CrowdOutAIDS Open Forum How to Guide v 1.

How to Guide to host a CrowdOutAIDS Open Forum Abridged version

Thank you for volunteering to host an offline forum! This manual is a short version of the CrowdOutAIDS How to Guide available to download in English here. It will give you an overview of some practical tips to help you moderate your forum and to make sure that all the valuable ideas that come out of your forum get back to inform UNAIDS new strategy on HIV and young people. Please note that it does not matter how big or small your forum may be it can be as small as 2 or as big as 200! It does not matter if you have never done anything like this before. What matters is your willingness to bring together youth from your community and give them an opportunity to impact global strategy on HIV and young people. Your responsibility as forum leader will be to facilitate the discussion and report back to the CrowdOutAIDS team. The team will then publish the report of your Forum on their website, and include the recommendations in the strategy development process. Table of contents

Unit 1: What is CrowdOutAIDS? ........................................................................2 Unit 2: Mobilizing Your Crowd ...........................................................................3 Unit 3: Preparing to Learn From Your Open Forum.........................................5 Unit 4: This Is What Our Crowd Had To Say...................................................16

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Unit 1: What is CrowdOutAIDS?

CrowdOutAIDS, started by the UNAIDS Secretariat, enables young people to develop an actionable strategy on HIV and young people for the UNAIDS Secretariat using online technologies, and voluntary offline meet-ups around the world. CrowdOutAIDS will: o Connect young people who want to help out through tools like Facebook, blogs, Orkut and Google docs. o Engage in conversations about the key issues young people face. o Put decision-making in the hands of young people. o Collectively agree on actionsand get young people to draft the strategy!

Through CrowdOutAIDS, UNAIDS hopes to establish a network of youth organizations and young peoplestudents, artists, activists, public health professionalsto come together to write a new narrative on HIV and young people. CrowdOutAIDS has one ultimate goal: that young people across the world ensure the ambitious commitments made by UN Member States in the 2011 UN Political Declaration on HIV/AIDSsuch as halving new HIV infections and ensuring 15 million people have access to treatment by 2015are met.

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Unit 2: Mobilizing Your Crowd

Since your group can be from 2 to 200 people how you want to invite people to your discussion forum depends on space and people willing to moderate. In this section we offer some tips on advertising and discussion preparation.

Tips for Advertising

Getting the word out Dont make it complicated start with your personal networkfriends, family, colleagues etc. Word of mouth, letters, phone calls, text messages, list-serve emails, posters, writing with chalk on cement, campus calendars, press releases for TV, daily and weekly newspapers, send a notice to stakeholder organizations and individuals. Be creative; use whatever you can think of!!!

Creating Space
Obviously, much depends on the resources you have available but there are a few simple things you can do to make the people you invite more comfortable, and thereby make the most of your discussion. Choose the Space. If you have the luxury of choosing your space you might look for someplace thats comfortable and informal. Usually, that means comfortable furniture that can be moved around (for instance, the group can form a circle so everyone can see and hear). You may also choose a space away from the ordinary (caf, park, museum) or very ordinary your house or school/workplace room. The way to the heart is through the Stomach. NOTHING breaks down barriers among people like eating and drinking. You do not need a five course meal but something simple to nibble on. If you choose to have your meeting at a caf or restaurant you may ask if they want to offer anything while you or the people you invite buy other items. Something as simple as a glass of water can go a long way. Bring materials to help the discussion along. Most discussions are aided by the use of newsprint and markers to record ideas, for example.

