Zimbabwean stories of "Best Practice" - SAfAIDS

About the title of the casebook: "Changing the River's Flow."The title of this casebook was derived from our understanding that like a river, culture may seem permanentand constantly flowing in one direction, but this is a trick of our perception because culture is alwayschanging and adjusting to different circumstances. In fact, geology tells us that rivers change and their'permanency' is often a trick of our perception.Moreover, just as the molecules of a river, acting together, constantly reproduce or transform the rapids,waves and whirlpools, so human beings, acting together, constantly reproduce or transform their culturalnorms. These waves, whirlpools or cultural norms may seem to be static objects, but they are really processes.We cannot scoop out a whirlpool and forever remove it, as it will just reform. To stop a whirlpool we wouldhave to, literally, 'change the river's flow'. Likewise, we cannot simply pick out a cultural norm and removeit. Because these norms are processes, to transform them, we need to understand and change the forcesand mechanisms behind them. We might want to remove a cultural norm that is problematic from an HIVpoint of view; we can put laws in place to prevent it (we can try to scoop it out and remove it), but it willtend to reform unless we can change the underlying causes.Finally, we used the analogy of a flowing river because we tend to think of rivers as our source of the waternecessary for life. We also tend to think of rivers as objects of beauty, valuable in themselves. Similarly,culture is both a necessary part of life and beautiful, valuable in itself. Therefore, our use of the metaphorof a river is a reminder to be respectful of culture and to celebrate its richness and diversity, even if, at thesame time, we agree that certain aspects of culture no longer serve us. (Leigh Price, 2009)How this casebook can be usedThis casebook can be used by programme designers as they are developing their own projects. They canadapt or adopt or simply use it as is to avoid reinventing the wheel or falling into the same pitfalls. In ourworld today, resources are scarce and need to be utilised with care, avoiding any waste through duplicationof that which does not work. The six case studies documented in this book are not perfect; some of theorganisations have had to learn from their own mistakes and through the lessons contained herein,organisations can avoid repeating the same. The casebook can serve as a reference point or a learning andadvocacy tool. The stories can be shared with communities, donors and sceptics who do not believe it ispossible to change cultures.The important lesson drawn from these stories is; we should never give up too soon in the face of resistanceand yes! People are capable of changing some practices.1.2 Best Practice: a platform for sharing 'what works'Those of us involved in mitigating the impact of the HIV epidemic will appreciate that given the limitedresources and the enormity of the task at hand, efficient use of the available resources is paramount. Welose resources through the application of inefficient or ineffective interventions and in the process of trialand error that accompanies the implementation of new or novel projects or programmes. The documentationand sharing of Best Practices is a strategy towards avoiding such losses by enabling organisations to learnfrom the successes of others, thereby improving their own service delivery. The imperative to scale up ouractivities has made the necessity of sharing Best Practices greater than ever, not least because it bringswith it the possibility of avoiding large-scale replication of errors and the wasteful process of re-inventingnovel ideas.7