The central strategy
Community-level responses are at the core of our strategy. From the beginning, we realised that local community groups need to have access in their own countries to resources and technical assistance that matches what local people need, and networks that enable them to learn from and influence their peers.
We decided to identify existing non-governmental organisations that could act as linking organisations to support other non-governmental and community-based organisations within their own countries. We would assist these linking organisations by giving them financial and technical resources. In turn, they would provide financial and technical resources to help inspire local groups to begin responding to HIV for the first time, and to encourage community-based organisations already working on HIV to expand their work.
In some countries, the need for urgent action and short-term results meant that there was no time to select, support and build the type of relationship that would enable a linking organisation to be truly independent from the very beginning. Instead, we introduced an interim solution in the form of country offices that were initiated by us but were led and staffed by nationals.
Where they have been set up, these offices have spearheaded our activities, allowing interventions to get going in the short term while establishing a basis for independent linking organisations in the longer term. We are committed to helping them evolve from externally controlled, project-oriented offices into sustainable, nationally led linking organisations, as quickly as possible.
