Sudar Project
In India, in the state of Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore district, AFN has been working with the association Shanti Ashram association since 1998, promoting the human and integral promotion of families living in those lands through the project of Distance Support – SAD. Since 2008, the collaboration has been extended to the SUDAR project focusing on children affected by HIV/AIDS with the aim lof offering the new generations, a different future.
SUDAR is a model of care and community support that aims to ensure the integral development of children and young people affected by HIV/AIDS through three main areas of intervention: health care; parental capacity building; and public awareness-raising.
The project takes place entirely in the Shanti Ashram facilities. at the International Centre for Child and Public Health (ICPH), where there is also a counselling desk;medical examinations and the distribution of supplements, medicines and multivitamin syrups are carried out in a regular basis. Through the Food Bank students and volunteers collect and distribute nutritious and healthy food parcels to needy families. Young people are involved in volunteer activities in order to develop leadership skills and overcome the isolation caused by public discrimination. The centre organises and hosts workshops for young people and parents in order to share experiences and disseminate prevention strategies. Shanti Ashram is also active with local and international partnerships in HIV research and awareness-raising campaigns.
SUDAR PROJECT enables around 100 children and young people in the villages of Coimbatore who live in extremely vulnerable conditions, living with HIV or who have lost their parents to the disease, to receive an appropriate education that combines capacity building with the promotion of health and food security. Direct beneficiaries of the project are also the parents, the majority of whom are single mothers or grandmothers, who through the project receive professional training and educational support.
