Clinic-CBO Collaboration (C3)
Between 2014 and 2020 PATA worked with Positive Action Children’s Foundation (Now ViiV Healthcare Positive Action) across twelve countries and strengthened over 50 community-clinic collaborations. Together, PATA and PACF demonstrated how transformative collaboration at a local level between clinics and community-based organisations (CBOs) can be to the health response. C3 outcomes have demonstrated that clinic-community partnerships are feasible, acceptable, and can result in joint ventures that positively impact HIV services and community action.
C3 has made a significant contribution to a growing community of practice centred around clinic-CBO collaboration, and has been endorsed and integrated into many processes and programmes as a central methodology. The C3 methodology invests in building effective and structured clinic and community relationships, provides the necessary capacity-building and tools, works to strength local ownership, joint monitoring and district co-ordination. This can build and strengthen effective pathways for HIV case finding and management, improving service delivery, care and support across clinic and community platforms for children, adolescents and their families.
Two toolkits and a Be Connected e-learning course informed by the C3 successes and lessons learnt will continue to be the integrated into PATA programmes and will be shared across the PATA network to strengthen the continual adoption of the C3 methodology and approach.

See C3 in Action.
The Be Connected e-learning course
The Be Connected e-learning course aims to further scale the results of collaboration by providing a practical ‘how to’ application in the methodology of working together that is centred on cooperation, joint planning and structured partnership.
While the course is based on lessons from Clinic-CBO Collaboration (C3), which aimed to strengthen linkage and retention along the paediatric and adolescent treatment cascade, its intention is to be applicable to all target populations and service areas. The course provides transferable building blocks for cooperative planning, implementation and monitoring of community engagement strategies and activities. The course has also integrated lessons and contributions from key stakeholder projects.
C3 objectives
Leverage and Integrate C3 Learning and Methodology
- Consolidate C3 learning into a Toolkit for local and global distribution
- Develop a complementary online set of interactive tools and infographics
- Link learning to a Community of Practice on clinic – community engagement
Scale up clinic-community partnerships and joint initiatives
- Scale-up and initiate new clinic-CBO partnerships