Through the workshop, the participants actively contributed to the development and refinement of the HIV/AIDS and Advocacy Programme, enabling it to fulfill its mission of contributing to the development and strengthening of community action within broader social movements aimed at;

• Preventing further spread of HIV/AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa by

addressing the root causes

• Mitigating the economic, social and psychological impact of

HIV/AIDS on individuals and communities through the provision of effective

care and support services 

• Promoting equal access to information services and treatment by

challenging all forms of discrimination and social exclusion.

The workshop also provided a rich opportunity for the participants to exchange information and share experience, develop an understanding about perceived knowledge on HIV/AIDS, access information on ACORD funding opportunities and to collectively develop a research and advocacy agenda for ACORD.

Issues addressed by the workshop included;

• Mainstreaming- key to ACORD’s programme design: 
• The role of advocacy in moving from programme delivery to influencing change- In this session, participants were introduced to what is meant by moving towards critical change and what implication this has on HIV/AIDS work in general and HASAP in particular. Experiences on advocacy work were shared from Tanzania and Oxfam and participants spent time discussing possible advocacy agenda.

• Research -linking programme delivery and advocacy through community partnerships. This session examined the need for conducting research, its role within ACORD and the different levels at which it can be conducted (Global, Area programme, country and HASAP levels). Key research themes were identified and analysis was done of the role of community within ACORD's work.

• HIV/AIDS Support and Advocacy programme working with programmes. During this session the programme support role of the HIV/AIDS Support and Advocacy programme was presented and participants provided feedback specifically on the "technical support and capacity building role". The workshop also covered  issues such as the development of the work place policy on HIV/AIDS and the funding and development of funding documents.

At the end of the workshop participants discussed their work plans on how they would include HIV/AIDS in their work and the type of support they expect. HASAP intends to hold annual workshops to review progress of the work done.

Angela Hadjipateras, who facilitated the workshop with Susan Amoaten and Nduhura Dennis adds, " During the week, programmes discussed the role of advocacy in ACORD’s work in general and particularly as it relates to ACORD’s HIV/AIDS work. The workshop discussed new approaches to research based on seeing it as a process of community-led dialogue and discovery that both shapes interventions and determines the advocacy agenda  and role play was used to stimulate debate about the meaning of ‘community’ – who we target and how we interact."

"The week was also characterised by rich exchanges between programmes and most of the participants went away feeling they had not only learned a lot about different approaches to HIV/AIDS in the many countries represented, but that they had also been able to transcend language and geographical barriers and to develop both professional and personal links," she added.