Coordinating With Communities

While there is widespread acknowledgement that involving the community sector in the coordination of national AIDS responses will increase effectiveness, it often does not translate into actual meaningful involvement. Therefore a new guideline, Coordinating with Communities - Guidelines on the Involvement of the Community Sector in the Coordination of National AIDS Responses is published by the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO), the African Council of AIDS Service Organizations (AfriCASO) and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. It aimed to strengthen the active and meaningful involvement of the community sector in the development, implementation and monitoring of coordinated national AIDS responses.

Kieran Daly, ICASO Director for Policy and Communications said that the community sector brings to the coordinating table vital technical knowledge and experiences that can help ensure national AIDS responses meet the real needs of those most affected.

"For this to work, all stakeholders need to be open to genuine collaboration, using these guidelines to build greater understanding of how to support active and meaningful involvement of the community sector," he added.

The guideline aims to provide practical options from which communities and stakeholders can identify the actions that are most appropriate and useful to their own contexts. Read the guideline here.