Paper long abstract:

The importance of building 'multi-stakeholder partnerships' is an article of faith in HIV/AIDS management policy in Africa. At the level of policy, 'partnerships' between representatives of grassroots community residents, civil society, the private and the public sectors are regarded as a vital strategy for ensuring effective and sustainable community health programmes. However the challenges of building and sustaining such partnerships are immense. We present a longitudinal study (covering the period from 2004-the present) of an intervention that seeks to build partnerships to support a community-led AIDS-care program in a rural community in South Africa. The aim of this case study is to highlight factors which facilitate or hinder the progress of this challenge, in the interest of (i) sharing lessons for future programmes that seek to support effective community action in rural communities with high levels of HIV/AIDS; and (ii) expanding understandings of the possibilities and limitations of the partnership strategies in community strengthening efforts.