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As a collective, the Community Working Group (CWG) works to ensure that the principles of community participation are the underpinning of all Clinical Research Site (CRS) community engagement activities and to facilitate community participation throughout the research process, from concept development to results dissemination and post-trial access.

Specifically, the CWG seeks to enable researchers to better understand the social context of research participants' lives; develop the capacity of community members to better understand the research process so that more meaningful participation and engagement can occur; and ensure that all research conducted within the MTN is done in collaboration with communities and integrates community members' perspectives.

Membership of the CWG includes the CWG Chair, who serves on the MTN Steering Committee (SC); a Community Advisory Board (CAB) member and Community Educator from each MTN CRS; and a representative in the field of ethics. In addition, nonvoting members include advocacy representatives, a representative from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Division of AIDS (DAIDS) and Community Engagement Program staff from the Leadership and Operations Center (LOC).

Contact CWG Chair Milly Katana

More information about the CWG and community engagement in the MTN can be found in the MTN Manual of Operational Procedures, Section 4, Microbicide Trials Network Committees, Working Groups, and Protocol Teams, and Section 7, Community Engagement.