About Us
Training facilitators for the Beyond Victims and Villains intervention
CIET is a group of non-profit foundations, charities, non-governmental organisations and institutes dedicated to building the community voice into planning. Professor Neil Andersson started CIET in Mexico in 1985 to promote wider participation in health planning – Centro de Investigación de Enfermedades Tropicales (Tropical Disease Research Centre). CIET methods evolved to deal with other issues and the acronym has come to represent the values of the organisation: community information, empowerment and transparency.
CIET began the Choice Disability trial (in Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland) in 2008, and first results are due in early 2013. This cluster randomised controlled trial (trial registered as ISRCTN28557578) measures the impact of community interventions to reduce choice disability and gender violence and hence reduce the risk of HIV infection.
A baseline survey in 2008 documented attitudes, practices and experiences related to gender, gender violence and HIV among over 7,000 young women and men aged 15-29 years in nationally representative samples in 77 communities across Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland. The survey also included anonymous HIV testing of dried blood spots from finger-prick blood samples. Findings from the baseline survey led to publications about choice disability and risk of HIV infection and about male circumcision rates, knowledge, beliefs and relation to HIV status.
According to a random allocation, between 2009 and 2012, intervention communities in the trial have received up to three interventions, alone or in combination, while control communities received none of the trial interventions. The three interventions are: an educational docudrama (Beyond Victims and Villains -BVV); a programme to support and empower young women (the Focused Workshop – FW); and individual and group work with service providers to help them better serve the needs of the choice disabled (Concerting).
An impact survey in 2012 covered all the trial communities and again collected information from men and women aged 15-29 years about attitudes, practices and experiences related to gender violence and HIV risk. Tests on the anonymous dried blood spot samples will seek evidence of recent HIV infection.
The Choice Disability trial is carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.
Young women in Swaziland set up a choice disability campaign in their community.
Service providers in Botswana get together to organise a drama group competition in their village.
A group of young women in Namibia organise a community feast to celebrate their enterprise. 
