Join the hundreds of global learners – from more than 20 countries since 2014 – who have benefitted from the Good Participatory Practices (GPP) Course, a unique online learning opportunity about the criticality of stakeholder engagement as part of the research process.

The 10-week online course—running from October 17 – December 16—provides research implementers and advocates with a foundational knowledge of the Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Guidelines. The course draws from lessons learned from various infectious disease areas, the rollout of new interventions, and COVID-19 research to date. Insights from these efforts will be used to foster participants’ capacity to develop quick and responsive stakeholder engagement in research and beyond. Participants who complete the course will finish with a customized stakeholder engagement plan that reflects the landscape of their local environment.

Apply Here to participate in the course today!

Participants will benefit from a combination of interactive online modules, video webinars, written assignments, discussion forums, and a suite of specially curated resources. Learners will customize the course topics and resources that meet their needs. Global GPP experts will discuss high-impact models of engagement and help synthesize theory into easy-to-understand actionable steps. Participants will spend 2-4 hours per week on the course, culminating in a GPP action plan that aligns with their specific work and role in the field.

Applications are due by October 12, 2022.

As always, please reach out out with any questions.

About the GPP Online Course:

More than 10 years ago, UNAIDS and AVAC published the Good Participatory Practice Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials (GPP). Created to provide a consistent global standard for stakeholder engagement across the research life-cycle, GPP has emerged as a point of reference for how to engage stakeholders. It has also given rise to a robust community of practice.

Stacey Hannah and Jessica Handibode are AVAC staff members.

We sang. We danced. We shared our experiences, and we learned from each other. Most importantly, we strategized as equals about how to promote the work of community engagement in clinical trials. And for the first time, engagement implementers from both TB and HIV research fields convened in one room, in one workshop, to address tactically the strengths and weaknesses of participatory practice.

The Combined Community Engagement Forum, the first forum of its kind, took place September 27-29 in Johannesburg as a joint effort between AVAC, IAVI and TB Alliance. This was not your average community engagers’ workshop. It was a venue to learn new tactics across fields, to openly voice challenges and for the group of over 80 to plan next steps for making engagement work more robust, including efforts like publication and monitoring and evaluation. Kagisho Baepanye of the Aurum Institute in South Africa said, “This year’s forum took stakeholder engagement to another level and pushed community educators to think deeper and step up to be counted.”

More and more, there is agreement that stakeholder engagement is critical to the clinical trials process. It doesn’t, however, get the recognition or support it needs, nor has it necessarily produced strong evidence of impact on research or communities. By collaborating across fields, across sites, across research networks and with advocacy organizations, the Combined Community Engagement Forum served as a step forward in building a stronger, more strategic and more clearly understood community of participatory and stakeholder engagement practice.

To learn more and to get linked into the virtual Stakeholder Engagement Community of Practice, please email gpp@avac.org.

AVAC is pleased to announce the inaugural group of Certified GPP Implementers! In October 2014, AVAC launched the innovative GPP Online Training Course, in partnership with the Center for Learning and Innovation at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

The following individuals have successfully completed all course requirements and have received a GPP Online Training Certificate as recognition of their achievement. Please join us in congratulating our GPP community members on their hard work and accomplishment!

• Patchara Charuthamrong, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS), Thailand
• Leader Kanyiki, Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation (DTHF), South Africa
• John Mdluli, Aurum Institute, South Africa
• Jauhara Nanyondo, Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP), Uganda
• Siriporn Nonenoy, AIDS Research Center, Red Cross, Thailand
• Laura Potter, Bridge HIV, San Francisco, USA
• Pongpun Saokhieo, Research Institute for Health Sciences (RIHES), Thailand
• Rona Siskind, Division of AIDS (DAIDS), Bethesda, USA
• Catherine Slack, HIV AIDS Vaccines Ethics Group (HAVEG), South Africa
• Marie Michelle Umulisa, Rinda Ubuzima, Rwanda
• Mathias Wambuzi, Uganda Virus Research Institute-International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (UVRI-IAVI), Uganda

The GPP Online Training course is a 12-week interactive learning experience that aims to build participants’ understanding of the GPP Guidelines and strengthen application of stakeholder engagement approaches in individual, real-world contexts.

For more information about the next course offering, contact Stacey Hannah (stacey@avac.org), Jessica Handibode (jessica@avac.org), or Anne Schley (anneschley@gmail.com).