Keep the Best Change the Rest: Participatory Tools for Working with Communities on Gender and Sexuality

This toolkit from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance provides a resource intended to enable individuals and organisations working on HIV and AIDS issues to address gender and sexuality effectively. The toolkit contains participatory activities which enable groups of men and women of different ages to explore how gender and sexuality affect their lives and to identify changes which they wish to make to improve their relationships and sexual health. It aims to establish the ongoing involvement of key stakeholders such as chiefs, traditional advisors, teachers, health workers, civil society organisations, and religious leaders.

The toolkit gives guidance on how to build relationships and trust with key community stakeholders in order to support this work, how to prepare facilitation teams, and how to train them. It was inspired, developed, and produced with the support and expertise of a large number of individuals, groups, and organisations through workshops, seminars, and field experience in Zambia.

The tools involve community members by using techniques such as role-play and making diagrams using local resources such as the ground, sticks, and everyday objects to generate discussion. Contents include sections on: gender, sexuality, and vulnerability; sex and relationships; sexual violence; working together; and making an action plan.

This toolkit is available to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) free of charge from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance website. For ordering information, click here.