Introduction
The International HIV/AIDS Alliance (the Alliance) is an international non-governmental organisation that supports communities in developing countries to make a significant contribution to HIV prevention, AIDS care and support to children affected by the epidemic. Since its establishment in 1993, the Alliance has provided financial and technical support to NGOs and CBOs from more than 40 countries. In addition, the Alliance promotes good practice in community responses to HIV/AIDS more broadly through evaluation, operations research, the development of training materials and tools, as well as policy and advocacy activities.

Summary
This guidebook forms part of the 6-part Advocacy Expert Series which was developed by the Tanzania Advocacy Partnership Programme (TAPP) programme, an advocacy capacity strengthening programme for Tanzanian civil society run by Pact Tanzania and supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-Tanzania. The manual is intended to be a guide for strengthening gender equality in communities through increased gender awareness and the development of gender mentoring programmes. The first section outlines key gender concepts, explaining that gender is embedded in socio-cultural values, and looks at masculine and feminine behaviours, qualities, roles, and responsibilities. It argues that since gender roles are a social construct, they can also be changed.