Abstract
This paper examines the recently formed Movement for Change and Social Justice (MCSJ) in the township of Gugulethu, in Cape Town, South Africa. MCSJ is a health and social justice movement that has an unusual trajectory—guided by the political principles and strategies of South Africa AIDS activism, inspired but also frustrated by the contemporary progressive public health activism, and catalysed by a university research partnership at the University of Cape Town (UCT) that focused on innovative ways of using health information to spur community and health system action to respond to issues of men, masculinity and HIV.This paper synthesises findings from participant observation, qualitative process evaluations of MCSJ’s work, and reflections from the UCT-based research team to develop a number of lessons about the challenges and opportunities in efforts to foster a healthy public for men and HIV. MCSJ’s approach builds on current modes and models of public health thinking while also pushing for more responsive, more inclusive, more sustained, and more locally rooted forms of practice. The paper identifies a range of enabling conditions for MCSJ’s work, describes the often delicate balancing act MCSJ has to manage in its work, and outlines some of the key strategies of this community–university partnerships that guided efforts to develop a healthy public for men and HIV. Lessons learned from this case study will be helpful for other efforts to promote and sustain engaged and impactful university–community collaborations to support the emergence of healthy publics.
Highlights
This paper examines the recently formed Movement for Change and Social Justice (MCSJ) in the township of Gugulethu, in Cape Town, South Africa
This paper examines a local-level effort in Cape Town, South Africa to foster the growth of a healthy public in relation to men and HIV
It has been approached to provide services for larger non-governmental organisation (NGO) that need to deliver programs or otherwise mobilise community members in the area. This interest in MCSJ and its potential local impact are driven by a range of perceptions, including the idea that Gugulethu has always been bypassed by the more prominent HIV activist efforts that are rooted in other Cape Town townships like the much larger Khayelitsha, that the global decline in HIV funding has left many communities short of critical resources and expertise, and a sense that political factions within the community, city and country are leading to destructive political in-fighting that prevents important advocacy and service delivery work from getting done
Summary
How MCSJ started, who started it, and how MCSJ is related to iALARM has been the subject of some (friendly) debate among those involved. It has been approached to provide services for larger NGOs that need to deliver programs or otherwise mobilise community members in the area (e.g. a recent request to deliver a community-based HIV testing campaign) This interest in MCSJ and its potential local impact are driven by a range of perceptions, including the idea that Gugulethu has always been bypassed by the more prominent HIV activist efforts that are rooted in other Cape Town townships like the much larger Khayelitsha, that the global decline in HIV funding has left many communities short of critical resources and expertise, and a sense that political factions within the community, city and country are leading to destructive political in-fighting that prevents important advocacy and service delivery work from getting done. The lessons below are organised into three categories: enabling conditions, balancing acts, and overall strategies
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