EXAMPLE OF BEST PRACTICE Culture, gender, and HIV in Zimbabwe

After years of disseminating HIV and AIDS information
through its partners in the region it became apparent to SAfAIDS that
information alone was not going to be the magic answer for behaviour change and
thus reduction in HIV transmission. The high levels of literacy and awareness
in Zimbabwe
had done almost nothing to reduce gender disparity and the marginalisation of
women - which are central to fuelling HIV.

Aware that gender and male dominance are closely linked to
people's culture, it was crucial that any new thinking about responding to HIV
needed to focus on addressing culture and traditions that negatively influence
the lives of women in the African context. Failure to effectively address
culture, gender and HIV individually and together would certainly lead to
ineffective interventions to the African HIV epidemic.

In 2006, with support from Oxfam Canada, SAfAIDS partnered with Seke
Rural Home Based Care to launch a two-year pilot project that would work
differently with communities by focusing on gender transformation as a way to
fight HIV. The interventions supported and built communities' abilities to
reflect and critically think about those practices that fuel gender inequality
and HIV, focusing on how the community itself could bring about the required
positive changes in the negative aspects of culture and tradition.

There was a belief among the project implementers that by
having a better appreciation and understanding of the cultural ideologies that
drive people would be a ripple effect that would lead to improved gender and
HIV interventions in Africa.