Comments on id21 viewpoints
Listening and learning are crucial in the response to HIV and AIDS

I am the Research Officer at Healthlink Worldwide and I would like to respond to some of the issues raised by Ingrid Young in her recent viewpoint ‘Listening and learning are crucial in the response to HIV and AIDS’. These are vital processes that we at Healthlink Worldwide have been working to support and one example stands out as being particularly relevant to the debate.

Healthlink Worldwide recently managed the documentation and learning component of the Support to the International Partnership against AIDS in Africa (SIPAA) programme, led by ActionAid International and funded by the UK Department for International Development.

A key element of Healthlink Worldwide’s work is to promote effective sharing and communicating of knowledge, information, experiences and lessons learnt. As part of the SIPAA programme, we provided technical support on information and knowledge management, documentation and participatory processes. We held 2 innovative learning forums where a range of policy makers, civil society members and people living with HIV and AIDS came together to share experiences and learning from the programme.

SIPAA was a three-year, nine-country programme to develop the capacity of National AIDS Councils and to promote coordination between different levels of the national response to HIV and AIDS - including central and decentralised government, civil society organisations, local leaders and community members. The programme faced huge logistical challenges and partners had to negotiate within complex political landscapes.

There were some remarkable successes in linking high level policy-makers and people who face HIV and AIDS every day at community levels. SIPAA consciously facilitated a process to encourage people to make connections with each other through organisations and networks.

Bridges have been built and there are new dialogues between different groups of people, between governments, local leaders, civil society organisations and people living with HIV and AIDS. SIPAA took risks in funding areas not usually supported by donors, supported emerging networks of people living with HIV and AIDS, created platforms for new voices to be heard and developed the capacity of local leaders to respond appropriately to HIV and AIDS.

A learning publication called, “Building Bridges with SIPAA: Lessons from an African response to HIV and AIDS” draws out 8 major lessons from the programme. They include the importance of bridging gaps between grassroots and policy levels, the need to share information, knowledge and experiences and the need for a coordinated response that involves genuine dialogue between different levels. The document can be found online here: http://www.healthlink.org.uk/PDFs/sipaa_learn.pdf and we have a few hard copies for distribution.

Alison Dunn
Research Officer
Exchange / Healthlink Worldwide
56-64 Leonard Street
London EC2A 4JX
UK

8 December 2005