.

GOD bless you for your Help.

This is our onions….

 

This is our Eggplant and other vegetables in the ground...

This is our cabbages...