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Discussion Forum Preparation Checklist

Before the Event Find a suitable place to hold the discussion . Determine who will be moderator and note taker for discussion. Print out advertising posters, fliers or handouts. Get the word out (see above). Prepare or Print Sign-in sheet. Prepare comment sheets and note-taking paper. Think of a creative way to capture the moment photos, video or audio of the group (must have everyone who is recorded permission and give option not to take part). On the day of the event Remind people of the discussion. Post direction signs. Set up seating and table arrangements. Depending on your resources or if you are part of an organization--Set up information tables, displays, hand-outs and other informational materials. Gather recording materialspens and paper. Print out Discussion Guide and Reporting Template. During the Event Greet people at door, if possible. Register participants, if appropriate. Provide sign-up for contact list Start on time or explain delays. Check if everyone can hear and see. Do introductions of moderator - and participants. Do introductions outlined in the discussion guide. Carefully monitor timingbalancing amount of discussion with amount of questions and the time agreed for the meeting. Ensure that everyone who wants to speak does so, and that no one person dominates. Record key comments and input on flip charts, overheads and/or in reporters' notes. Identify next steps, including how you will report back to participants. Make sure participants have signed up and filled in contact sheet. Make sure participants have contact information for follow-up.

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Unit 3: Preparing to Learn From Your Open Forum

In this unit we outline some steps you can take to maximize your ability to learn from the participants in your forum. The focus is on the role of the discussion moderator who is responsible for supporting and maintaining the groups discussion. A key to facilitating these focused discussions is knowing the guide. Here are some tips to becoming a super-hero moderator

Knowing the Guide

When we talk about knowing the guide, and becoming familiar with the purpose and content of the discussion it is not with the intention to make you the expert, but rather to allow you to ask good questions that will help the group generate ideas. As you prepare for your discussion, read through the questions and think of ways to adapt and word the questions to make them more tailored to your audience. During the discussion you may have some blank stares or people saying, what?! I dont get what you are asking. If your attempts of explaining the question fail or if it is simply something your group cannot answer make sure the note-taker writes down why the question was skipped. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments for the questions please email ngl@unaids.org. The following section contains explanations for the moderator about the questions that are in blue. In italics are sample texts of what you say to the group during the discussion. The actual questions are in a normal font. The bulleted points are probes that may come out naturally as people are talking or that you can use as follow up questions to further understanding of the groups responses. Do not read these with the question. You do not have to use EVERY probe.

CrowdOutAIDS Offline Discussion Guide

[Try to start on time. Briefly introduce yourself and go over the ground rules. This also gives time for the late people to catch up.

If the note-taker is a group member, the group and/or leader should come up with a strategy that allows her to participate fully in the discussion. This could be for example that the moderator takes note when the note-taker is speaking]

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Introduction Welcome to the CrowdOutAIDS open forum! Before we get going, Im going to run you through some ground rules for this succession here are a few things that can help our discussion run smoothly: Be respectful: no name-calling or abusive language no emotional outbursts, no accusations. There is no right or wrong answers. We expect, hope for and enjoy differing points of view. Please feel free to share your point of view even if it differs from what others have said. Be honest. We are just as interested in negative comments as positive comments. No arguments directed at people only at ideas and opinions. Disagreement should be respectful no ridicule. Dont interrupt. Listen to the whole of others thoughts actually listen, rather than just running over your own response in your head. Respect the groups time. Try to keep your comments reasonably short and to the point, so that others have a chance to respond. Feel free to follow up on other peoples comments you can agree, disagree, give an example, etc. Regardless of age, experience, education or position, remember that in this forum you are all experts and all of you have important perceptions that need to be expressed Everyone is responsible for following and upholding the ground rules.

Our discussion today will take about 2 hours. I am here to ask questions, listen, clarify and summarize the discussion. If you forget one of these rules I may remind you. If you are dominating the conversation I may ask you to give other people a chance. Our note-taker for the discussion today is_____ who will take notes, record important points, questions for further discussion, areas of agreement or disagreement, etc. May I have your permission to write notes on our discussion? To give you a short background, CrowdOutAIDS is a project developed by the United Nations AIDS programme, the UNAIDS Secretariat. UNAIDS mandate is to coordinate, lead, inform and advocate in the AIDS response. CrowdOutAIDS is a collaborative project where young people around the world are invited to give their perspective on how they think a UN organization like UNAIDS can work more effectively with young people. This is happening both online and through offline Open Forums like the one we have here today.

