Dream team - Activity report 2008

Comment

Comment by Rituu B. Nanda on December 17, 2008 at 2:05pm

Laurence, here are my inputs on the achievements and challenges in India

Achievements in India: 2008

Organisational support
o There are two kinds of participants in the ADB-NGO funded project in India- either the head of the NGO or the middle-level staff. From lack of support from the organizational head in 2007, the NGO staff engaged in ACP started receiving full organizational support. Now the request is that we must keep the head in loop while sending communication on ACP to the NGO. We have come a long way. Similarly, the staff has become very supportive of ACP where the CEOs of the NGOs have been actively pursuing ACP.

o Visit by Jean-Louis to India in July 2008 gave a major impetus to ACP. He led the support visit in one of the states and facilitated the NLE in Mumbai.

o For the first time support visits were conducted which provided us with a true picture of the understanding and application of ACP in India. The need for more support visits was realized.

o Self-assessment was translated into five languages

o 2008 saw the beginning of participants’ interaction with the constellation team. It is still limited though. 9 participants were scheduled to represent India in the Chiangmai Knowledge Fair

o A need was felt to expand ACP in India. Information on ACP was disseminated and several options were explored. Three joint proposals were prepared with Gaston and an India-specific concept note was finalised

o 9 members from India joined Ning

o The e-forum Solution Exchange held two discussions on ACP in India

o Learnings for the NGO staff:

- ACP has begun to make a difference in community response. It has given a new dimension into collective strength and collective effort as a possible solution to a community problem.
- Another realization among ACP practitioners has been that concept of AIDS Competence Building provides greater opportunities of learning from the experiences of different communities.
- Also they have recognized the deep impact of sharing experiences rather than giving opinions.
- All agree that ACP is a way of living.


Challenges:

• While funding is not a prerequisite for success, lack of funds has been a stumbling block for instance the NLE event in Nagaland has got delayed
• Less number of NGO and CBO involvement compared to FBOs
• Government not on board
• Major donors yet to support
• Absence of a team to regularly coordinate and follow up with the ACP activities
• While new initiatives are required, how to maintain the momentum of the ongoing work
• Application of ACP with Targeted Interventions in India
• Lack of participation- PLHIV and MSM

Comment by Laurence Gilliot on December 17, 2008 at 11:46am

Thanks, Rituu. Very useful information... I'm so happy to read your comments and happy that Ning makes some difference.

Is there anything else, for exemple in India Competence that you see is different now than a year ago? I feel that India Competence is now at a totally different stage than last year... What do you think?

Love and light to you, dearest friend. I hope you are ok in the current chaos...

Laurence

Comment by Rituu B. Nanda on December 17, 2008 at 11:38am

Hi Laurence,

Can I be slow when Laurence invites? I like cocoa, piping hot.

The biggest achievement is NING. I think Ning came into being in Spring but in the last quarter year of 2008 you started using it effectively. Apart from connecting people from all over the globe, meaningful discussions are taking place. Marlou and you have been doing a great job in eliciting responses. The membership is growing by leaps and bounds. Members not only represent different regions of the world they belong to different organisations from the UN to HIV/AIDS Alliance. Ning is also building personal relationship between members. I have found in Rebeka from Indonesia a big friend. We belong to the same organisation and mutual discussions have been helpful. Honestly, I am not into blogging but Ning has begun to feel like another home, a stress buster where I find motivating stories, music, and my constellation friends. ACP is about human concerns and relationships. The emotional tinge in the interactions has definitely helped.

Will be back!

Rituu

Comment by Laurence Gilliot on December 17, 2008 at 11:06am

Yeh, Rituu, you are so fast :-) Nice to see you! Want some coffee or tea while we wait for the others?

Difficult question or do you have ideas already (I mean about activity report, not the coffee)?

Laurence