UNFPA Ethiopia held a five days consultative meeting in Addis Ababa as part of the process to revise the existing manual on Community Conversation (CC). UNFPA Ethiopia is engaged in the process of revising the existing manual on CC in collaboration with its partners with the aim of producing a manual for Comprehensive Community Conversations for Action (CCCA).
Thirty five core trainers on CC from the Oromiya, Southern Nations Nationalities, and Peoples, Amhara, Tigray, Somali and Afar regions as well as from the capital, Addis Ababa , took part in the consultative meeting which took place from 14-18 May, 2007. Representatives of ten NGOs which include CRDA, Goal Ethiopia , Concern Ethiopia , Care Ethiopia , and Pro Pride also participated in the meeting.
The CCCA will focus on HIV/AIDS, Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and Gender. Inclusion of SRH and Gender issues with the intention to simultaneously address broader and interrelated community issues will underscore the uniqueness of the manual to be developed.
Presentations were made on SRH and Gender issues by resource persons from two departments from the Ministry of Health and also from the UNFPA CO to give the core trainers conceptual and technical background which was quite helpful for the exercise of revising the manual.
UNFPA will continue sharing ideas and consultations with all relevant partners and stakeholders to further enrich the manual, both in terms of content and design.
