Title of Event:

Name of Organisation:

Date and time of the session:

Grassroots Women and Local Authorities Partner to Fight AIDS in Africa

Huairou Commission

Wednesday, June 21, 2006, 4:30-6:30pm

Key Highlights

1. Estimated no of participants: 50
2. Stakeholder group representation at the event: Grassroots women, Local authorities
3. What were the expected objectives: To highlight the successes and challenges grassroots women and local authorities face as they attempt to fight AIDS in their local communities in Africa
4. What did the networking event achieve: We achieved the above, and also were able to facilitate a dialogue among audience participants about these successes and challenges facing these stakeholders and others, and came up with a number of actionable ideas, as they try to access and best use resources going to Africa to fight AIDS.

2. What were the core issues identified in your event as they relate to the theme and sub-themes of WUFIII?

This networking event featured two grassroots women—home-based caregivers—and a local authority coordinator who spoke about their experiences responding to AIDS at the community level and the partnerships they are forming with each other to make their work possible. It was clear from these presentations that grassroots women are bearing the burden of AIDS, and that the effects of the pandemic are affecting every aspect of life in Africa—from land and housing tenure to governance to development—and significantly holding back any development efforts grassroots communities are making. This discussion related to Sub-themes one and two. Sub-theme one is “Social Inclusion and Cohesion.” It was clear from the experiences shared at this networking event that it is vital for development agencies, donors and above all governments, from national to the local level, to include grassroots women—who know the problems in their communities and are creating effective solutions to them—in all aspects of planning and decision making.

The panellists also discussed the ways that grassroots women are being facilitated to participate in decentralized development processes, and the positive impacts on communities that such inclusion has. The discussion related to sub-theme two: Partnership and Finance, as it was clear that partnerships with grassroots

3. What were the main points raised by panellists and participants in relation to these different issues? What new ideas have been generated as a result of the discussion?

Panellists and participants raised the importance of recognizing the work of grassroots home-based caregivers and supporting their collaborations with local authorities and their inclusion in local-level decision-making processes. Participants specifically discussed different ways of supporting these actions in different contexts.

4. What process steps have been identified in your event that could help turn ideas into operational reality?

The actionable ideas identified in this networking event include support for the creation of a Home-Based Care Alliance and engaging local authorities, grassroots women and international aid agencies in a dialogue in order to discuss strategies of accountability and collaboration that would operationalize local development and anti-AIDS funding mechanisms (like Community Development Funds, etc) as tools for greater participation and inclusion of women.