Resources on HIV/Aids and capacity building

This section contains selected articles and links on capacity building and Hiv/Aids.

Praxis Paper on Organisational resilience to HIV/Aids. This paper by Rick James in 2005 examines how civil society can best be made resilient to the effects of widespread HIV/Aids in a community. It offers a number of interventions and goes beyond staff awareness programmes and organisational policy on HIV/Aids.

Praxis Note: Seeing with perspective. In this Intrac publication former PSO colleagues Russell Kerkhoven and Roel Snelder focus on how, by looking at HIV/AIDS from different viewpoints - programmes, organisations and context - we can gain and retain perspective. This will help us respond to HIV/AIDS with insight and vision.

Praxis Note 38: emotional blocks to dealing with HIV/Aids in the workplace, is an Intrac publication on how responding to HIV/AIDS requires dealing with powerful and deep-rooted emotional blocks to change.

Praxis Note 21: addressing stigma implementing HIV/Aids workplace policy, is an Intrac publication describing the experience of ACORD Uganda in their efforts to implement an effective workplace policy.

Eldis has devised a curriculum  to provide staff of non-governmental organisations and the community at large a deeper understanding of the dynamics and effects of HIV/AIDS and to sensitise them to the current issues and challenges that people living with HIV/AIDS face.

Let Them Die by Catharine Campbell.
This book is the one of the most detailed studies available on the actual implementation and impact of a work-place HIV/AIDS policy, including the challenges and pitfalls. It details the progress of a three-year empirical study of a workplace HIV prevention programme in a gold mining community near Johannesburg, South Africa. The study contains material on such issues as worker participation, wider community mobilisation and multi-stakeholder partnerships. It provides best practice and lessons learned for organisations and businesses which are trying to use these as strategies to support HIV prevention efforts. Buy this book at Amazon.

In this analysis of the global workforce, the Joint Learning Initiative (JLI) - a consortium of more than 100 health leaders - proposes that mobilisation and strengthening of human resources for health, neglected yet critical, is central to combating health crises in some of the world's poorest countries, and for building sustainable health systems in all countries. Nearly all countries are challenged by worker shortage, skill mix imbalance, maldistribution, negative work environment, and weak knowledge base. Especially in the poorest countries, the workforce is under assault by HIV/AIDS, out-migration, and inadequate investment. Effective country strategies should be backed by international reinforcement. Alliances for action are recommended to strengthen the performance of all existing actors while expanding space and energy for fresh actors.

Justice Africa have published a number of papers over the past couple of years on the topic of governance, civil society and Aids.

Aids and Democracy: what do we know? by M.D. Nelufule. This 2004 paper updates an earlier overview by Ryan Manning in 2002 in an article of the same name. It brings together what research currently exists on the implications of HIV/AIDS on governance and democracy. This is useful to put in context the current and potential role of civil society in relation to the impact of HIV/AIDS on governance and democracy and visa versa. The paper highlights the role of civil society (pp. 11 ff.) in strengthening democratic governance that in turn supports the fight against the epidemic including in advocacy campaigns for distribution of treatment, and faith based organisations for mobilising care and education.

Women, Aids and the world of work. This ILO briefing paper focuses on the effect of HIV/AIDS on women in the context of the workplace. Many women experience sexual and economic subordination in their personal relationships and at work, and so are less able to negotiate safe sex or refuse unsafe sex. It claims that governments, employers, and trade unions have vital leadership roles to play in changing attitudes and practice in the world of work and the community at large. The paper stresses that a comprehensive workplace programme on HIV/AIDS should be gender sensitive. The code aims to provide practical guidance for taking action in the workplace.

