Initiative: Community Spoke women on Nutrition in Guatemala

Brief description of initiative:
Guatemala has one of the highest malnutrition rates in Latin America and the Caribbean; and is the fifth country in the world in cases of chronic malnutrition in children. The current administration has created the "Zero Hunger Pact" program that aims to reduce child malnutrition by 10% during the 4 years of its administration and in March 2016 has launched the National Strategy for the Prevention of Chronic Malnutrition (NSPCM) in children aged from 0 to 2 years old. This project seeks provide strategies and tools to strengthen the capacity of the Guatemalan government on community based approaches to address behavioral changes and prevent malnutrition of families of the Dry Corridor Zone

The project activities aim to promote changes in eating habits of families; ii) the integration of initiatives carried-out at the national and local levels; Within those components, activities proposed comprise the implementation of capacity building and technical assistance processes targeted to public officials to enhance the implementation of the NSPCM, and the delivery of training workshops targeted to local leaders who will be in charge of transmitting the knowledge to families from benefited communities.
During 2017, the Department of Social Inclusion began implementing the initiative by conducting a needs assessment visit mission to the country as well as producing a report to define training and technical assistance needs.

Beneficiaries: The Secretariat for Food and Nutritional Security (SESAN) and the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES)

Partnerships and Financing:
Financing: Permanent Observer Mission of the People's Republic of China to the OAS

Initiative: Building partnerships to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Reducing maternal mortality has been the only Millennium Development Goal in which efforts have been insufficient so it has been incorporated by the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. The causes for maternal mortality are directly linked to poverty, inequality and low levels of education. That is why the OAS General Secretariat has made efforts to strengthen relations and cooperation with other regional organizations of the Inter-American system and of the United Nations to join efforts, experiences and knowledge in order to support Member States in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, particularly those that address issues related to maternal health and the well-being of vulnerable groups in the Americas.

Activities:
Activities carried-out during 2016:
1) Partnership with the Panamerican Health Organization (PAHO) on thes 2030 Agenda and the SDGs signed in August 2016 to address particularly social determinants of health, inequality and social inclusion.
2) Partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Bureau of Latin America and the Caribbean signed in October 216 to make progress on improving maternal health, universal access to quality and promoting the well-being of women, children, and adolescents in the Americas with an equity perspective.

3) Affiliation of the OAS to the Regional Technical Group for the Reduction of Maternal Mortality (GTR) in October 2016. The GTR promotes collaboration to implement policies and programs to reduce maternal mortality in Latin America and the Caribbean. The GTR is composed by technical agencies of the United Nations such as PAHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, multilateral and bilateral cooperation entities, such as USAID, the IDB and the Word Bank as well as NGOs and professional networks.

Beneficiaries: OAS Member States;

Partnership and financing: PAHO, UNFPA, OAS
Partnerships:
PAHO, UNFPA, GTR

Initiative: The Inter-American Task Force on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs)
The Inter-American Task Force on NCDs was officially launched on 17 June 2015, with the aim of promoting intersectoral work and coordinating activities within the Inter-American system, and associated international institutions and agencies, towards the achievement of the Plan of Action for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases in the Americas 2013-2019. Through this alliance the Task Force will leverage expertise and resources within the region to improve technical cooperation on NCDs and their risk factors.

Activities:
The first meeting of the Inter-American Task Force on NCDs was held on July 15, 2015, where specific first year activities, Task Force objectives and agency contributions were discussed.

On September 15, 2015, the Task Force held its second meeting aimed at:
1) refining the Task Force objectives;
2) developing the Task Force Work Plan (2015-2019) with specific milestones, results and indicators, and harmonization with agencies’ frameworks, strategies and action plans; and
3) agreeing on time-frames, outputs, resources, program leads, and roles and responsibilities to guide the work of the Task Force.

Currently, all Task Force members are working on an internal mapping exercise to determine what activities are being undertaken within their respective organizations pertaining to NCDs. The Third meeting of the Task Force will be held in November to review the mapping exercise and further refine the Task Force's workplan and objectives.