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In our discussion today, we will talk about a few different themes that have been predefined by UNAIDS with feedback from representatives of youth networks. My responsibility as the volunteer will be to facilitate the discussion and report back to the CrowdOutAIDS team. The team will then publish the report of our Forum on their website, and include the recommendations in the strategy development process. They have also asked us to think of a creative way to capture the moment photos, video or audio of our group. Do I have your permission to ___________. * [Fill in blank with whatever means you have decided (photo/video/audio recording). You should also give an option not to take part]*. If you have not already, be sure to sign the contact sheet, has anyone not signed up? Ok, lets get going!

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Theme 1: Youth engagement and leadership *[The first section is purposely very general. We are trying to warm people up. Remember to pause, even if slightly awkward, to allow your group to respond to the question before you start asking the bulleted probes. In pacing yourself try to spend approximately 15 minutes.]* Theme Introduction The first topic for discussion is focused around what youth engagement and youth leadership is, and some of the challenges and opportunities that young people have in our community to get involved. 1.1 What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear organizations, government bodies and the UN talking about youth leadership and engagement? If only negative perspectives
Can you think of anything that has worked well?

If only positive perspectives

Can you think of something that has not worked so well?

1.2 In your country can you think of current examples where youth perspectives have been well-represented? If No
What reasons can you think of to explain this?

If Yes
For example in community organizations, government, health care organizations, and/or UN agencies? What role did young people play? What was particularly good about the way youth perspectives were represented?

1.3 What are some of the common mistakes that are made when organizations or governments work with young people?
o o Can you share some specific examples? Any issues between youth and non-youth when working together?

1.4 What challenges do you see in our community for young people to be leaders of social change?
o o o o Is there a challenge in lack of experience among young people? Do you have access to and information about where decisions are made in your community? Are there any social norms that act as barriers (gender, religion, etc.) Other

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1.5 Alright imagine for a moment that Ban ki-moon (UN Secretary-General) walks into this room and he tells you that he has a big meeting in five minutes and needs you to come up with some key principles that should be respected when the UN/Governments/non-governmental organization work with young people. What do we tell him? *[if you have the resources you may give each person a piece of paper and pen. Give a minute or two and let them respond writing on their own first and then share what they came up with.]* Theme 2: Young people and HIV *[In this section people should be a bit more warmed up. While the previous sections content was more general, here you are shifting to getting people to think and talk about their local reality within the context of HIV. This section is an opportunity to share context specific data and space to talk and reflect. Knowledge is power. Please take the time to make sure the regional and country specific data are included. Approximate 15-20 min]* Theme Introduction We are going to shift now for a moment from talking about leadership to talking more specifically about young people and HIV. Once again I would like to remind you that there are no right or wrong answers we want you to just tell it like it is. 2.1 If you could change ONE thing in the way your community deals with sex and relationships what would it be?
o IF responses are only about individual behavior ask what about at the community level

*[If the group is under 12 people and someone has not yet spoken this is a good question to make eye contact or go around the circle/room asking for individual responses.]* 2.2 Current statistics in our country/region indicate that __________young people are living with HIV*[Moderator please place Country-specific data. It can be found here: http://www.unaids.org/en/dataanalysis/tools/aidsinfo/ put the most relevant statistics that demonstrate the problem of young people getting infected with HIV -- if data in not available for your country, use 3000 young people are infected with HIV every day around the world]*. Ask participants, "Why is it like this?" Write down the answers given, and ask, "But why does (the answer) occur?" For example,: "More than____ number of new infections are estimated for young people this year in ____ ," But why?

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One of the responses may be "Because they dont use condoms." But why? "Because they are in a relationship where they think they do not need to protect themselves." But why? And so on.

