Links to Related Reports and resources:

A Stepping Stones programme only offers some strong initial steps of a long journey to develop ways in which a community can work more effectively together for the mutual benefit of them all. Stepping Stones is not a "magic bullet". However it can create an enabling environment for change, in which exciting realisations can happen and from which new ideas and plans can emerge. However these new ideas and plans need to be nurtured and supported over the following weeks, months and years, just as young seedlings need support to grow strong. It is often helpful to remind ourselves that it took around 60 years after initial research in Europe discovered that smoking tobacco affects our health, before the first public area smoking bans became law in Europe. Meanwhile, smoking is still very popular amongst young women especially in the UK. We often assume that sexual health and well-being and gender norms can somehow change overnight, whilst forgetting what history has shown us about how hard we find it to change other, far less taboo and intimate, social patterns.

One way in which the positive influences of the Stepping Stones programme can be nurtured is through supporting participants in communities to:
  •  develop their own action plans for change;
  •  to offer them opportunities to meet again regularly to reaffirm what they have learnt and decided together during the workshop process;
  •  to offer peer groups micro-credit to support plans for change which they may have;
  •  to enable them to draw on new and/or additional materials from other sources, on which they can draw for future discussions and exercises;
  •  to offer links to further information regarding specific technical topics.  

OTHER USEFUL RESOURCE MATERIALS FOR PEER GROUPS TO STUDY


Links to related videos and audio materials:

  • “Courage and Hope”  - a film by the Partnership for Child Development about the work of teachers living openly with HIV in East Africa 
  • “Lullabye” and “The Dream” - Lifeboat Films: two short films about Dutch children and their families affected by HIV www.lifeboatfilms.org 
  • "What Can I do?" Strategies for Hope film of Canon Gideon Byamugisha
  • "Stepping Stones Revisited" - Strategies for Hope: an account of what has happened in the original community where Stepping Stones was used, 12 years later
  • "HIV, Women and Motherhood Project" - Salamander Trust: 14 interviews with openly HIV-positive women from around the world and two international women leaders, about issues facing women with HIV in relation to motherhood. Available both on-line and as a CD.
  • "Protection: Men and Condoms in the Time of HIV and AIDS". This film has an accompanying website.
  • Video of a grassroots leader (Fati Alhassan, Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation) speaking on women's inheritance: http://www.odi.org.uk/events/details.asp?id=2487&title=empowering-women-reducing-child-poverty-enabling-women-inherit

Links to related work:

  • Community Life Competence (also available in French and Spanish) / Disponible en español
  • Red Balance - Mujeres y VIH (en español)
  • "Auntie Stella" - TARSC, Zimbabwe. A training set of cards for young people to discuss key issues about sex, life and relationships.
  • "It's All One" Curriculum - Population Council 2010. "A unified approach to sexuality, gender, HIV and Human Rights Education". Available both on line and in hard copy.
  • Strategies for Hope materials - a wide range of books, guides, DVDs, available here
  • "From Pregnancy to Baby and Beyond": a programme led by Angelina Namiba of Positively UK, providing peer mentoring support from women with HIV to women with HIV. You can view a pdf about this work here
  • The "SASA!" programme, which addresses the link between violence against women and HIV and AIDS. "Sasa" means "now" in ki-Swahili.
  • "Puntos de Encuentro", based in Nicaragua focuses on young people, gender and SRHR issues. It runs a magazine and a TV programme, both hugely popular.  It also produces materials and training for youth leaders and communicators. The name means "meeting places" in Spanish.
  • Mahila Samakhya in India has, amongst many other activities, set up a Women's Courts system, which reviews cases of domestic violence. 
  • Men as Partners, set up by Engenderhealth, is now working in 15 countries. It works at community level to address gender issues.

Links to information about microcredit programmes:

Research shows that micro-credit programmes alone for women are not enough to effect the changes in gender norms that will sustainably support women. However, if micro-credit, or other means of financial independence for women and young women, such as paid work, supplements a programme such as Stepping Stones, there does seem to be far more chance of transformation of gender norms in that society. Below we offer some links for further information about this.

  • The "IMAGE" Study, Zambia - micro-credit programme for women, to reduce gender violence
  • "Stepping Stones Revisited" - Strategies for Hope: an account of what has happened in the original community where Stepping Stones was used, 12 years later
  • The Grameen Bank - experiences of this huge programme in Bangladesh
  • SEWA - the experiences of the Self-Employed Women's Association in Bangladesh
  • "Microinsurance that works for women" - ILO publication - making gender-sensitive micro-insurance programmes
  • KIVA - an organisation that offers loans through field partners to people wishing to access micro-credit

LINKS TO MATERIALS REGARDING SUPPORTIVE SERVICE PROVISION


Here we highlight some documents and websites which we recommend for study and use by service providers. These include the provision of health care, education, the law, the media, employment and other related sectors. This is in recognition that the provision of supportive services and an "enabling environment" at all levels of policy and practice is crucial in enabling the changes that communities wish to see in their lives take place. If you have particular documents or materials that you recommend to add to this list, please share them with us.

Health sector
WHO 2008:  "Integrating gender into HIV/AIDS programmes in the health sector - Tool to improve responsiveness to women’s needs" - available here

Education sector
UNESCO 2007: "Supporting HIV-Positive Teachers in Eastern and Southern Africa - Technical Consultation Report" - available here
UNESCO 2009: "International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education" - available here

Legal sector
ATHENA NETWORK 2009: "10 Reasons why Criminalization of HIV Exposure or Transmission Harms Women" - available here
HIV Human Rights Now 2010: Human Rights and HIV/AIDS: Now More than Ever - available here

Media sector
UNAIDS 2005 - Getting the Message Across - the Mass Media and the Response to AIDS - available here
Nigerian Journalist Against AIDS - website available here

Employment sector 
ILO 2005 - "The ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work" - available here

Inter-sectoral issues
Salamander Trust/Strategies for Hope 2009: HIV, Women and Motherhood Audio Interviews Project - available here

LINKS TO SPECIFIC TECHNICAL TOPICS

Pregnancy Issues

See also the "Motherhood" page on this Stepping Stones website