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THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE ON GENDER AND HIV/AIDS: LESSONS LEARNED FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA
B Clow1, J Gahagan2, O Shisana3, E Burger1
¹Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women's Health; 2Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia; 3Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
Objectives: The objective of this paper is to offer lessons learned about how to strengthen the connections between national government policy, practice and research in order to enhance existing efforts to tackle issues of gender and HIV/AIDS, based on the Inaugural International Institute on Gender and HIV/AIDS (IIGHA) which was held June 7-11, 2004 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Methods: Eighty-eight participants from Botswana, Canada, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland met with the goal of building expertise and sharing experiences on the fundamental role of gender in the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The Institute brought together policy makers, programme leaders, civil society organizations, youth, researchers and people living with HIV/AIDS to build skills on using a gender-based perspective to help mitigate HIV vulnerabilities among men, women, boys and girls. A daily process evaluation and a final summative evaluation were undertaken to determine if the objectives of the IIGHA were being met by all constituents.
Results: The Institute created a forum for transformative learning that allowed participants to share research and experience on gender and HIV/AIDS, and to develop realistic inclusive policy recommendations. Country delegations transformed themselves into National Chapters, reflecting the Institute's tripartite structure, to create time-bound action plans for using gender-based analysis in the response to HIV/AIDS. Evaluation responses indicated that participants felt the need for augmented fora to allow for additional opportunities to share learnings from across sectors.
Conclusions: The IIGHA emphasized the importance of the tripartite structure working together: government, civil society and researchers. It highlighted a continuum of capacity for organizations to include gender analysis in their work and this should be addressed through further training and follow-up activities, which are taking place in the region. The Caribbean IIGHA is currently being planned in partnership with UNIFEM and the University of West Indies.