Understanding and Challenging Stigma toward ... - Pact Cambodia

How to Use the Toolkit
The toolkit is a collection of optional exercises designed to be used in a flexible way for
different target groups or learning situations. You can select those exercises which suit
your target groups, your objectives, and the time you have for training. You can use the
exercises in any order and in any combination, as appropriate for your group.
You may use the exercises with a single target group (e.g., health workers or MSM);
or with a mixed target group (e.g., combining health workers, MSM, and community
members together). You may want to run a three to five day workshop, or a single
community meeting, or short sessions given once a week over several weeks (say
to a MSM support group or the staff of a health facility), or two to three exercises
introduced as part of a longer and broader training program on HIV and AIDS.
You will decide how to select and package the exercises to make your own training
program.
You can select exercises from any of the chapters, although Chapter C is designed
only for MSM groups. There are lots of optional exercises using different methods
(especially in Chapter A) to keep trainers and participants interested. Different trainers
like different types of activities.
You will find two examples of training plans on the following page.
A. Three Day Workshop for Health Workers
B. Three Day Workshop for MSM
Use the Toolkit for Participatory Learning
The toolkit is designed for participatory learning, so it should not be used for a lecture.
Changing stigmatizing attitudes and discriminatory actions requires more than giving
people information or treating people as a passive audience for lectures. People learn
best through discussing with others and “figuring things out for themselves.”
The process to change attitudes and behaviors needs to be participatory so people can
express and reflect on their own ideas and feelings, share with and learn from their
peers, and discuss and plan with others what can be done to challenge stigma. The idea
is to create a safe space where participants can express their fears and concerns, freely
discuss sensitive and “taboo” issues, such as sex, and clear up misconceptions.
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