UMOYO NETWORK is a Save the Children program building the capacities of the NGO sector to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Malawi. In May 2003 Save the Children received $13 million from USAID to implement the four-year Capacity Building for Quality HIV/AIDS Services project in partnership with ADRA, AED/Linkages and JHPIEGO.

The strategic objective for the Capacity Building for Quality HIV/AIDS Services project is to increase use of preventive services and practices. This supports USAID’s Strategic Objective of Healthier Malawian Families and their key intermediate result to Reduce New HIV Infections.

The overall approach of the program is to foster networking and partnerships for the provision of comprehensive support for HIV/AIDS services along the continuum of care. It ensures access to HIV-related services within a coordinated system of HIV prevention, management, treatment and care. Partnerships are forged at all levels from the community to the international levels to maximize the resources and technical expertise. The project is guided by national health strategies and policies, and provides constructive inputs into government policies and guidelines drawing from its own field experiences. Umoyo aims to ensure that the local Partner NGOs are working within government policies and guidelines.

Umoyo Network has been providing financial and technical support to MANET+ since 2001. The network’s secretariat significantly grew in both human and material resource terms. From a staff base of three in 2001 to eleven staff in 2005; from a single room office space in 2001 to seven roomed-office space in 2004, a vehicle, training, operational support, technical support, resource mobilization, networking, etc. As a direct result of this growth, systems and structures of the network started to function with much visibility and effect. more ...