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HIV and AIDS communication
Social mobilisation
Learning evaluation
integrated communication
Capacity development
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Exchange lunchtime discussion 12 May 2004
Linnea Renton of ActionAid introduced STAR - a combination
of the participatory communication approach of Stepping Stones and Reflect's
emphasis on adult education and empowerment. The combined approach aims
to enable communities to analyse and tackle issues that affect them, from
agriculture to war, in the context of HIV and AIDS.
How does STAR work?
STAR is not another manual but provides draft guidelines
that support communities or organisations to use existing resources to
figure out what is needed and to use their information to influence planning.
Renton referred to two key issues when using the STAR approach:
- Success depends on the skill of the facilitator.
- The specific cultural context must be understood. For example, communities
where HIV and AIDS are stigmatised and governments are not willing to
listen will engage in different action to open communities with sympathetic
leadership.
See Empowering communities
in the face of HIV and AIDS through STAR (PDF 2 pages 30 KB) for a full
introduction to the approach.
Discussion parcipants drew on their experience in response
to one key question:
How can we link participatory communication at the grassroots
level with broader advocacy and communication?
- Build on what's already there If programmes
and communities are engaged in genuinely participatory communication
they will already be doing some advocacy: they will understand and represent
people's needs. However discussion participants emphasised that it is
"participatory action" that is needed.
- Integrate the work of NGOs and support facilitators
The same people within communities tend to be selected as facilitators
by different projects or programmes. Programmes need to coordinate their
efforts to avoid exhausting the facilitators and causing "community
participation burn-out". Renton also emphasised that STAR encourages
the use of whatever resources are appropriate, not just Reflect or Stepping
Stones guidelines. Participants referred to Tearfund's Pillars manual,
VSO's START initiative and Healthlink Worldwide's Quest training programme.
- Do advocacy at all levels Sticking to
pure grassroots work may not be appropriate. Enthusiastic and sympathetic
people in ministerial and leadership positions can be found to champion
a cause. How about asking agencies like DFID to encourage national governments
to listen at grassroots levels? It is not only government agencies who
need targeting, but companies too. How about trying to influence shareholders?
Media and journalists could also be used.
- Map spheres of influence Change happens
when people are empowered to influence their specific situation. Mapping
can help people see who hinders and who helps advocacy at family, community
and government levels. Several tools and approaches have been developed
to do this. (Outcome Mapping is one example - see the lunchtime
discussion report for more information.)
- Base advocacy upon practice Participants
gave examples of projects that link community participation with broader
advocacy. Some of these involved radio and the Internet which provide
forums for debate and allow people to air their views. One example was
Healthlink Worldwide's' experiential advocacy project Seeing
in the Dark in Bangladesh. Another was Straight
Talk which has evolved into a movement through popular culture.
- Avoid tokeninsm: be aware of power relationships
Tokenism can break links between individuals and their communities or
organsiations. Being aware of who gets to speak and why is central to
finding ways of representing the "faceless mass" of people
and ensuring genuine participation.
- Identify and value intermediary organisations
and strong leaders Individuals or organisations that combine
a long-term commitment to meeting grassroots needs with an influence
on national or international decision making are key. However these
people or organisations tend to be the exception rather than the norm.
Discussion participants emphasised that trust, friendship and patience
are vital to strong relationships and networks, whoever you are working
with.
- Define advocacy Advocacy could be expressed
better as policy influencing or getting your own way to avoid vagueness.
- Measure the levels of change through advocacy
This is difficult and discussion participants had more questions than
answers. How can we track advocacy through research? How can actions
be replicated? And how can findings and information be disseminated?
Advocacy is often seen as a linear process but in reality progress is
not linear. There are always set backs but lessons can and should be
learnt from them. Monitoring and evaluation are implicit in the STAR
approach but Renton talked about aims to strengthen this further.
ActionAid is planning a research phase to gather evidence
from STAR's use on the ground. So there are not yet any guidelines on
how long STAR activities take – it could be several months, or two
years, or as Renton said: "It could be for life."
For more information on STAR contact Linnea Renton LRenton@actionaid.org.uk
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