Table 2.
Advocacy tactics used in project ACT
| Primary Tactics Used in Project ACT | Example |
|---|---|
| Awareness building employed instructional videos, written educational materials, conferences, and other communication platforms to highlight to the general public, health care workers, the community, and others of the human and constitutional rights of gay, bisexual, other men who have sex with men and transgender women to access HIV care and to teach members of those communities how to access their rights | Côte d’Ivoire convinced and trained radio journalists to air programs addressing the basic human rights of members of the LGBTQI community and to report on HIV, gay and bisexual men, and transgender women in an accurate and non-stigmatizing manner |
| Community mobilization organized members of the gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and transgender women’s communities to take leadership in demanding affirming services, providing information to peers, and engaging in advocacy on behalf of themselves and others | Zimbabwe trained and deployed 10 young gay and bisexual men to mobilize community demand for health care services |
| Documentation involved systematic collection and reporting of data on violations of human rights, stigmatization, and discrimination in the provision of care through the use of mystery patients. Documentation often included the development of a system of redress | Cameroon trained 28 people from the LGBTQI community to act as mystery patients and record incidents of stigma and discrimination at major health facilities with high HIV patient loads |
| Policy analysis and engagement included analysis of existing laws and policies and pending laws and policies from a human rights framework, with specific attention to how these might affect the well-being and access to care of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and transgender women, and authoring briefs or otherwise engaging with policy makers on matters of policy reform | Jamaica developed and filed policy briefs on social issues affecting access to care (e.g., employment, housing) and issued a government call to action to collect data on transgender citizens |
| Self-stigma reduction used small-group workshops and discussion forum to help gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and transgender women build a sense of community, heal from rejection and stigma, and promote a sense of empowerment and self-love | Ghana offered self-empowerment workshops for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and trained them in how to recognize and report human rights abuses |
| Sensitization used small-group workshops and other training formats to assist targeted audiences such as health care workers become more knowledgeable on matters of sexual orientation and gender identification, affirming language and ways of interacting, and population-specific needs and experiences pertinent to health care access and sustained health care engagement | Dominican Republic trained providers in seven health care facilities on affirming care |