ALAFA would like to announce the appointment of its new director of policy and prevention, Donna Bawden, who has already started working in the Maseru office. Donna takes over from Dagmar Hanisch, who has moved to Ghana after working with ALAFA since its inception in 2006.

Donna, who comes from Canada, has a MA Medical Anthropology degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. She has been involved in research related to HIV and AIDS in Namibia and Botswana. This included a medical anthropology internship in Namibia, working under the auspices of the University of Toronto and the University of Namibia, where she implemented a project examining the social and cultural aspects of HIV transmission among Namibian youth.

She moved to Lesotho in 2006. Before joining ALAFA, Donna was based in Leribe where she worked for Help Lesotho for four years in a number of positions, including time as its HIV/AIDS & gender equity officer and the director of partnerships and training. "Having worked in Lesotho for a few years in programmes focusing on HIV prevention, I became aware of the work of ALAFA. I had the chance to learn about the rationale behind the inception of the project and was impressed with ALAFA's approach," she says.

"The apparel industry in Lesotho is important to the economy of the country and to the tens of thousands of workers it employs and the families they support. ALAFA, in a relatively short time, has managed to accomplish an impressive amount in both the areas of policy and prevention and care and treatment.  I am excited to have joined this excellent team and hope to use my experience in Lesotho-based prevention programmes to support ALAFA activities, particularly around the communication strategy for the scale-up of the prevention programme."