The Umbrella: Safe from GBV and HIV - Changing the River’s Flow Newsletter: Issue 01/2009, SAfAIDS

Within the pages of The Umbrella – Safe from GBV and HIV Newsletter, the first issue under the SAfAIDS Changing the River's Flow series programme - we seek to build bridges of hope and renewed energy towards responding to genderbased violence, HIV and the promotion of women’s rights within the context of culture across southern Africa. We anticipate that this Newsletter shall foster ncreased and widened dialogue for change between all stakeholders around these challenging topics and irealities.

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SADC Gender Protocol Barometer Baseline Study: Zimbabwe by Sithokozile Nyaradzo Thabethe

In June 2009 the Southern Africa Protocol Alliance commissioned research in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region that sought to map out the current state of governments with regards to various social, political and economic indicators in the SADC protocol on Gender and Development. The project ran for a month the 1st to the 30th of June 2009.

The objectives of undertaking such a study were set out as follows:
• To collect baseline data on the key provisions of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.
• To use this accurate and updated baseline data to develop lobbying and advocacy tools, targeting national governments and regional bodies to deliver on the Protocol commitments.
• To use this research data to enable civil society to track the progress made by SADC Member states towards achieving the set targets in the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.

Policy Primer - Emerging Issues from Policy Dialogues: Exploring links between GBV, HIV and Culture, SAfAIDS and Oxfam Canada, 2009

Portuguese: série mudando o curso do rio: desafiando a dinâmica do género num contexto cultural para abordar VIH, 2009, SAfAIDS

English: Changing the River's Flow Series: Challenging Gender Dynamics in a cultural context to Address HIV, 2009, SAfAIDS

Mainstreaming Gender in the Response to HIV: Info Pack 2, COGENHA/SAfAIDS, 2008

Infopack 2 outlines the basic concepts and issues related to gender, and offers practical hints for the effective integration of gender into policies and programmes. It discusses the importance of onsidering gender at all levels of HIV programme development, and highlights useful tools for mainstreaming gender in the design, implementation and evaluation of health and development nitiatives. Practical activities are outlined to assist readers to build their skills in the development of a gender policy to guide their organisation and its programmes.

Inter-linkages between Culture, Gender Based Violence, HIV and AIDS and Women's Rights TRAINING MANUAL, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam America, SAfAIDS, June 2008

This training manual explores the theory that culture is central to the forces that trigger gender-based violence, leading to the violation of women's rights and subsequently to the spread of HIV. Since culturally, women are viewed as 'objects', Southern Africa has witnessed an increase in gender-based violence (GBV), and the violation of women's rights which have resulted in growing cases of HIV infection. Of concern, however, is that many people are ignorant of the link between these problems and culture.This training manual seeks to make development agents aware that there is not much hat can be achieved in the response to HIV and AIDS if society does not deal with the root cause of the problem – CULTURE