Building community communication in response to HIV/AIDS through STAR (Stepping Stones and Reflect)

Full report: what discussion participants thought of STAR and combining grassroots communication with advocacy

Empowering communities in the face of HIV and AIDS through STAR by Linnea Renton (PDF 2 pages 30 KB)

Exchange lunchtime discussion 12 May 2004

People don’t live in compartments: communities don’t experience HIV and AIDS on one day, water sanitation the next and deal with communication on another. Their lives are integrated, and so it follows that health and development responses to HIV and AIDS should also be integrated.

Linnea Renton of ActionAid introduced STAR, a set of guidelines that aim to empower communities to analyse and tackle issues that affect them, from agriculture to war, in the context of HIV and AIDS. STAR combines the participatory communication approach of Stepping Stones with Reflect's emphasis on adult education and empowerment.

The demand for STAR is there: Renton referred to people on the ground in Vietnam and Bangladesh combining participatory communication with broader advocacy work regardless of any formal response.

• Read the full report to find out what discussion participants thought of STAR and how grassroots communication can be combined with advocacy.
• See Empowering communities in the face of HIV and AIDS through STAR (PDF 2 pages 30 KB) for a full introduction to the approach.