ERC: Overcoming Stigma Through Community Empowerment to Access Resources in Kyrgyzstan

“Acting in solidarity and supporting each other in diverse capacities is key for the ISP community in their advocacy to ensure funding for health and human rights. As a Consortium of regional ISP community networks our role in this process is to encourage, empower and arm communities with skills and knowledge in their fight for rights.”

 

The Eurasian Regional Consortium is a consortium that convenes multiple ISPs in the geographic region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. With leadership of the consortium rotating between three community-based networks – the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA), the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health (ECOM), and the East Europe and Central Asia Union of People Living with HIV (ECUO) – this alliance of actors is able to identify common issues facing people living with HIV (PLHIV), people who use drugs (PWUD), gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM)  and transgender (trans) people, and advocate for improved resources in a concerted manner. This assures that the HIV response and the populations it affects stays on the political and economic agenda, without pitting populations against each other in the search for adequate resources.

With their uniquely harmonized approach, this consortium has been a leader across RCF’s portfolio in working on resource mobilisation and accountability. At the regional level, they have built budget monitoring and advocacy tools, and developed training curricula to support community-level engagements with these tools. The consortium’s work, however, is not limited to theoretical approaches. Through sub-grants to national partners, the consortium reaches down to grassroots, supporting resource mobilisation and accountability to be realized at the community level.

A prime example of this is the work done through consortium sub-grants in Kyrgyzstan, where social security – including access to housing, nutrition and other basic needs – is equally crucial for the quality of life of people affected by HIV as is access to high quality HIV treatment and prevention services. There, as in many other countries with concentrated HIV epidemics, PLHIV are more likely to live in poverty and lack basic resources. Unstable or inadequate housing, poor nutrition or fragmented social connections have a detrimental impact on individual’s ability to access and adhere to HIV treatment. And yet while PLHIV are prioritized as a vulnerable group for some social benefits, guaranteed by the local or municipal governments, many patients face barriers in actually accessing these benefits due to stigma, discrimination, or lack of information on where and how to access these services.

 

Quick Facts About HIV in EECA

• EECA is one of the few regions of the world where HIV incidence is still increasing. There are over 180,000 new HIV infections annually in the region.
• Approximately two-thirds of PLHIV know their status, and the vast majority of them are ISPs. Less than a third of PLHIV have access to treatment.
• The region is rapidly losing external funding, with many countries having graduated from Global Fund eligibility on the basis of income status.  Domestic investment in the HIV response is not keeping pace.

 

Through sub-grants, the Eurasian Regional Consortium prioritized engaging their community members in Kyrgyzstan in direct advocacy at the local level, on issues that directly affect them. Trainings on community monitoring gave community members the skills to observe allocation of basic services and benefits, and take direct action to rectify gaps and injustices. For example, in the small town of Kara-Balta, access to heating in winter is a matter of basic survival, particularly for families or individuals who might be disowned by their families due to stigma attached to HIV, drug use or being MSM or trans. Following participation in trainings, community members were able to successfully advocate – by documenting discrimination, submitting complaints, and direct case management – for access to subsidized coal for heating for the six most disadvantaged families and PLHIV, reducing their level of stress and increasing their chances to adhere to their HIV or TB treatment.

 

 

While this is an example of a hyper-local change, it is a significant example of the impact of empowering community members to take collective action to overcome barriers created by stigma, and to access resources that are already meant to be available to the community.

By utilizing training and support materials developed at the regional level, and empowering community-level actors through sub-grants, the Eurasian Regional Consortium is able to provide both technical support and financial resources to communities to focus on issues of direct concern to them. By supporting communities to set short-term, achievable goals, the funds that RCF invests through the consortium have not only had real impact on the health, social inclusion and wellbeing of ISPs, but have served to mobilise and empower new activists at the community level, while building their capacity to engage in advocacy at a higher level.