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Project name: Policy Project HIV and AIDS Toolkit
Client: Policy Project
Project duration: August 2003 – June 2006
Service: Project management, consulting management
 “Join hands with us on a journey to the other side of the mountain! Let’s walk in the name of all our dear ones that are no longer with us physically. Let’s travel together knowing that those we have lost are very much with us in spirit as people see our faces and hear our voices. The storm is not yet over. There is much work to be done.” (Introduction to the HIV and AIDS Toolkit, To the other side of the mountain)
In September 2003, DEVELOPMENT WORKS was contracted by the Policy Project to coordinate and manage the design and production of the HIV and AIDS Toolkit, To the Other Side of the Mountain. This five-part toolkit consisting of six books explores topics aimed at people living with HIV and AIDS.
An initiative of the National Department of Health, this project was conducted in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded POLICY Project and the United Nations Development Programme for the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV and AIDS (GIPA).
 The development of the Toolkit came out of a need to inform, educate and empower South Africans living with HIV and AIDS. Lindy Briginshaw served as the consultant, overseeing the production of the Toolkit. This process involved:
• Project management,
• Contracting and managing consultants, organisations, and the publication process
• Providing technical support with design, layout, illustrations, photography and Printing of the Toolkit.
“Lindy’s project management skills are outstanding and allowed the many processes attached to this complex project to unfold in a timely, focused manner. POLICY and the National Department of Health are extremely proud of the end product and are especially looking forward to disseminating it in the latter part of 2006.” (Caroline Wills, former Director, Policy Project)
 A group of 20 South Africans living with HIV and AIDS participated in workshops to structure and test the aims, messages and activities of each of the tools. The focus of the Toolkit is on the importance of empowering people living with HIV and AIDS in HIV-and AIDS-related work. Identifying key issues affecting people living with HIV and AIDS in South Africa, project partners focused on five topics around which the books are based. The five books making up the Toolkit include:
Tool one: Disclosure: dealing with issues of silence, denial, stigma, discrimination
Tool two: Rights: dealing with the right to equality and non-discrimination
 Tool three: Communication: communicating positively to loved ones and the public
Tool four: Facilitation: looking at facilitation as an interactive participatory method
Tool five: Advocacy: highlighting important steps to effect change through advocacy
These focal areas aim to effect change, develop skills of individuals, build a generation of leaders and facilitate HIV/AIDS training and advocacy work. The design and illustration of the Toolkit reflects the work, passion, tireless effort, emotion and journey To the Other Side of the Mountain. An online version of the Toolkit is available at http://www.policyproject.com/abstract.cfm/2924
“The project required a facilitator who could sensitively transform the content of our draft toolkit into a publication that was creatively designed, that incorporated significant stakeholder input, and that would be ready for national distribution. Lindy Briginshaw provided us with excellent facilitation support on this project: both in terms of her technical expertise in being able to manage such a process – in an extremely meticulous and efficient manner – and in the inclusive and participatory style of facilitation that Lindy offered the team.” (Nikki Schaay, former Director, Policy Project) 
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