Creating “Communicative Spaces”: A Case of NGO Community Organizing for HIV/AIDS Prevention

Abstract

This study uses the case study method to investigate the processes used by a local nongovernmental organization called the Society for People's Action for Development to organize sex workers in the slums of Bangalore, India, for HIV/AIDS prevention. The nongovernmental organization-facilitated HIV/AIDS program is based on the new paradigm of community organizing that encourages community participation and capacity building. Grounded in the culture-centered approach, this study documents the processes used to organize the women, while highlighting the role of communication in these processes. The study identifies 4 primary processes used to mobilize the community, namely collectivization, community awareness and sensitization, capacity building, and providing legal education and support. Each of these processes highlights the importance of attending to the economic, social, and political realities that shape the health of women. The common thread linking these processes together is the notion of "voice." More specifically, each process serves as a catalyst to produce discursive practices that enable women to provide support to each other, increase awareness in the community about the problems that they face, build self-reliance through financial skills training and communication training, and defend their legal rights. In addition, the study suggests that the primary role of nongovernmental organizations should be the creation of "communicative spaces," which are discursive and material spaces within marginalized communities and mainstream society where cultural participants can identify problems (oftentimes beyond the realm of health), manage solutions to those problems, and advocate for health and social change.

“All of Those Things We Don't Eat”: A Culture-Centered Approach to Dietary Health Meanings for Asian Indians Living in the United States

“…Although previous research using the culture-centered approach has been conducted outside the United States and within community settings (Basu & Dutta-Bergman, 2007; de Souza, 2009; Dutta-Bergman, 2004a, 2004b; Dutta & Basu, 2007), this study was conducted inside the United States within a medical setting. These innovations demonstrate that the culture-centered approach can be applied both internationally and domestically within the United States as well as in community and medical settings.…”

“…As an antidote to these processes, the culture-centered approach proposes the notion of voice . de Souza (2009) writes that in the health care setting, “Having a voice refers to a condition in which marginalized communities speak for themselves, make their own decisions and contest claims that do not resonate with a sense of who they are” (p. 696). Marginalization is the effect of one discourse being voiced while another discourse is silenced.…”

Community collectivization and its association with consistent condom use and STI treatment-seeking behaviors among female sex workers and high-risk men who have sex with men/transgenders in Andhra Pradesh, India

“…Increasingly, and in particular for those most at risk of acquiring HIV (key populations), studies recommend that HIV prevention programs must go beyond peer-led intervention approaches to address structural drivers – the complex social, cultural, political, and economic vulnerabilities faced by those who are most marginalized. (Blanchard et al, 2005; Chattopadhyay & McKaig, 2004; de Souza, 2009; Halli et al, 2006; Hays, Rebchook, & Kegeles, 2003; Nath, 2000; Parker, Easton, & Klein, 2000). Building upon lessons from micro-level community mobilization as a part of structural interventions in HIV risk reduction (Jana & Singh, 1995; Latkin & Knowlton, 2005; Nath, 2000), Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative, launched a large-scale HIV prevention intervention in 2003 with key populations across six high-HIV prevalence states in India (Avahan, 2008).…”

Creating communicative spaces in an action research study

“…Communicative spaces are conceptual and physical (Singhal 2003, de Souza 2009). Conceptually, communicative spaces provide a discursive arena in which people's voices can be heard.…”