A Free Activist Toolkit on Differentiated Service Delivery

The What Works for Me: Activist Toolkit on Differentiated Service Delivery was developed with the aim of strengthening community engagement and demand for recipient–centred models of care, specifically differentiated antiretroviral therapy (ART) delivery.

The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) and the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) partnered to produce this toolkit, which will be used by community activists, People living with HIV (PLHIV) networks and organizations promoting access to HIV treatment globally. The toolkit was made possible due to the support of the International AIDS Society (IAS).

Purposes

The purpose of this toolkit:

• the toolkit is aimed at strengthening PLHIV engagement and demand for client-centred models of care, specifically differentiated ART delivery.
• the purpose of this toolkit is to provide up-to-date information, knowledge and skills that are required to advocate for differentiated ART delivery in its different forms.
• this toolkit illustrates the value of differentiated ART delivery and of training community activists to passionately advocate about it to PLHIV (including key populations) and policy makers.

The toolkit should be used by community activists, PLHIV networks, trainers, human rights organizations working with PLHIV, and organizations promoting access to HIV treatment.

The toolkit was developed through a consultative process between partner organizations,external reviewers and PLHIV community activists participating in a training workshop. After the creation of the first draft, reviewers‘ comments were incorporated as much as possible, bearing in mind the purpose and objectives of the toolkit and in the interests of clarity and optimal length. Since the toolkit is primarily envisaged to be a tool for use by community activists, 23 participants representing six countries at the training workshop spent two sessions reviewing the toolkit with a specific focus on whether concepts were clearly explained and whether the format, language and presentation of content worked for them. The feedback was submitted in writing and was, in large part, included for the next draft.The document was finalized after a further opportunity was given to partners and external reviewers to make final comments. Once the content was finalized,the document was professionally designed to be ready for publication and online dissemination.

Toolkit Contains

Each section in the toolkit contains:

• Section objective: This summarizes what community activists can achieve by using the section.
• Useful resources box, including links to other useful documents and websites on the  topic.
• Training materials: This is a list of materials (such as PowerPoint presentations or  flip charts) needed for training.
• Training options: These are options for different types of training.
  • Option A: This is a PowerPoint presentation, which is discussion based and  is used to ensure that participants understand the key issues
  • Option B: Participatory training conducted through group work and activities
  • Option C: Additional training exercise for a session.
• A box with key messages for the topic of the section.
• A box with important terms to understand, highlighting key definitions or terms  discussed in the section.

The toolkit can be used as a part of a comprehensive multi-day training on HIV or as a one-day introduction to DSD and differentiated ART delivery.

You can download this toolkit for free here.