Whilst major cities in Uganda (notably Kampala and Entebbe) have been well served with AIDS Prevention Education Programmes and abstinence advertising campaigns funded by the United States, rural communities have not been exposed to such AIDS prevention investment. Kasese is off the beaten track, near the Congo border and not well served by NGO’s who implement such programmes. What is available is often sketchy, “chalk and talk” based presentations which share the physiology of AIDS without engaging the recipients in the debate and development of solutions to the cultural, social, psychological and economic impact of the disease on individuals and communities. Cultural practises of polygamy and female disempowerment and subjugation are still common. Feedback from schools, communities, traditional healers and prisoners have reported that Act4Africa is the only NGO in Kasese district which offers a truly interactive AIDS Education Programme which enables recipients to discuss sexual health (a taboo subject in rural African communities) in a confidential setting, challenging cultural norms, empowering women and helping communities to develop solutions to the problem of HIV/AIDS through the use of Theatre for Development and a Life Skills programme. Having established a highly effective team in Kasese in 2003 (the team currently work part-time for Act4Africa), we wish to increase their capacity to work full time and enable them to deliver 40 more AIDS Prevention Community or School Programmes per year (delivering the programme to approx. 24,000 additional people). A breakthrough was made in late 2007 when Act4Africa Kasese were invited to work with traditional healers, witch doctors and medicine men and women in the district. Since then the charity has also begun to build new relationships with these and other high risk groups (out of school youth and women’s groups, local prisoners and army staff). These are key targets for the behavioural change, AIDS Prevention and Stigma Reduction Programmes. Monitoring and Evaluation We know from the monitoring and evaluation of our comprehensive, full-time programme in Jinja Uganda during 2006 – 07 that the impact on reducing the threat of the disease is substantial. By the end of our schools programme in Jinja for example: 84% of pupils believed that those who have HIV/AIDS have a value to society (an increase of 20% since the beginning of the programme) 55% of pupils agreed that 0 was a good number of sexual partners outside of a faithful marriage (an increase of 14%) 19.7% more pupils understood that not all people with HIV/AIDS looked ill 5.5% more pupils understood that HIV is spread by unprotected sex The need for comprehensive health and AIDS Prevention Programmes in rural Kasese is greater than the major cities and townships and our expectation is that the impact of the programme will produce greater behavioural change and understanding of AIDS. We intend to apply the same robust monitoring and evaluation measures to the Kasese programme, if we are successful in obtaining funding for the M&E. The increase in VCT Clinic provision will also be able to provide us with statistical analysis of infection rates. From past experience we have seen infection rates reduce, communities changed, people living with AIDS (PLWA) embraced by their communities and young people empowered to take control of their sexual health. Financial Breakdown The total cost of the increased capacity for this AIDS Education Project is £2,884.35 which breaks down as follows: Community AIDS Education Teaching Programmes (40 @ £110 each) £4400.00 Transport (x 40 events) £1200.00 VCT – AIDS Tester Kits and Provision for 2000 people £1440.00 VCT Transport and petrol (20 mobile clinics) £ 600.00 Monitoring and Evaluation of Programmes £1400.00 GRAND TOTAL £9,040.00