2.3 Comprehensive knowledge of HIV prevention is still extremely low in many counties, (only 24% of young women and 36% of young men have accurate knowledge in low- and middle income countries) what do you think is needed to raise knowledge about HIV in your country? 2.4 There are 5 million young people living with HIV worldwide. Is it important for young people living with HIV to be open about their status? What are some of the risks with being open about living with HIV in your community today? *[Take a 10 minute break if you feel that it is needed.]* Theme 3: Young people organized for HIV [*In this section you are tying together the two topics of leadership and HIV. We want to gain an understanding of youth involvement in the AIDS response. By AIDS response we are referring to any activityprevention, treatment, care, support, advocacy etc. that has to do with HIV and AIDS. Approx 15-20min]* Theme Introduction Now we are moving into talking specifically about how young people are organized in our communities, to identify some of the opportunities and challenges in mobilizing young people in the AIDS response. 3.1 Are young people currently active in the AIDS response in your community? If Yes
What motivates young people to get involved?

In No
What do you think is stopping young people from getting involved in the AIDS response in your community? o Is it difficult to talk about HIV, sex and drug use in your community? o Is there lack of information? If yes, why? o Is there lack of interest on part of young people? o Is there a lack of funding? o Difficulty accessing established structures and leaders? o Legal systems? Stigma and discrimination?

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3. Within the community of________ [depending on your audience fill in blank with the most appropriate population: sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, young people living with HIV, other], what are the specific issues preventing them from getting involved?
o What are some of the unique contributions that leadership from this population could give to the AIDS response?

Theme 4: Recommendations young people and UNAIDS [*In this section you are gathering recommendations and feedback on the ways in which UNAIDS can involve and serve the needs of young people better. Approx 15-20min]* As I mentioned in the introduction UNAIDS mandate is to advocate, coordinate, lead and inform the AIDS response at global, regional and country level. In this last section of the discussion CrowdOutAIDS wants our on the ground perspective to inform their long term strategy for working with young people. Rather than building a strategy and asking for feedback at the end, the CrowdOutAIDS project is attempting to involve youth in a process of co-creating the path ahead for UNAIDS work with youth. This is HUGE and exciting! UNAIDS reports on the global AIDS epidemic and response, and has information about the legal environment, prevention, research, best practices on HIV programmes, monitoring and evaluation tools etc. 4.1 How can UNAIDS make young people aware that this information is available?
o What type of information would be helpful for you to be able to move the AIDS response forward in your community? Who is at risk, who has access to services, epidemic data etc. Laws Funding Opportunities (internships, trainings, etc.) Services Other In what format do young people want the information? Email? Online platform? Letters? Flyers? Podcasts? SMS? Come in person and speak at your school? Others?

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4.2 Some of the ideas UNAIDS has put on the table for working better with young people include a youth advisory board, a mentorship programme for young people working outside UNAIDS, or institutionalizing small research grants for young people on young people and HIV.
o o o o What do you think of these suggestions? What would be the benefits of a mentorship programme what would it look like? What mandate should a youth advisory board have? What other mechanisms do you think could be a good way to include young people?

4.3 How can UNAIDS support and strengthen youth leadership in your country? Below are some ideas, but feel free to add your own!
o o o o Mentorship? If so, what is the kind of mentorship you need, and how do you envision a mentorship program or strategy could work in your country? In-person trainings? On what topics? Online trainings? On what topics? Networking opportunities?

4.4 Based on the above, who do you think UNAIDS should partner with to achieve these things?

Closing the discussion 5.1 Of all the things we have discussed today, which one is most important to you? 5.2 Before we wrap up, is there anything that we have not discussed today that you would like to add? Thanks you for being part of the CrowdOutAIDS open forum. Remember to sign your name and email address so UNAIDS can follow up with you on the outcome of CrowdOutAIDS. If you want information sent to you via mail, or postal address down on the pager. On behalf of UNAIDS, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to contribute to making UNAIDS a better organization more aligned to the needs of young people in the AIDS response.

