The Behaviour Change Programme Network (BCP) Partnership

Wednesday, May 15, 2002 HIVAN

HIVAN has established a partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal CBO Network and, in particular, its Behaviour Change Programme (BCP). The BCP, being directed at implementing a wide-sweeping programme of behaviour change in communities and having representation throughout the province's eight regions, facilitates HIVAN's entry into the communities with which it engages.


The partnership was formed when a preliminary meeting was held late last year with a representative of the BCP and the Vice-Chairperson of the KZN CBO Network, Mr Victor Mkhize, who expressed personal enthusiasm for collaboration with HIVAN, and undertook to communicate the proposal to his BCP colleagues. Mr Mkhize and the HIVAN Community Liaison Team discussed the proposed partnership with the Executive of the KZN CBO Network and received its mandate to pursue it.

HIVAN subsequently hosted a workshop with BCP representatives from the four regions and six sub-regions within which HIVAN had identified sites for engagement in the near future. The purpose of the meeting was to explore avenues for collaboration and to define as closely as possible the potential mutual benefits of the partnership.

It was agreed that the primary benefit to HIVAN provided by the BCP is an existing HIV/AIDS-related province-wide network through which HIVAN's Community Engagement activities can operate. The benefits to the BCP, as identified by its representatives, are assistance with development of its two-year action plan; support in the formulation of proposals and presentations; and assistance in linking BCP, and the community-based initiatives they serve, with other sectoral stakeholders within the province.

The BCP representatives indicated that their organisation has a need for logistical and administrative capacity. In particular, BCP has experienced difficulty in running its training programme at grassroots level. Consequently, the BCP and HIVAN are exploring the use of HIVAN's logistical capacity and its workshop series as an avenue for BCP's implementation of its programme on the ground, through a series of combined HIVAN/BCP workshops. Further joint projects that will reinforce the visibility, legitimacy and grassroots value of both organisations are also being considered.

Both parties are committed to working together over the coming months to refine and consolidate the developing partnership. A small task group of HIVAN and BCP regional representatives has been constituted to guide and oversee this process.

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