The Community Forums Project
(Formerly the Southern Africa Women's
Leadersip Program)
Community Forums Project debuted in rural
Botswana in 2005.
The Community Forums Project (CFP) was created as a direct
response to the frighteningly large increase of HIV/AIDS cases
in Southern Africa - particularly in Botswana which has the
second highest HIV/AIDS rate in the world. In 2005, IWDC,
in partnership with Emang Basadi, the National Women's Association
of Botswana, launched a one-year project to provide factual
information, address risk factors and how the disease spreads,
and fight stigma through an intergenerational, public deliberation
setting in an effort to strenghten civil society and get all
sects of the community talking about the issues from theior
own cultural perspective.
CFP moderators are young women selected
from the local community based on their passion and demonstrated
involvement with issues of HIV/AIDS and political activism.
Due to the tremendous success of the program, which extended
far beyond IWDC and EB's expectations, IWDC and EB are planning
to revive the program this winter, facilitating the first
Forum in a five-year project. CFP will host multi-generational
community forums around the country that address a series
of questions about the HIV/AIDS pandemic, providing factual
information about the disease, dispelling myths and propeganda,
and challenging the community to devise plans of action to
fight the spread of the disease in addition to combating the
stigma of infection to improve the quality of life for those
already infected.
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