General News

Global course on "Empowerment, HIV and VAW"

Participants

The target population includes managers, decision-makers at national and local levels, service providers and advocators for people living with HIV and women's rights.

Dates:

Jun 22 - Oct 8, 2009

Coordinators of the course:

Nazneen Damji (UNIFEM) and Dinys Luciano (Development Connections)

Applications

The registration form http://www.dvcn.org/Documents/Courseregistration.pdf must be sent by May 27, 2009.

Fellowships

25 fellowships are available for candidates that can demonstrate how they will apply the skills obtained in the course within their organizations and who will commit to completing the course. Those individuals interested in applying for a fellowship should submit a request to info@dvcn.org by May 22, 2009.

For more information on the course please contact:

Dinys Luciano: lucianod@dvcn.org

HIV and violence against women (VAW) are two pandemics putting women's health, wellbeing, and lives at risk. Evidence shows that violence may be a leading factor in the increasing "feminization" of the AIDS pandemic in many countries, and HIV can be both a cause and a consequence of VAW. Integrating HIV and VAW policies and programs, based on an empowerment approach, will enhance their effectiveness and impact by increasing women's access to comprehensive services of care and prevention.

Objectives

This course aims to develop competencies of human resources from governmental and non-governmental organizations to integrate HIV and VAW in prevention, treatment and care interception as well as to respond to emerging policy issues regarding both problems. The specific objectives are:

To analyze the empowerment conceptual framework and its operationalization addressing HIV and VAW.;
To examine the strategic and practical implications for integrating policies and programs on HIV and VAW.
To manage tools for carrying out processes within organizations and intersectoral levels directed toward integration of both issues.

Modules

I. Conceptual framework : Intersections between HIV and VAW, international commitments and national legislation, empowerment approach applied to HIV and VAW and methodological issues regarding scientific evidence on HIV and VAW

II. Prevention: Prevention strategies from a public health approach, best practices on HIV and VAW prevention.

III. Care and treatment : Voluntary counseling and testing,;access to treatment, adherence strategies and VAW,; HIV perinatal transmission and VAW, integrating HIV within VAW services: screening, care, referral systems, and support groups.

IV. Considerations for special populations : young girls and adolescents, indigenous communities, migrants, sex workers, prisoners, injected drug users, among others.

Methodology and learning resources

The course is online and has a total duration of 95 hours. It includes online activities and workplace field tasks. Depending on the needs and possibilities in each country, participants may form small groups for face-to-face sessions with the online support of a tutor.;The learning resources,;for use in group discussions, working groups, virtual forums and assessments within the participants' organizations, include: cases, databases, glossary, checklists and other assessment tools, bibliography, and presentations.

The course will be taught in English