To assist individual readers, group members and facilitators to select an appropriate case for analysis in a given situation, a brief synopsis of each case is provided.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND AIDS PREVENTION: The South India AIDS Action Programme, Madras. SIAAP began as a one-woman crusade to stop the illegal imprisonment of women diagnosed as HIV positive. It then rapidly attracted other members and funding to implement a programme to encourage and support other non-governmental organisations to develop HIV/AIDS interventions. The issues examined in this case include: (a) the organisational issues that may be faced by a newly-established NGO as it tries to respond to the demands for HIV/AIDS interventions; (b) strategies to maintain organisational effectiveness; (c) the implications for programme sustainability of relying on external funding; and (d) strategies for developing support from local sources.

KLONG TOEY: FACING UP TO AIDS IN A BANGKOK SLUM. The Duang Prateep Foundation and the AIDS Counselling and Training Centre. These two cases describe the work of two organisations, both working with the same slum community on the outskirts of Bangkok. Duang Prateep is an indigenous NGO; ACT is an international Christian organisation. Issues examined in these cases include: (a) the strategies by which NGOs can reach out into the communities they are serving to help them design and implement effective AIDS programmes; (b) identification of the constraints and opportunities that can be faced by NGOs working to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS and to explore how these might influence programme design; and (c) the ways in which NGOs can assess the impact of their HIV/AIDS activities and use the results to improve the effectiveness of their programmes. If the cases are used jointly, they also provide an opportunity to contrast the approaches used by the two organisations.

COMMERCIAL BLOOD DONORS AND AIDS PREVENTION: The Gujarat AIDS Prevention Unit, Ahmedabad. This case describes how a voluntary organisation, already working on public health issues in a large Indian city, responded to the problem of infected blood being sold to the city's hospitals. Its programme worked to help the blood donors themselves, the laboratories to which the donors sold their blood and the community as a whole. Issues examined in this case include: (a) identification of the environmental and organisational factors that influence the design and implementation of HIV/AIDS interventions; (b) how NGOs can gain the trust and cooperation of client communities; and (c) strategies that NGOs can use to promote the sustainability of their programmes.

FAMILY PLANNING AND AIDS PREVENTION: The Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand (PPAT). This case describes how PPAT, a well-established family planning organization, managed to integrate HIV/AIDS education into its family planning programmes at a time when there was considerable fear of AIDS and discrimination against those identified as HIV positive. The issues explored in this case include: (a) the benefits and difficulties of integrating family planning and HIV/AIDS programmes and the strategies that can minimise the problems of achieving effective integration; (b) the factors involved in designing, implementing and evaluating effective HIV/AIDS education interventions; and (c) the management strategies that facilitate an NGO'S ability to deal with change and to maintain the effectiveness of its programmes.

SHARING THE CHALLENGE OF AIDS PREVENTION: The Community AIDS Service Penang. This case describes the efforts of a group of concerned volunteers in Malaysia who joined together one year previously to form an NGO for the purpose of educating the community about AIDS. The issues examined in this case include: (a) the role of NGOs in HIV/AIDS prevention in places where cultural or religious beliefs and practices make it difficult to use strategies promoted in less conservative environments; (b) the organisational issues that may be faced by a volunteer-based NGO; and (c) the strategies that can be used to maintain organisational effectiveness.

SECTION A - THE CASES