Key Correspondents

The Key Correspondents (KC) team welcomes people from diverse backgrounds and, in particular, welcomes applications from representatives of groups most at risk of HIV and from people living with HIV (PLHIV). The team is looking for those with enthusiasm to document HIV in their community in order to effect change. New applications for membership are reviewed on a six monthly basis. Click here for details on how to apply.

The Alliance assists the network with mentoring, training, and opportunities to be more widely heard. Correspondents receive news about training opportunities. Previous training sessions have seen international media organisations Panos and Internews partner with the KC network to build skills in news journalism, analysis, and multimedia. To build participants' citizen journalism and community action skills further, the initiative provides distance mentoring on the work they produce and keeps them informed about scholarships and competitions. There are opportunities to participate in international conferences, as well as communication and advocacy projects. Correspondents are also subscribed to the KC e-forum, which is part of a larger HIV forum network, and the regular e-bulletin KC Connect. These online communications provide updates on what is happening in community health across the world and what is coming up in the HIV sector on the international agenda.

Click here to read a story from one of the correspondents in the Ivory Coast, "Ivorian Soccer Stars Help Raise Issue of Protecting Children from HIV". The story describes a one-month Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs TV and radio campaign that involved Ivorian soccer stars giving messages about the importance of couples getting tested for HIV, especially when the woman is expecting a baby. The strategic focus of the campaign, as explored in the KC article, was on engaging men. A video associated with this article may be viewed below.

A number of multi-country programmes being run by the Alliance incorporate the work of KCs as a way to advocate for political and social change. The latest programmes are shown in the KC website's advocacy section. For example, as part of the initial stages of the Community Action on Harm Reduction project, in Kenya, a team of people working with people who use drugs have been trained to be KCs. "Each is driven by a passion to be better equipped to tell the stories of people who use drugs, their families and the communities in which they live and the impact that harm reduction interventions are having in Kenya." The overall project involves people who use drugs in the design and delivery of services. It also focuses on developing community action and grassroots campaigns to advance the human rights of people who use drugs. There is a strong focus on building the local capacity of community-based organisations and sharing knowledge about what works.

For more information, visit the Key Correspondents Facebook page or communicate with the team on Twitter: @Sarah_Oughton or @theKCteam.

HIV, Health, and Human Rights