Open Space Technology As A Tool To Engage People Around The Multiple Social Drivers of HIV Transmission

Today, I had a fantastic time in the session entitled Engaging Prevention Research Advocacy to Address Social Drivers of the Epidemic in the United States. Of course I went to this affinity group because all too often people focus exclusively on behavioral interventions without examining the other issues that fuel the epidemic in this country particularly for communities of color.

My group was introduced to an activity called Open Space Technology. Open Space Technology was fashioned after the exchanges witnessed at African market places. The concept of bartering provides valuable examples of the power that individuals have over seemingly fixed pricing with pricing only being one example. One can also consider the exchanges with patients and health institutions as another example--with the idea behind bartering empowering people to engage with institutions to receive a good based on what they deem appropriate.

Some core principles governing Open Space Technology are:

1. People have power, value, and agency and therefore have the right to set their own agendas, topics, standards, etc.  
2. That people should only stay in a group only as long as they are feeling like they are contributing/gaining knowledge. Once you are done, move on. 
3. It is okay for people not to contribute or be "butterflies" on the wall.

In short, we were polled and asked to think about the various issues that we wanted to talk about related to HIV. We than assembled the topic and once all topics were placed on the board, people had the option to choose which discussion they wanted to participate in. In our case, conversations ranged from talking about oppression at large to more specific issues like advocating for the decriminalization of behaviors of HIV positive persons.

I thought this was a great activity particularly because it allowed for a physical representation of the various complex and intersecting issues related to HIV. Often times when we meet, there are very singular conversations that occurs. This process allowed us to hold a multitude of issues in one space without marginalizing other issues that are equally important to preventing the spread of HIV. The ability to hold up the spectrum of issues becomes ever more imperative as we try to confront HIV in communities of color that experience compounding issues like racism, minimal access to health services, lack of health insurance, violence, homophobia, etc.

So for all of those who have traditionally thought that we can only address one issue at a time, i'm here to tell you to get real. The issues affecting all of us are multiple, complex, and intersecting and anything that does not address that dynamism will never create the changes that we need in this society.

Major thanks to HIV Prevention Justice Alliance for sharing that great tool! 
For more information, check them out at:  http://www.champnetwork.org/hiv-prevention-justice-alliance.

Peace