Partnership and financing:
Pan American Health Organization, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Economic Commission on Latin American and the Caribbean

Initiative: The Training and Certification Program for Drug and Violence Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation (PROCCER)
PROCCER is a model that provides for inter-agency, inter-institutional, and interdisciplinary organization at the national and regional levels, such that it can offer training and certification in the therapeutic intervention fields of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation for drug dependence and drug-associated violence as well as in aspects of program organization and operation.
The components of the PROCCER Model may be adapted and tailored to meet the needs of the specific member state or region in accordance with needs and capacity. The objective of PROCCER model implementation is to develop and strengthen the national and regional institutional and service provider capacities in intervention strategies. The increased capacity is intended to enhance the quality and efficacy of drug use and violence prevention programs, as well as programs for treating and rehabilitating drug dependency or violent criminal behaviors.

Activities:
PROCCER is presently working in coordination with 23 national drug commissions of member states, 14 universities, and over 3,804 NGOS and members of civil society; and trained more than 2,300 prevention and treatment service providers from governmental and non-governmental agencies.

- PROCCER: Training of treatment service providers in Mexico, Central America- 6, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, the Latin American Federation of Therapeutic Communities (FLACT)-19, including Brazil through the Brazilian Federation of Therapeutic Communities (FEBRACT)
- PROCCER: Training of prevention practitioners and treatment service providers in the Caribbean- 13
- PROCCER: National-level certification of treatment service providers in Mexico, El Salvador, and Costa Rica
- PROCCER: Regional-level certification of prevention specialists and treatment service providers in the Caribbean
- Training in the Specialized Adolescent Treatment Training for treatment service providers working with high-risk adolescents in the Caribbean region and on a global level
-Training in the Universal Prevention Curriculum and Universal Treatment Curriculum on a hemispheric level

Website: http://www.cicad.oas.org/Main/Template.asp?File=/reduccion_demanda/proccer/proccer_eng.asp

Beneficiaries: 23 Member States: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago
Of the 23 Member States: the national drug commissions and ministries of health, GO, NGO, and civil society that offer prevention and treatment services, and citizens of member states who suffer from the disease of addiction and violence associated with drugs

Partnership and financing: US Department of State: Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL)

Government of Canada: Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program (ACCBP)

In-kind contributions from OAS Member States implementing PROCCER

Human rights of women living with HIV in the Americas
As a follow-up to the project "Human rights, HIV and violence against women in Central America and the Caribbean" (2007-2011) and in response to the specific demands of that project's stakeholders (mainly women living with HIV), the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) provided support to the adoption of General Assembly Resolution 2802 "Promotion and protection of the human rights of people vulnerable to, living with, or affected by HIV/AIDS in the Americas" (2013).

This resolution has since resulted in the signing of a collaboration agreement between the OAS and UNAIDS, as well as the development of a joint UNAIDS / CIM Toolkit on the Rights of Women Living with HIV.

Activities:
- Conduct research on the situation of women living with HIV in the human, particularly with regard to the exercise of their human rights
- Compile that research into a draft Toolkit on human rights of women living with HIV
- Validate the draft Toolkit with key stakeholders (women's and human rights organizations, inter-governmental organizations, governments)
- Publish and distribute the Toolkit
- Organize capacity-building sessions using the Toolkit

Beneficiaries:
Women living with HIV in the Americas
(Civil society) Groups that work with women living with HIV, HIV and human rights and/or violence against women, Governments (Ministries of Health, etc.), International organizations

Partnerships: UNAIDS

Educational Portal of the Americas
The Educational Portal of the Americas and the Pan-American Health Organization have jointly developed an online course on “Evidence-Based Chronic Illness Care”, delivered through the Portal’s Virtual Classroom. This topic is of pressing concern to health systems around the world as life expectancy and exposure to risks for chronic health problems rise.