THE Mayoral Aids Fund is a conduit to distribute private sector donations to the city's most needy. It is involved with fund-raising, managing grant disbursement and resource channeling. It also assists small organisations that have limited funding and fund-raising capacity.

The City carries the full cost of the administration of the fund, so 100 percent of donations made contribute towards improving the lives of the needy. The fund can accommodate corporate sponsorship needs as long as they fall within the scope of supporting sustainable, affordable and cost-effective local initiatives.

Citizens can contribute to the fund through a once-off donation, on-going monthly contributions or give a general donation or one earmarked for a specific programme.

Buckets of Love
The first undertaking of the Mayoral Aids Fund was the Joburg Buckets of Love and Care programme, during which vegetables and fruit provided by the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market were distributed to some 3 000 needy individuals and families in November 2005.

The project was a response to the challenges faced by those living in the city who are infected with and affected by HIV and Aids. These are mainly elderly people looking after orphaned grandchildren and orphans without adult support who have to take care of their families.

The buckets (20 litres or 25 litres) were filled with essential, non-perishable foodstuff such as maize meal, samp, beans and sugar.

Another project the fund supported was the distribution of 800 blankets to destitute street children. Social services, schools, regional co-ordinators and non-governmental organisations identified the needy children.

Both projects were used as an opportunity to promote the services provided by the City in its fight against the HIV and Aids pandemic, while also identifying vulnerable people. These include child-headed families and the elderly who are sick and bedridden.

Jozi Ihlomile
This is a community-based outreach project implemented in an effort to educate communities to respond appropriately to the HIV and Aids pandemic. It benefits from the Mayoral Aids Fund.

Some 300 community members have been trained as volunteers, while eight project co-ordinators have been trained in basic HIV and Aids care, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, voluntary confidential HIV testing, anti-retroviral treatment programmes and basic social services.

The volunteers, who were previously without any form of income, are paid a monthly stipend of R500, which helps improve the quality of their lives.

The project has the following objectives:

• Developing informed communities that can take care of HIV- and Aids-related issues, educate one another on the pandemic, support and care for one another and fight discrimination and the stigma attached to HIV and Aids;
• Marketing voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services provided in health facilities and non-medical sites in each of the seven administrative regions of the City, leading to increased utilisation of the service and a decrease in new HIV infections;
• Decreasing the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by 10 percent;
• Implementing a targeted youth-out-of-school campaign in all districts using the Love Life model;
• Improving the quality of life of those already infected through the support of home-based cares services;
• Ensuring that community leaders (including councillors, religious leaders and indunas in the hostels) in all targeted communities are trained in HIV and Aids peer education; and
• Strengthening relationships and partnerships between the City and non-governmental, community-based and faith-based organisations.

The Jozi Ihlomile project is active in 12 areas: two places in Ivory Park, Sol Plaatjes, Dlamini Camp, Denver, Devland, Fine Town, Itsoteseng informal settlement, Protea South informal settlement, Mayibuye informal settlement, and Kliptown informal settlement.

The project is well supported by political and community leaders, as well as by non-governmental organisations in the targeted areas, and has elicited a positive response from all.

Prospective donors have the following options to contribute to the two programmes presently being run by the Mayoral Aids Fund:

• Choose one or more of the seven sub-programmes to sponsor.
• Sponsor the sub-programmes generally or in a specific community.
• Sponsor a community or informal settlement (there are over 100 in Joburg, of varying sizes).
• Provide donations in kind - consumer items always needed include clothing, school uniforms and learning materials, and household items from curtains and furniture to kitchenware and hardware items. The list is endless and is only restricted by your imagination. The Mayoral Aids Fund will find homes for material donations.
• Adopt a community and fund some or all the HIV and Aids-related initiatives in that community. Or assist the orphans and children of the indigent with food, clothing, school uniforms or school fees.
• Perhaps your organisation has a specific idea but doesn't know how to go about implementing it. Whatever your sponsorship requirements, the Mayoral Aids Fund will do its best to accommodate it.

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