Intrac Paper: Moving from policy to practice.In April 2006, the INTRAC Praxis Programme organised a three-day practitioner learning event on HIV/AIDS workplace practices in South Africa. The aims of the workshop were:

• To share practical experiences of emerging good practice in responding to the impact of HIV/AIDS on civil society organisations
• To apply the lessons learned directly to each organisation's own practice and thereby strengthen capacity in this area
• To document and plan how to disseminate these lessons more broadly through publications and other open learning events
• To discuss how participating organisations can work together to assist each other (and others) to respond more effectively to HIV/AIDS in the workplace, including identifying ways forward for the Praxis HIV/AIDS and CB Learning Group

Exchange on HIV/AIDS, Sexuality and Gender (link is to December issue 2005 on Managing HIV/Aids in the workplace) is a quarterly magazine on HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health and related issues such as gender, sexuality and rights. It is published by the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in the Netherlands in collaboration with SAfAIDS (Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service) in Zimbabwe. At the moment the magazine is only available in English, both electronically and in print. The magazine frequently contains articles on the relationship between the pandemic on the development of civil society organizations.

The Netherlands Network on Sexual & Reproductive Health and AIDS (Share-Net) seeks to contribute to improving the international sexual and reproductive health and rights situation as well as the HIV/AIDS situation, guided by principles of human rights, equity and equality and empowerment. On their website you can find resources on issues such as mainstreaming HIV/AIDS, workplace policies, as well as research reports and information on activities Sharenet instigates.  

International HIV/AIDS Alliance, an international development NGO set up by a consortium donors. The website provides online toolkits on HIV/AIDS policies and programmes and offers resource guide.      
  
Policy project of the Futures Group International maintains a database that includes most available national HIV/AIDS policies. It also provides tools for various uses, such as planning, assessing impact and building workplace policies. 
  
Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS. The GBC's first goal is to increase the range and quality of business sector AIDS programs - both in the workplace and broader community. The GBC identifies new opportunities for businesses, supports the development of AIDS strategies by individual companies and encourages governments, the international community and the non-governmental sector to partner with the business sector. On its website you will find a variety of resources, such as on how to manage HIV in the workplace. 
 
HEARD conducts research on the socio-economic aspects of public health, especially the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It is based in South Africa at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, but its operations are international in scope.

HEARD conducts inter-disciplinary research to produce scientific knowledge and effective interventions. Objectives are (among others):
- To improve private and public sector understanding of the
socio-economic impacts of HIV/AIDS through applied research
focus.
- And to promote multi-sectoral responses to the impact of
HIV/AIDS. 

LSEAIDS. HIV/ AIDS is a 'long-wave' event. It began in the 1970s and in many countries the epidemic has yet to peak. Its full social and economic effects will be with us for decades. These effects are slow-moving and easily overlooked, which poses the risk of losing sight of the long term implications of the epidemic.

LSEAIDS brings together leading social scientists at the LSE to confront the social and economic implications of HIV/ AIDS. The goals of LSEAIDS are to:
- understand the social, economic and historical roots of the epidemic;
- understand how the epidemic affects social, economic and environmental futures; - develop practical policy responses in relation to prevention, treatment and care, and impact mitigation;
- offer policy research and training to business, government, international and civil society organisations.
 
 
Through its PRAXIS programme on HIV/Aids INTRAC aims to enhance the understanding of the relationship between HIV/AIDS and southern civil society capacity. In relation to this it explores the following critical questions:
- What is the actual extent of the current and predicted impact on CSOs and leadership?
- How can CSOs build 'organisational resilience' to HIV/AIDS?
- What can CSOs do to reduce stigmatism in the workplace and increase access to treatment?
- What is different about capacity building in the context of HIV/AIDS?
- How do capacity building providers mainstream HIV/AIDS in all their capacity building interventions?
- How can International NGOs assist local partners to respond appropriately?

At their website you can find extensive and recent info on these issues. Take a look! 
 
ELDIS dossier on HIV/Aids:  this regularly updated dossier provides an execellent overview of the discussion on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the health sector with a specific focus on human resources.    
  
UK AIDS consortium. Website containing guides and casestudies for the development of workplace policies on HIV/AIDS. 
 
International Labour Organisation. ILO Programme on AIDS and the World of Work UN agency that focuses on the promotion of internationally recognised labour rights. A Programme AIDS and the world of work was established to raise awareness of the economic and social impact of AIDS in the world of work and support governments, employers and workers to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.