The Big Picture: A guide for gender transformative HIV programming
From 2006 to 2010 STOP AIDS NOW! (now Aidsfonds) supported an innovative project in Kenya and Indonesia which gave equal weight to HIV prevention, gender equity and human rights. At the end of the project they asked me to set out the theory and practice of their partners’ efforts in a ‘how to’ guide. I co-authored the guide with the project’s manager, Jennifer Bushee. Aidsfonds updated the guide in 2020, and that’s the version you can download here.
Extract
This guide provides ‘how-to’ information for developing a gender transformative approach in HIV programming. A gender transformative approach addresses root causes of vulnerability to HIV and seeks to reshape the beliefs, attitudes and behaviours of individuals and communities in favour of gender equality. It requires changing the policies, norms, and practices, which underlie gender inequality.
The information in this guide is based on experiences of organisations working with a gender transformative approach as well as up to date evidence. It provides practical steps you can follow to analyse and design your programme, as well as profound background information to understand what a gender transformative approach entails. Finally, it captures the experiences of organisations in four case studies found in section 3.
The advice in this guide is not fixed and definite; please read it as providing suggestions based on the experiences of Aidsfonds and partners. The tool gives guidance on how to think from a ‘gender transformative’ perspective, but it does not, for example, give step-by-step instructions for doing a gender analysis. The advice in this guide should be adapted to fit local needs and the relevant social, political, and cultural context.
This guide encourages readers to think differently about how to respond to HIV, using a holistic perspective, the so-called ‘big picture’. Therefore, it should be relevant for different types of interventions, beyond HIV programming.
