The Context

Botswana faces one of the worst HIV/AIDS crises in the world as well as the compounding challenges of economic underdevelopment and poverty. The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to devastate the prospects of Botswana’s once robust economy and to strain the social cohesion of family units and communities. In a nation where approximately 24% of adults are HIV positive , young adults, vital to family structure as well as the economic growth of the country, are dying in appalling numbers. In villages throughout Botswana, funerals are an every-weekend event; young mothers and fathers leave behind children who must now be cared for by aging grandparents. The statistics are shocking: Life expectancy has dropped from a high of 65 years in 1990-1995 to less than 40 in 2000-2005; an estimated 95,000 AIDS orphans rely on increasingly strained family networks and it is estimated that by 2010, 1 in 5 children in Botswana will be orphaned.

In recent years there has been some cause for hope, in large part due to the extensive network of Non-Governmental Organizations working tirelessly to extend services to those hardest to reach. Recent statistics provide some evidence of a stabilization of new HIV infections. Additionally, the introduction of free ARV therapy has meant healthier and longer lives for many people living with AIDS. Yet despite the progress Botswana has made against HIV/AIDS, the country still carries an enormous burden of caring for the infected, raising those orphaned, and educating those not yet infected on how to stay healthy.

In the late 1990's, around the time the nation became aware of an increasingly alarming number of HIV infections, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) began to blossom, extending basic services to those hardest hit by the crisis. Some of the NGOs were created specifically for HIV/AIDS prevention and care of the affected, while others have dedicated themselves to community development efforts, with the belief that poverty reduction is a necessary precursor to a healthy nation. Whether focused on community development or HIV/AIDS, NGOs in Botswana are vital to the communities in which they work. Yet, in many cases, these organizations are struggling to stay afloat on very limited resources, often relying heavily upon volunteer staff and donated resources.