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A Good moderator does and is:

*reproduced and adapted from the Community Toolbox http://ctb.ku.edu/ see reference section for all sources

Supports and maintains discussion. Makes sure that everyone participates and that no one dominates. Encourages the development and expression of all ideas, including odd ones, and safeguards an open process, where there are no foregone conclusions and everyones ideas are respected. Puts people at ease. Especially if most people in the group dont know one another, its your job as leader to establish a comfortable atmosphere and set the tone for the discussion. Respectful, empathetic, and positive Requires the ability to listen and the self-discipline to control your personal views Friendly manner and a sense of humorbut dont over do the attempts at humor they can easily be misinterpreted, and be counterproductive. Demonstrate that you are respectful, empathetic and positive by your tone and how you respond to people. Establishes ground rules. The ground rules of a group discussion are the guidelines that help to keep the discussion on track, and prevent it from deteriorating into name calling or simply argument. See discussion guide for sample text for establishing some ground rules for the discussion. Involving all participants. To involve those who are less assertive or shy, or who simply cant speak up quickly enough, you might ask directly for their opinion, encourage them with body language (smile when they say anything, lean and look toward them often), and be aware of when they want to speak and cant break in. Its important both for process and for the exchange of ideas that everyone has plenty of opportunity to communicate their thoughts. Asking questions or offering ideas to advance the discussion. The leader should be aware of the progress of the discussion, and should be able to ask questions or provide information or arguments that stimulate thinking or take the discussion to the next step when necessary. If participants are having trouble grappling with the topic, getting sidetracked by trivial issues, or simply running out of steam, its the leaders job to carry the discussion forward. The Power of the Pause and the Probe Give time to let people discuss. If you talk too much or move too quickly from one topic to another you may hinder the discussion more than help it.

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Standard helpful probes: o Would you explain further? o Would you give me an example of what you mean? o Would you say more? o Tell us more. o Say more. o Is there anything else? o Please describe what you mean. o I dont understand. After awhile you may sense that people are just repeating and reaffirming the same concept. After several of these echoes on the same idea try asking, Does anyone see it differently? or Has anyone had a different experience? or Are there other points of view? or We seem to be assuming that were supposed to believe X is that true?. Sometimes the group will gang up against one minority voice, try to understand what is going on We all seem to be picking on John here whats going on?

Part of your job here is to protect minority rights, i.e., unpopular or unusual ideas. That doesnt mean you have to agree with them, but that you have to make sure that they can be expressed, and that discussion of them is respectful, even in disagreement. (The exceptions are opinions or ideas that are discriminatory or downright false.) Odd ideas often turn out to be correct, and shouldnt be stifled.

Summarizing or clarifying important points, arguments, or ideas. This task entails making sure that everyone understands a point that was just made, or the two sides of an argument. It can include restating a conclusion the group has reached, or clarifying a particular idea or point made by an individual (What I think I heard you say was). The point is to make sure that everyone understands what the individual or group actually meant. Wrapping up the session. As the session ends, the leader should help the group review the discussion and get feedback on the session including suggestions for making it better pointing out the groups accomplishments, and thanking it for its work.

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CrowdOutAIDS Open Forum How to Guide v 1.0 Dos and donts for discussion leaders
Do: o Model the behavior and attitudes you want group members to employ. o Use encouraging body language and tone of voice, as well as words. o Give positive feedback for joining the discussion. o Be aware of peoples reactions and feelings, and try to respond appropriately. o Ask open-ended questions. o Control your own biases. While you should point out factual errors or ideas that are inaccurate and disrespect o Encourage disagreement, and help the group use it creatively. Dont: o Dont let one or a small group of individuals dominate the discussion. o Dont let one point of view override others o Dont assume that anyone holds particular opinions or positions because of his culture, background, gender, ethnicity, personal style, etc. o Dont assume that someone from a particular culture, gender, ethnicity, or background speaks for everyone else from that situation. o Dont be the font of all wisdom that is, dont present your self as the intellectual authority. Be humble.

