Negotiating Religious Barriers to Mobilizing and Building Capacity of Key populations (KP) for HIV Prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa Facilitator: Justus Aungo, PhD. Co-Facilitators: Zebedee Mkala and Carlos Laudari Pathfinder International WEWS10
Session 4: BUILDING BRIDGES by Zebedee Mkalla Sharing what is working in Kenya
Public meeting and sharing sessions
Case study of Kenyan Coast Challenge to prevention: Religious demonstration against meeting on KPs; Action Taken: Multi-level stakeholder engagement through TWG and community mobilization Key strategy: framing KP access to prevention service as health right; prevention for all; and religious obligation ‘as thy brother’s keeper’;. Result: increased service provision to KP; and KP participation and ownership of prevention initiatives.
DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS: a.Mobilizing public involvement b.Establishment of technical working groups c.Media involvement and publicity d.State and local administration buy-in and involvement e.Integrated service provision- each service provider finding niche f.KP-led advocacy for involvement
Summary Whereas programming interests may mainly focus on the provision of services to KAP; an enabling environment is extremely essential. This can be assured by leadership by government agencies through TWG’S to ensure that there are requisite policies, guidelines and direction for implementation of sound interventions.