Representations of self: “it is very good for us to work together”
The study participants proudly discussed their role in the HIV response. This was particularly noticeable amongst members from community groups that have it within their mandate to mitigate the impact of HIV. Members from the HIV/AIDS support group, for example, spoke about their role in reducing HIV transmission, and to get people tested for HIV, through encouragement and being open about their positive status. This openness is illustrated by Gertrude, one of the oldest members of the HIV/AIDS support group, who reflected on their role in creating HIV awareness.
“We talk about AIDS and our HIV status in every gathering so people are getting used to it and are starting to realise that we should learn and accept that HIV and AIDS is here amongst us.” Gertrude, age 62, member of a HIV/AIDS support group
Also members of community groups that build on an ethic of care, such as the women’s group and the church group, spoke about their role in the HIV response. They saw it as within their remit to offer care and support for orphaned and vulnerable children and people living with HIV, as exemplified by Nenezelani, a Church group member.
“During the week, we go and visit the sick in hospital; we go and visit and pray for those who will have been admitted in hospital.” Nenezelani, Church group member in a FGD (MA-CH-FGD-1)
Not all the community groups were established with a specific purpose to respond to the HIV epidemic. Nonetheless, most of the groups provided support to people affected by HIV in indirect ways. For example the farmers’ association provided members with the skills to farm as well as access to farming implements from NGOs, opening up opportunities for income generation in a community where poverty has dramatically exacerbated the impacts of AIDS. The burial society provided its members with the insurance of burial support following the bereavement of self or a close family member. However, common across all the FGDs was recognition that participation in community groups provides a safety net for people living in low resource and high HIV prevalence communities.
“I joined the group in 2011, in the group I get to discuss with my friends and we assist one another in a number of ways, and they can tell me what to do when I am faced with some problems and we think that if we work together then we can have our garden and plant vegetables like carrots and other nutritious vegetables so that we can get money.” Octavia, age 25, member of a HIV/AIDS support group
“I joined the Burial because it helps, alone you cannot manage, since we are here in rural areas we do not work, we will be managing the little money that we get to assist others so that when you face a problem they will be able to assist you so that you are able to do something, that is why I joined, realizing that alone I cannot carry the problem in a single day, the money is difficult to come by.” Susan, age 51, member of a burial society
These observations suggest that members of formal community groups represent themselves, and their groups, as key structures in the HIV response. They described how ‘coming together’ in groups can lead to activities that help non-members mitigate the impact of HIV, while simultaneously serve as an important safety net for members. In other words, community group structures provide members with a platform to enact and project their agency in dealing with life’s challenges.
While they saw themselves as capable and important actors in the HIV response, they also recognised that there is a limit to what they, as individual groups, can do on their own. The notion of ‘coming together’ also applied to a group-level, with community groups and local NGOs working together. However, the way the community groups discussed the importance of teaming up with other organisations varied. As demonstrated by Sifelumusa, members of the church group spoke about partnerships as opportunities for mutual learning and shared decision making on what actions to take.
“I think it is very good for us to work together and with other organizations and get different ideas on how they see it and also how we see it and then we bring the ideas together and see what we can do to succeed.” Sifelumusa, female age 30, member of a church group
In the FGD with members from a savings and lending group, the discussion was framed by their past experience of being supported by an NGO. They received a series of capacity building training sessions, ‘professionalising’ their rotating and savings activities. They described how this provided them with the skills and know-how needed to succeed, and empowered them to teach others about how to organise themselves ‘professionally’. This is illustrated by an account from Godfrey, who also highlights how they, as NGO trained ‘professionals’, are staging plays about a so-called ‘laziness’, something we will return to later.
When it was realised that we were “moving” but not in any progressive way, that is when we were trained by ORAP on how to do things as you can see we now have the secretaries that you mentioned earlier. The treasurers were also given training on how to handle the finances and we started to note some improvements. Nowadays we carry out some “consults” every now and then, we are inviting others from different groups and we come together as five or six groups and we make these small contributions which go to one group for the hosting of that gathering. Goods are sold, people eat and drink, and there are stage plays about laziness and prevention and awareness of the disease. Godfrey, male age 63, member of a savings and lending group
Partnering with NGOs provides community groups with credibility, as illustrated by the rotating and savings association, who, as a result of their connection with a credible organisation, can now provide services to other groups. However, there are hierarchies of external change agents, with some providing greater credibility and motivation than others. For instance, Raymond, from a farmers association, described in a FGD how activities initiated by international NGOs are considered more desirable and credible compared to locally driven intiatives.
“The strength of their [international NGOs] support services comes from the perception that locals have of any help that comes from outside the community. It is viewed in very high regard when compared with what can come from within the community. For example, if an announcement was to be made that someone from the UK was in the community to share information on HIV/AIDS, the people would be more excited about the event than if it was the same announcement but this time with Mr Mguni in place of the visitor. It sounds more credible and acceptable if it has the backing of an organisation than when it is initiated by local people” Raymond, male, age 44, member of a farmers association
This section has demonstrated how community group members in this particular context represent themselves as key actors in the HIV response. In recognising their limits, both as individuals, and individual groups, they placed great emphasis on ‘coming together’ and ‘working together’. Working with well-resourced international organisations in the HIV response was considered a key motivator and goal for many of the community groups.
