School Without Walls (SWW)

The project provides formal training schemes and learning opportunities with ongoing support to ensure the incorporation of new skills. The SWW approach is based on learning by seeing and doing in real settings. Training tends to emphasise ‘how to do', more than ‘what to do'. SWW utilises and builds local technical support capabilities, and forges local relationships.

Skills are transferred from organisation to organisation. By emphasising networking, co-operation and facilitation, SWW works to ensure that it is responsive to partner needs and the changing AIDS environment. The SAT partners contribute expertise, time, physical and human resources, and links to downstream organisations and institutions.

Aspects and activities of SWW include:

Skills training workshops: The workshops last between two and five days and are facilitated and hosted by SAT partners or SAT itself. SAT partners and SWW partners attend them. The workshops include personal coaching, group exercises, and field visits. The skills offered range from practical, site-based teaching sessions at the national level to more technical training at the regional level. The sessions are designed to provide a way for new organisations and for new staff/volunteers to rapidly acquire knowledge and skills. They also create a forum for new and more experienced partners to exchange programme experiences and to find solutions to problems mutually encountered. Workshop topics include both technical HIV/AIDS programming issues and organisational development issues.

Organisation to organisation mentoring: Experienced SAT partners mentor new groups over a period lasting weeks, months, or even years. Staff of the mentoring organisation help the recipient organisation to design programmes, supervise and monitor activities, and solve technical or administrative problems, according to their needs. Mentoring relationships include a provision for apprenticeships. Staff or volunteers from one SAT partner spend a period of one to four weeks with another SAT partner. Mentoring is provided by organisations that:

• implement HIV and AIDS activities of proven effectiveness
• demonstrate commitment to serving vulnerable groups in their communities
• have training capability and the desire to share their knowledge and experience
• work methodically and systematically and have a strong emphasis on accountability
• have the initiative and ability to sustain mentoring follow-up.

Structured study visits: Less experienced groups or organisations that want to introduce new activities visit more experienced organisations to observe their programmes in action. The visiting and host organisations are matched to ensure the relevance of the concepts and skills to be transferred.

Support & monitoring visits: Partners completing SWW skills workshops or other SWW activities are visited by SAT staff or the staff/volunteers of mentoring partner organisations, where they observe activities, discuss difficulties and solutions, and agree upon potential improvements.

Network meetings: The meetings are a mechanism of mutual support and learning for community-based organisations. They are non-bureaucratic, i.e., have no staff or secretariat. Participants define what is discussed, shared, and learned. "In this way, SAT networks allow new priorities and needs to be identified rapidly and translated into programming responses."

One particular type of network meeting is referred to as "cross-networking". Cross-networking is designed to widen the goals and perspectives of organisations working in areas related to the response to HIV. Cross-networking meetings bring together activists on gender equality, human rights, community development, and AIDS from different countries in Southern Africa. "This allows diverse organisations to identify common areas of activity and interest, and assists in the cross fertilisation of HIV and gender programming."

HIV/AIDS, Youth