Anchoring Awareness in the Community - Handicap International

COMMUNITY LEADERS AS FACILITATORS
To be able to talk about such a sensitive
subject in a cultural context of denial
and stigmatization, we needed to rely on
community leaders to support the animators.
To do this, community leaders were called
on to form “project advisory committees”
at each intervention site. Composed of
influential members of the community, these
committees were responsible for helping to
define the intervention strategy that was
most appropriate locally, informing the
community about the project and its activities
and supporting animators in case of conflict.
In Ethiopia, these committees were made up
of a dozen members designated by a local
authority (the “kebele”), who was careful
to include representatives of each religion,
women’s associations, young people, and
local political personalities. In Somaliland,
these advisory committees were made up of
the two most influential community leaders.
Whatever their form, these committees enabled
project acceptance by the community and
made possible the daily house-to-house
activity of the animators.
Respond to a perceived problem
The different community leaders had become
increasingly aware that it was necessary to fight
against AIDS; however, they found themselves
powerless to do so since they did not know
how to make the community aware. Thus,
they received this project very favorably
and were happy that it enabled getting rid
of the taboo and the silence surrounding the
disease. In addition, the project allowed them
to participate without being on the front line,
since the animators were responsible for
awareness in the field. For these reasons,
community leaders became actively involved in
supporting the project and making it accepted
by the community.
Convince leaders to support the project
In Somaliland, training was proposed to motivate
community leaders who were designated to
become part of an advisory committee. During
two days, they acquired basic knowledge of
HIV/AIDS and of the project itself; this was
followed by a period of discussion on the
topic, “What can you do for your community
concerning the HIV/AIDS problem?” Next, we
proposed that they play a supporting role for
animators in their community by forming a
project advisory committee. All participating
leaders accepted doing this and proved to be
effective channels for promoting awareness
within the community.
Rely on local authorities
In Ethiopia, we called on the “kebele,” the
local authority at the neighborhood level, to
select community leaders to make up the
project advisory committee. We advised him
to choose them so that different segments of
the population would be represented: women,
young people, each religious community,
elders, etc. However, the final decision
concerning the composition of the project
advisory committee would be up to the kebele
himself.
© Julie de Lamarzelle pour Handicap International
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