Highlights of Current Activities

Centers of Excellence and Communities of Practice

C-Change partners Soul City and Ohio University collaborated to develop a center of excellence in SBCC at the School of Public Health of the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. This concentration is unique within public health schools in Africa. The master’s-level SBCC courses were launched in January 2010 with 13 students, and a series of short certificate courses have been offered since 2009. The courses are suitable for graduate students and for governmental and NGO professionals planning and implementing SBCC or engaged in research in the field. In 2012, Wits is offering three short courses in SBCC.

In collaboration with Ohio University and University of Witwatersrand, C-Change is working to establish a Community of Practice with former students at centers of excellence. This will provide a forum that allows discussions to continue on SBCC concepts and permit lessons learned to be exchanged globally.

C-Change is collaborating with universities in Nigeria and Albania to establish other SBCC centers of excellence and has also worked with the Universidad de Valleto in Guatemala on a similar endeavor.

Community Conversation Toolkit Is Developed and Adapted

Community Conversation Toolkit components

C-Change developed the Community Conversation Toolkit for HIV Prevention, a set of materials on HIV prevention for audiences with low literacy skills, to assist communities in the southern Africa region to initiate thoughtful discussions around key drivers of HIV. Adaptation and replication are key components. The materials are designed to help audiences that have difficulty reading “make meaning” for themselves of the information on key drivers of HIV (concurrent sexual partnerships, alcohol, intergenerational sex, and violence). There are several interactive formats: community mobilizer's cards, role play cards, storytelling finger puppets, promotional proverbs, throw boxes, promotional playing cards, and dialogue buttons, grouped around a community mobilization process that illustrates new PEPFAR quality criteria for small group gatherings.

Developed by using a participatory process called Action Media, the Community Conversation Toolkit has been adapted for different cultures and locations –in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Malawi led by C-Change partner Soul City and by local partners in Lesotho and Swaziland. C-Change Nigeria completed the latest adaptation in April 2012 and facilitated orientations on toolkit use for partners in Cross River and Kogi states. The toolkits are are available on C-Hub, in English, Siswati, Chichewa, Kikaonde, Ndebele, Lozi, Sotho, Zulu, and Sesotho.

**Online Resource Center and C-Capacity Newsletter**

The Capacity Strengthening Online Resource Center and the e-newsletter C-Capacity assist SBCC programmers and partner organizations by highlighting new resources and training opportunities in SBCC.

C-Change partner Ohio University is managing this activity with Communication Initiative.

Collaboration with Regional Networks in Southern Africa

Workshop in southern Africa

To strengthen SBCC capacity in southern Africa, C-Change works with two regional networks: the Southern Africa AIDS Trust (SAT) and C-Change partner Soul City .

C-Change is collaborating with School Without Walls, SAT’s south-to-south skills-training and lesson-sharing network of over 130 local NGOs, to strengthen SBCC capacity in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The training is intensive, highly participatory, and includes ongoing mentoring to ensure that skills are applied effectively.

Soul City has been playing a vital role in the development and adaptation of the Community Conversation Toolkit for HIV prevention. Network partners in Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe conducted pretests and consultations with stakeholders on local language translations of the materials, including 69 focus group discussions and 34 in-depth interviews. Soul City is now adapting versions to fit each country’s requirements and needs.

INFORMATION BULLETIN - Capacity Strengthening Activities in the Southern Africa Region

This information bulletin describes the C-Change activities in the southern Africa region. Activities include: strengthening the SBCC capacity of local organizations and government agencies that implement HIV prevention programs; providing technical assistance to a South African university for inclusion of an SBCC specialty in its School of Public Health; development of a Capacity Strengthening Toolkit; research on underserved women to understand their vulnerabilities to HIV to assist development of more effective communication strategies:, and research on integration of HIV prevention into community care among others.