ZARAN engages with institutions and individuals charged with the responsibilities of HIV and AIDS legislative and policy environments, in order to enhance the human rights protection of people living with or affected by HIV and AIDS.

One of the strategies of such engagement is advocacy, which from ZARAN’s experience has generated interest among institutions, as well as facilitating institutional legislative, policy and practice reforms.

Key on-going advocacy interventions for ZARAN include lobbying and advocacy through partnerships, institutional capacity building, civic awareness, and engagement with government.

The following are some of the key advocacy interventions currently being undertaken:

• Capacity building in HIV and AIDS and Human Rights to institutions and schools
• A women’s rights advocacy campaign focusing on the human rights aspects of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) initiatives
• A campaign on male involvement in care giving
• Child rights awareness campaigns in communities
• HIV and AIDS and Human rights in prisons
• Engagement with Parliamentary Committee staff members
• Lobbying meetings with public institutions
• Research and advocacy on access to health care

Training is a key tool in our advocacy work. Our regular training sessions have given judiciary, employers, trade unions, civil society groups and the media the knowledge and skills they need to improve the way they prioritise a rights-based approach in their work on HIV and AIDS.

ZARAN’s key advocacy achievements include:

• Institutions provided with capacity improvement interventions by ZARAN in HIV and AIDS, human rights and advocacy, have been carrying out advocacy campaigns in their respective communities. Among the notable campaigns is the Mporokoso campaign against a magistrate ruling in a defilement case. Civil society institutions that were trained by ZARAN planned an advocacy campaign and subsequently influenced the police to appeal against the magistrate court ruling. The appeal was successful and the defiler was sentenced by the High Court in Kasama.

• The reduction of the burden of care on women campaign, a project steered by Zambia AIDS Advocacy Alliance (ZAAA), an alliance of 10 organizations including ZARAN. This campaign has influenced the opening of Mwanjuni clinic at 10 miles in  Chibombo District. The services being provided have reduced the distance required to travel to health facilities, an achievement that has reduced the burden of care on women.
• ZARAN conducted a training workshop with parliament committees members of staff. The interaction has led to having insights on how ZARAN could work in future with the Parliament offices both to interact with parliamentarians as well as to provide capacities needed for legislative and policy reforms.