HIV prevention and care required the active involvement of the wider community. Samraksha engaged with villages through a facilitatory process, enabling community members to openly discuss HIV, clarify misconceptions, and design their own responses.

Through this programme, Samraksha worked with 1,200 villages across four districts of Karnataka, many in high-prevalence regions. Communities began to:

• Encourage early testing
• Promote safe practices
• Offer support to people living with HIV
• Challenge discrimination in visible ways

The principles of trusting in community capacity and catalyzing local responses became central to Samraksha’s approach, influencing later engagements beyond the HIV context.