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Unit 4: This Is What Our Crowd Had To Say

In this unit we provide some tips on how to take effective notes and some options on how to report back to CrowdOutAIDS. By the end of the unit, participants will: Understand how to report back to CrowdOutAIDS so that their discussion results help shape the new strategy on youth involvement with UNAIDS. Have some tips on how to effectively capture what their crowd had to say.

How to Report Back

There are three main ways that you can report back to us. The first way is the reporting template that all CrowdOutAIDS volunteers will use to report back. Optional creative ways to report back includes producing audiovisual materials and writing a personal blog. 1. Reporting template The reporting template, available in this info-pack, is the minimum requirement for reporting back to the CrowdOutAIDS team. It is important to report back in a timely manner to ensure that you dont forget anything important that was raised in the forum, but also so the discussions you had in the Open Forum makes it into the strategy. The reporting template might seem comprehensive, but dont worry its not all that bad! The reporting template is made up of all the questions in the CrowdOutAIDS discussion guide. Under each question there is a space for adding notes from your note-taker. The size of the space is completely arbitrary, and can be made smaller or larger depending on how extensive your discussion was. When you are writing your report, think about the key themes and key burning points that you took notes of from the Open Forum. Write the key points as bullet points in relation to the question asked, for each questions asked in the Open Forum. If a question was missed, or there was no answer please not down: this question was not asked this question was asked but participants did o not understand o did not think it was relevant o understood the question, but did not have any thoughts about it.

If a participant says something that you think is really powerful, try to capture it word by word in citation marks and insert the quote in the reporting template.

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Example: 3.1 Are young people currently active in the AIDS response in your community?
o Participants said that most young people are not involved in the AIDS response because here is Scotland people dont see AIDS as an issue. They think it is something that happens only in developing countries, when its everywhere. Participants said that young people also are not involved because there are no incentives to participate. As young people we have other things to care about, like education and jobs, specially now with the financial crisis. One participants said well, if theres noting in it for me why should I Id much rather just have fun While most participants agreed with the above, one girl said that people arent involved but would like to if they really felt that they could contribute and make a differences. But she felt it was not clear where there were opportunities for that in Scotland.

2. Audiovisual documentation If participants agree, and you are interested and have the available resources, you are more than welcome to document your CrowdOutAIDS open forum. This can be done via: o Audio recoding o Photography o Video It is important that all people who appear in the Photo/video/audio have provided you with consent to be captured and that they understand that the photo will be published online. If you provide UNAIDS with photo, video and audio from the CrowdOutAIDS Open Forum, UNAIDS reserves the right to use the material within the CrowdOutAIDS project, and may use the photos for both online and print publications related to youth engagement in the AIDS response. The photos will always be credited to you. For any of the following media you submit to UNAIDS please provide: 1) Names of people appearing in the photo/audio/video 2) date and 3) location and 4) the name of the photographer. If you have files that you want to send to the CrowdOutAIDS team but are too large, send us an email at ngl@unaids.org and we will provide you with details to our FTP server.

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3. Write a personal blog To get a more personal story of what it was like to host a CrowdOutAIDS Open Forum Volunteer, you can also write a short blog post about your experience. This should be written from your personal perspective. Some questions that could help you get started include: How did you find out about CrowdOutAIDS? What made you decide to host an Open Forum? What did you learn from the Open Forum? Did the participants provide any feedback about the Open Forum, if yes what did they think? o What do you think about the CrowdOutAIDS process? o o o o For some further guidance, please find the CrowdOutAIDS editorial policy: o o o o o o o Contributors should write based on their personal experience All articles must be provocative, insightful and solution-focused All articles must be accurate Where statistics is used, or authorities are quoted, writers must attribute the sources Articles must be written in Standard English. If written in Spanish, French, Russian or Chinese, correct translation must be provided in English All writers must submit only original articles. Submission must cover the thematic areas of youth leadership and engagement, HIV and young people, ICT for development, Crowd sourcing, CrowdOutAIDS Forum participation. All articles must be between 500- 750 word limit

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