Naz Foundation International not only produces and publishes Pukaar, its quarterly journal, but also a range of educational and training resources, as well as reports, articles and essays. All these can be downloaded.

Along with this, NFI has a Knowledge Centre that is based in its Regional Office in Lucknow which has an extensive library. Currently the Centre contains over 3500 books, documents, manuals, articles, reports, international journals, tool-kits, conference proceedings, with a primary focus on male sexualities, gender, HIV and AIDS, and human rights. Along with these the library hosts an electronic library of some 1500 documents in pdf format, powerpoint and MS word.

A listing of this library is available on this site.

The Centre is also available for researchers and students through a drop-in facility with internet access. For more information contact Javed Abbas on javed@nfi.net

Click here for the Knowledge Centre brochure..
 
Developing MSM HIV service organisations

An NFI Module

This resource module provides a theoretical framework, and step-by-step approach to developing community-based organisations addressing issues affecting males who have sex with males (MSM). This set has arisen out of the extensive community development work that the Naz Foundation International has undertaken in South Asia in addressing issues that affect MSM. Since 1996, the model detailed in this series has been used to develop more than forty projects addressing issues that affect males who have sex with males. We hope that this resource pack will assist in the development of many more such projects to ensure that all males who have sex with male have access to appropriate sexual health, HIV/AIDS prevention, care and welfare services.

Book 1 gave a basic introduction to Naz Foundation International and a glossary of terms used in the series, with a theoretical framework of sexuality and sexual health in South Asia .

Book 2 provides the socio-cultural context in which male-to-male sex occurs in South Asia , and the developmental processes NFI are essential to ensure that at risk populations of MSM will have access to appropriate sexual health and HIV/AIDS services.

NFI firmly believes that the most appropriate strategy improving health seeking behaviours and reducing risk of STI/HIV infection for both MSM and their both their male and female sexual partners is through self-help and community-based organizing. This means empowering networks of MSM to develop their own sexual health services as a peer-led intervention.

While utilizing non MSM NGOs and government agencies to conduct sexual health interventions among MSM may be required initially since no such MSM self-help organization exists, NFI strongly believes that such an agency should be developed as a part of the intervention strategy that will take on the management and service delivery of the intervention. Such an approach provides an essential part of the framework for developing a framework of an enabling and empowering environment to sustain risk reduction.

Further a key concept embedded within the NFI strategy is the firmly held belief that sexual health is not only about disease prevention, but also the promotion of well-being. This means that it is essential to understand the social, cultural, religious, familial, psychological, physical and personal frameworks in which sexual behaviours take place. This means exploring concepts of masculinities and sexualities and the differing frameworks of class, poverty and education also.

Book 3 explored the first phase of developing a peer-led intervention in a particular town or city. It needs to be recognised that in the main there is no such thing as an MSM community, but a series of autonomous networks of differing sexualities and identities, and that in South Asia the primary frameworks appears to be based on gendered roles, practices and performance. It is essential therefore before any intervention is developed, to discover what networks do exist, and what the sexual practices are, sexual health concerns, levels of knowledge, and attitudes and behaviour among the differing networks and participants in male-to-male sexual behaviours. In other words, a social and risk assessment among at-risk MSM needs to be done. The process involves a 7-day workshops is detailed in this book.

Since the principal that NFI follows is that of MSM sexual health interventions based on self-help and peer leadership, management and leadership, Book 4 explores the process for developing and implementing such a project. This involves a five-day workshop that explores project development and management with a range of tools that go with this.

Book5 the series provided a range of models for management, including job descriptions, terms and conditions of employment, project reports, and so on. These are all useful for management procedures as an integral component of the intervention. It is not suggested that one should adopt these without reference to the specific needs of each individual project, but it does provide a reference tool when developing these specific aspects of management to make the project more successful.

The final book for the series provides a range of useful references and resources, along with webmail IDs to access certain useful documents for further reading and studying by Project Managers and other key staff of the intervention project.

Now in Bangla, English, Hindi, Kannada , Tamil, Telegu, and Urdu
Click here