The Johanna Oosterveld Fund was created in 1995 as a tribute to an exceptional woman who contributed greatly to the community health movement. Since its creation, the Fund has provided support to community clinics in Southern Africa, a part of the world with which Johanna had a special connection through her volunteer work with Oxfam.

What’s New:

In 2007, Oxfam Canada revamped the Johanna Oosterveld Fund for Southern Africa. Oxfam Canada’s Board of Directors, on recommendation from the Fund Advisors, approved new terms of reference that allow for a more rapid and robust response to the urgent needs of our partners in Southern Africa. The new mandate continues to focus on women’s health in Southern Africa but allows the Fund to spend its capital as well as its interest on programs

Who is the Fund supporting:

The Matabeleland AIDS Council (MAC) and the Musasa Project have formed a unique and exciting partnership in Zimbabwe to combat HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. The Johanna Oosterveld Fund is supporting these two partners in their joint efforts to change beliefs and behaviour that put women and girls at risk.

Links to Canada:

Supporting the work of MAC and the Musasa Project is especially fitting because these two organizations are linked with the AIDS Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador.  These organizations exchange and promote best practices in prevention and outreach. As part of this linkage, a representative from the Musasa Project visited Canada in December 2006 and activists from St. John’s traveled to Bulawayo in March 2007.

Profiles:

The Matabeleland AIDS Council (MAC) and the Musasa Project

In the Bulilima District in Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe, there is an exciting and unique partnership that is founded on the understanding that gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS are interconnected. In 2004, the Musasa Project and MAC began working together in a complimentary way that is creating positive changes in the communities they work in. Oxfam Canada has been supporting these partners in their ground-breaking work.

Matabeleland AIDS Council (MAC):

MAC offers personal and support group counseling and testing services along with educational services including HIV/AIDS awareness, as well as representing the interests of people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Musasa Project: 

Musasa Project’s vision is to have a society in which women live free of gender-based violence and are able to fully participate in development.  They work to change beliefs, attitudes, behaviour, laws and policies in order to reduce gender-based violence. The Musasa Project does this through public education and training, advocacy and research, counseling, legal advice and providing shelter for survivors of violence.

Collaboration:

MAC and Musasa deliberately work in the same communities, referring clients to each other’s organization for counseling and advice on matter related to HIV/AIDS and gender issues. 

They also assist each other internally to improve administrative and management policies, procedures and systems.  In addition, the two organizations now offer their services to other Oxfam Canada partners that focus on food security and livelihoods. This partnership has sharpened the need for gender and HIV/AIDS planning and analysis in programming at all levels of development.

Successes:

The joint project is changing attitudes towards gender-based violence, domestic violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS.  All parts of the communities are actively participating in activities and contributing, whether it be from the influential leaders of the community, to schools being involved in coming up with poems, drama and songs on domestic violence.

Johanna Oosterveld

Johanna helped change how people live in Halifax today. The work she did, with housing and social justice, union organizing and health care, helped those who didn't have the confidence or the opportunity to speak for themselves. Johanna listened, encouraged, and celebrated people for independent thought. She was a woman with a keen intellect and the courage to act on her beliefs.

Her driving motivation was making the world better for children. Johanna spent ten years as Director of the Halifax’s North End Community Clinic. She took a lead role in developing community health clinics in Nova Scotia and was active in restructuring the health care system.

Chair of the Maritimes Regional Board for Oxfam, and later on the National Executive and chair of the National Program Committee, she went to Namibia for Oxfam three times - as a monitor in Namibia’s first election after independence in 1990 and later as part of a program development and evaluation group working with an extensive program in the Okavango region of the country.

Oxfam Canada’s Johanna Oosterveld Fund supports projects that combine her interests in health, empowerment and Southern Africa. She believed that each person could contribute in a meaningful way to society, and the fund gives more people a chance to make their contributions.

People listened when Johanna spoke. She was rigorous in gathering the facts around an issue. She could analyze, from grass roots to political agendas. When she talked, people understood. Johanna died in 1994, at 51.

For more information or to learn how you can contribute to the Johanna Oosterveld Fund, contact Pat Kipping at  JOosterveldFund@oxfam.ca