COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS ON HIV/AIDS: THE ‘SUPERMAN’ APPROACH?

1. COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS ON HIV/AIDS: THE ‘SUPERMAN’ APPROACH? Reflection on the theoretical aspects of community conversations method For the ‘Nordic Network on Media, communication and popular culture in Africa’ seminar By: Sintayehu Ch. Assefa 7 Nov. 2008, Malmø University

2. Background • Community conversations approach, has emerged from the work of the Salvation Army (Zambia) and Enda Tiers Monde/Sante, (Senegal) in the mid 1990s, and improved by UNDP in 2001 (Community Capacity Enhancement Handbooks, 2004 & 2005). • Community conversations – ‘facilitated dialogues’ • To provide a platform in which people can engage in open discussions about sensitive issues like HIV/AIDS in their community. • People are supposed to identify their concerns as well as strength and agree where specifically they need external support.

3. In Ethiopia- in 2002/03 in two pilot areas in Southern part of the country - as an initiative of the UNDP in collaboration with the local NGO’s. • The evaluation study funded by the same agency (UNDP) revealed that the CC method is playing a significant role in bringing the intended change processes in HIV/AIDS related community attitudes and practices (Ayalew Gebere and Yeraswork Admissie, 2005). • Afterwards, the method begun spread widely through out the country, especially in Amgara regional state.

4. What strikes me to initiate my study? • The feasibility of the premises of CC method in the context of cultural, social, economical and political aspects of Ethiopian society in general and the Amhara community in particular. (Has the CC method really brought/bringing what it intends to? How CC method is going on in Amhara society? What the practice of CC looks like?)

5. Some facts about Ethiopian society • Ethiopian society in general (and the society residing in Amhara Regional State in particular) are highly conservative, patriarchal and agrarian society in which 80% out of the 79 million population is living in the rural areas. (Zenebe N. Bashaw,?, Central statistical Agency of Ethiopia, Feb. 2008) • Adult literacy rate (ages 15 and older) is estimated to 35.9% which put the country 169th out of 177 countries world wide. (The 2007/2008 UNDP Human Development Report) • Dictatorial governments of the near past and the current one forced the society to be fearful, suspicious and not to trust government officials and their policies.

6. Steps in CC methods At the center of this method there are six steps to facilitate the community conversations sessions 1. Relationship building 2. Identification concerns 3. Exploration of identified concerns 4. Decision making and commitment to action 5. Implementation 6. Reflection and review • It is assumed that adhering to the six systematically arranged processes strictly in CC sessions will bring the desired outcome.

7. The premises of Community Conversations method • There are a lot of efforts to integrate and use elements of different models and strategies of development communication interventions Some of the concepts • Dialogue or Horizontal communication • Stimulus changes within • Empowering the grassroots • The role of people as agents of change • The need for negotiating skills and partnership

8. The ultimate goal of CC method is to help people show transformation in many aspects of their life. • But it is questionable whether the actual CC practice has the capacity by itself to help communities to transform. • How the transformation of the community can be measured? Or how the characteristics of the community transformed by community conversations sessions can be manifested?

9. CC method- a ‘‘magic bullet’’ or ‘‘superman strategy’’? ‘‘[T]he Community Conversations approach promotes human rights principles. Dignity of individuals and families are preserved and enhanced in an environment that promotes compassion, acceptance and accountability, where people are free from stigmatization, coercion and violence. UNDP has identified a core group of human rights principles that are guiding responses. The principles include equity, equality, non-discrimination, human dignity, non-violence, participation, inclusion, accountability and responsibility’’. (CC concept paper, 2004: 3) • Too ambitious- the method has given responsibilities to solve multiple social, cultural, economic and political problems which seem difficult to achieve easily.

10. Question remains- whether the actual CC sessions can bring such complex socio-economic and political responses or not. • Few CC assessment reports, from countries where CC method has implemented so far, have disclosed that the method is mainly successful in raising awareness (?) and encouraging the participants to express themselves. Obstacles • Local people are often too busy running their daily business to become involved in participatory activities and even questioned the value of investing time and effort in a project; • The legitimacy of those who chose to participate representing the views of the wider community is questionable. • Communities are often loaded with divisions, tensions and conflicts, and certain vulnerable groups may be unwilling or even unable to participate; • Some communities are already experiencing the so called ‘‘conversation or participation fatigue’’ in which facilitators have faced the challenges of motivating community members to participate in the scheduled sessions • (Parry & Wright, 2003 and Cecilia Strand, July 2008)

11. Main Objectives of my study 1. How the theoretical framework and premises of Community Conversations method can be explained in the context of different development communication theories and approaches? 2. To what extent the premises and guidelines of community conversations method are implemented in the process of community conversations sessions going on in the Amhara Regional State?

12. Research Methodology • To address the research questions, an unedited audio data on the actual CC sessions retrieved from Amhara region’s radio programs will be analyzed using qualitative method supported by social constructionist approach. • Extensive critical review literature will be conducted to reflect on the concepts of community conversations in the context of development communication theories and models, particularly from community participation perspective. • To support the whole analysis process, different documents such as UNDP’s CC Handbooks, CC concept paper, implementation guidelines, facilitators’ manual, annual reports on CC, different statistics, etc retrieved from different sources and will be consulted. • I have planned to go to the actual places where CC sessions are currently running so as to conduct interview, focus group discussion as well as observations.