Renewing Canada's Strategy On HIV/AIDS
Executive Summary

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Renewing Canada's Strategy : Introduction : Part 1 : Part 2

In the summer of 1997, the Federal Minister of Health, the Honourable Allan Rock, agreed to a national consultation process to guide the renewal of a national strategy for HIV/AIDS in Canada. This innovative process had a major challenge: to seek meaningful opinion across the country within a tight timeframe. The multi-streamed consultations were: broadly based; representative of all players in the country; and managed in partnership between stakeholders and government but largely steered by external stakeholders, which were primarily community groups (NGOs). The resulting consultation process was a major breakthrough in public policy development. For the first time, stakeholder groups led a process to gather public input on a health and social issue of national and international importance. Instead of imposing policy from the top down, government acted as a facilitator and a listener. As a result, the new Canadian Strategy on HIV/AIDS is a true partnership initiative and the beginning of a new era in HIV/AIDS programming.

Following the consultations, and with a view to the future use of such an exercise, Health Canada interviewed a representative cross-section of the participants in the process. Respondents were asked for their opinions and ideas on: factors that influenced the success or failure of the consultation process; variables that influenced the process; and improvements needed for any similar consultation. All of the respondents said that the successful use of large-scale, inclusive, multisectoral consultations was a major shift in defining public policy for HIV/AIDS in Canada. They credited commitment from all levels within the federal government as a key factor in that success. The consultation resulted in setting the trend for increased stakeholder involvement in decision-making and in forming the values and principles for the renewal of a national strategy for HIV/AIDS.

The respondents made several recommendations:

• any future consultations of this scale should put significantly more emphasis on organizational design and planning as well as resource allocation planning regarding consultation processes;
• all key players should be involved in planning from the outset, thereby allowing more time to be spent on the quality of the consultation rather than ongoing, energy-draining negotiations over management of the processes;
• appropriate time is needed, although some saw merit in a tight timeframe; and
• communications systems need to be in place so that each group is aware of any parallel streams of consultations.

Respondents said the consultation process resulted in many "lessons learned";, including:

• positive growth in their personal knowledge and awareness of HIV/AIDS issues;
• increased respect and appreciation for other individuals working in the field; and
• an improved understanding of the viewpoints and agendas of other organizations.

The process brought forward and increased the capacity of all players to support and develop the coordination and integration toward a change in direction. Support was unanimous for the value and usefulness of this type of consultation process that aims to represent the opinions of: the people affected by a public policy shift; those responsible for implementing the policy; and the major partners who will ensure that the policy direction is kept on track. A broad-based, stakeholder-driven approach can be an effective tool in public policy development. The success of this approach depends on a number of factors, including:

• full involvement and "buy-in"; by organizations and individuals affected by the policy development;
• commitment to the process by all levels of government;
• fully collaborative planning throughout the process;
• readiness and willingness of all players to change the way they do business; and
• strong communication channels and full sharing of information.

Renewing Canada's Strategy : Introduction : Part 1 : Part 2