Socially relevant qualitative research

The report, Straight Talk - HIV/AIDS on farms in the Western Cape, is available from The Centre for Rural Legal Studies Tel: +27-21-8838032.

As part of a three-year process of developing an integrated response to the incidence of HIV/AIDS on farms, CRLS has engaged Simply Said and Done to conduct a baseline survey on the perceptions and experiences of farm dwellers and rural service providers around HIV/AIDS in the Overberg and Eden districts in the Western Cape.

The sampling is purposive to ensure that marginalised voices will be represented. The sample is disaggregated by sex and culturally directed according to home language.

The data was gathered through:

• farm dweller interviews
• farm dweller focus groups
• farm management
• service provider interviews
• service provider focus groups
• interviews with key informants
• stakeholder focus groups

Twenty-seven community researchers in 21 district municipalities were trained to gather most of the primary data. The coordinating team conducted the interviews with key informants and stakeholder focus groups.

During September the preliminary findings were discussed with stakeholders in the regions, and their input represented as part of the findings in the final report which is available from The Centre for Rural Legal Studies Tel: +27-21-8838032.