Representations of other: “they [NGOs] have the final say, and we just do what they say”
NGOs were described as rigid and having very clear ideas about ‘what’ and ‘who’ to support, and as doing very little to involve, let alone consult, community groups in the decision making. This transpired in all of our interviews, and is well summarised by Albert, a member of a soccer club:
“What I have realized is that when an Organisation visits they will state clearly the kind of people they want to participate in their programme” Albert, male age 41, member of a soccer club
Not only were partner NGOs described as prescriptive in their selection of beneficiaries for a project, a number of participants spoke about how NGOs failed to target the most vulnerable members of their community, or were simply too restrictive in their focus.
“Sometimes you find a poor person who is suffering not getting help but someone who is not poor getting help from the organizations, maybe it is us the people who do not communicate well here, but it is painful indeed. You find that someone is really poor, maybe it’s an old woman failing to get anything but some who is a bit better getting something.” Constance, age 51, member of a burial society
“I think the major shortcomings that these people who come from outside have are that their support is not wholesome it is one sided they may only look at providing support for the person who is suffering from AIDS and stop short of extending that support to the people who are living with the person.” Peter, age 69, member of a farmers association.
Building on Peter’s perspective, Elias, also a member of a farmers association, noted that NGO support often consists of ‘pre-packaged solutions’, offering services that do not necessarily match the experienced needs of their intended beneficiaries. He argued for NGOs to engage with people locally to learn about their needs.
“What I have noted to be the weakness of these organisations is that they come to the area with pre-packaged aid solutions which might not be exactly what the intended beneficiaries’ need. Like you can come here and give me salt, but I have salt at home, what I want is tea leaves, you know what I mean? Their support may be great but it is specific and they mean well but maybe a little ‘research’ is needed to find out what the people need before the support is sent to them so that when the support finally reaches the people it is specific and more effective.” Elias, age 44, member of a farmers association
The lack of community engagement in designing and planning interventions was salient in all of the interview data. When communities were approached by NGOs, it was often, as articulated by Julia from a HIV/AIDS support group, merely a matter of informing community members about a programme and inviting groups, willing to adhere to their terms and conditions, to join them as partners:
“When we are working with these big Organisations and they are the ones who will be funding the whole project so they have the final say, and we just do what they say […] When they come to the community they will call us and tell us about the kind of support they have to offer and ask if we want it and if we understand what it is about. So if we say we agree them that is when they will start working with us, they do not force us, they want to know if we want to work with them and agree to their terms, then they start.” Julia, female age 56, member of HIV/AIDS support group
With only few exceptions, the study participants painted an unflattering image of NGOs as authoritarian and prescriptive, requiring a level of obedience from their local community partners. These representations provide context and background to the perceived values, ideas and practices of NGOs that community groups position themselves in relation to, as they strive to be considered attractive and ‘supportable’ to NGOs.
Communicative strategy: “they [NGOs] should not be met by lazy people”
The section above revealed a social representation that NGOs favour community structures that are active agents. Unsurprisingly, the two communicative strategies that we found community members to adopt – in positioning themselves as ‘supportable’ – pertained to portraying a sense of dutifulness to development. One way of communicating this commitment to NGOs was through the formation of community groups. Tom illustrates this by arguing that only by working together in groups will they be able to attract NGOs to their areas:
“People from Mat South are marginalised when it comes to a lot of things and it is not easy for aid to reach them, so with these kind of clubs we will be able to attract other organisations to assist us in making our area move forward and develop.” Tom, age 56, member of an informal savings society
But establishing groups, as a form of communicative action, was not enough. Another communicative strategy adopted by the community groups related to portraying agency and rejecting, what some participants referred to as ‘laziness’. This is demonstrated by both Simon, a member of a youth group, and John, a member of a savings and lending group.
“For us to work smoothly we cannot be lazy. If they sponsor us with materials to help us progress in our lives, we are supposed to be able to do something with it and not just sit on it. Sitting on the material kills the relationship, because they cannot sponsor a lazy person when they could support people who will be able to use the material to progress in life. They will not be able to support someone who is not supportable.” Simon, age 20, member of a youth group
“When organisations from outside the community come to provide us with services, they should not be met by lazy people. We are making plans in the hope that one day they will bring those services to us here at the community.” John, age 27, member of a savings and lending group
These two quotes indicate that community group members measure themselves against expectations coming from outside, which in this case is the perceived ‘laziness’ of community members. The quote by Tom underlines how community groups explicitly seek to distance themselves from this representation when NGOs are around in the hope that this will attract a partnership. Similarly, Mercy, a member of the farmers association, when reflecting upon their experiences of working with an NGO, spoke about how recognition of their compliance and agency could lead to further support in the future.
“At the end of the day we get recognition. When the officials of the organisation return to their headquarters, they might include us in some of their future programmes.” Mercy, age 28, member of a farmers’ association.
Earlier we noted that a community group that had received capacity building support from an NGO were staging plays discouraging a so-called ‘laziness’ in the community. This not only suggests that community group members may have begun to assume this sentiment themselves, but indicates that NGOs may be cementing regimes of working that firmly establish the characteristics of who is deserving of a partnership with an NGO and who is not.