Challenges and limitations
Mitigation of HIV/AIDS- impacts through agricultural and rural development - success stories and future actions
Local participation and knowledge key to agricultural interventions for HIV and AIDS
Authors:
; SARPN
Publisher:
Southern African Regional Poverty Network , 2003
This report, produced by the Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN), summarises the findings of a May 2003 workshop on mitigating the impacts of HIV and AIDS through agriculture and rural development. The workshop explored experiences in a number of areas, including: enhancing livelihood resilience at farm household level, agrobiodiversity and indigenous knowledge in the mitigation of the consequences of HIV and AIDS, mitigation of the impact of HIV and AIDS on rural Livelihoods through low-labour input agriculture and related activities, and action oriented HIV and AIDS research issues.
Key findings included the following: development, relief and rehabilitation must be addressed together; policy should encourage and be influenced by local implementation; better targeting and participation help affected people take charge; and greater focus is needed on multi-sectoral partnerships at district and village level. The workshop also identified the need to move beyond “labour saving” technologies and practices to using a labour management approach, which includes spreading labour demands over time to minimise work load at peak periods. Finally, the report calls for both policy and practice to be based on experimentation and evidence of success. [adapted from authors]
