From 14 till 17 of October, 2013 All-Ukrainian Public Organizatopn "Gay Allaince Ukraine" conducted educational camp for volunteers and specialists of organizations working in the sphere of HIV prevention among vulnerable groups. The trainings were conducted under the project "Strengthening the capacity of vulnerable to HIV communities: MSM, IDU, CSW in 9 regions of Ukraine" with the support of the All-Ukrainian Network of PLWH.
The main idea for this camp was to establish effective communication and cooperation between representatives of the different communities and to develop their leadership capacities. The format of the camp involved combination of the training components and active outdoor recreation. The venue of the camp, Kapitanivka village in a forest area not far from Kyiv city, especially contributed to the last one!
During four days camp participants had an opportunity to share experiences, gain new knowledge and skills in a professional sphere. Part of the training sessions was devoted to the problem emotional burnout and its prevention, as well as to the issues related to personal development. Planning of the further mobilization and advocacy steps to take in the nearest future was an equally important part of the common work. The programme included presentations and training sessions from the community leaders Dmitry Sherembey, Elena Tsukerman and Velta Parkhomenko.
Despite the fact that all the participants represented totally different communities (men who have sex with men, sex workers, injecting drug users, ex-prisoners, clients of substitution maintenance therapy and street children), they still managed to create an atmosphere of a team work in the camp.
There is a myth that some communities are not compatible, therefore the format of the event could be called experimental. And if it was an experiment, then it ended up more than successfully. Participants managed to find a common language and worked productively. The organizers of the event hope that established contact will not be lost and will bring good results, share a common goal and – in many ways – common problems.
Training of hard-working activists for regional representative offices is one of the most important aspects to overcome HIV/AIDS epidemic, and therefore remains one of the priority work directions for our organization.
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Автор: Gay Allaince Ukraine
