Fifteen years of community-engaged HIV research in Sweetwaters, KwaZulu-Natal: a reflection on principles, practices and frameworks

This chapter reflects on a practice-based community engagement (CE)2 framework that has evolved over the past 15 years in conducting HIV research in Sweetwaters. We start by providing a description of the principles that underpin our framework namely: (1) embeddedness; (2) participatory processes and relationship building; (3) recognising power differences; (4) negotiating power in communities; (5) co-creating knowledge; and (6) respecting culture, voice and local knowledge. We then demonstrate how these principles are implemented through the four phases of our community engagement framework, namely: range, recognise, recruit and retain/sustain (Fluks et al. 2020). We conclude with a theory of change that illustrates how the theory and practice of CE comes together in this community.