Dear Colleagues,

I want to start by thanking you all for haven done some wonderful job in your respective areas in promoting both malaria and AIDS competence or life competence in general.

In relationship to what has been done so far, the Constellation is about putting together a "knowledge asset" and a "critical appraisal" that can tell our stories in detail and with enough references, contacts, and or sources of information that tells our stories. I have been asked to coordinate the knowledge asset aspect while Blaise and I will also work on the critical appraisal (this is about asking ourselves questions on how we think the competence process is working and what it has really changed or improved?). Notwithstanding our specific roles, the whole exercise requires your inputs which we are strongly looking up to.

I am therefore requesting that any one of you with such stories more so evidence-based stories should send the stories to me and or Blaise through this group mail or through your personal e-mail to our personal e-mail addresses i.e. ibrakam9@... or Ibrahim.Kamara@... (for me). Blaise please give out details of your personal e-mail to colleagues for easy contact.

We can also chat on yahoo messenger or skype for those who have things you will want to discuss with me. My yahoo messenger and skype names are:

ibrakam9 (for yahoo messenger) and

ibrakam91 (for skype).

Blaise also provide colleagues with similar information for possible chatting online.

Please let me know when each one of you will be available on any of these lines (yahoo messenger or skype lines) so that we can agree on a time to chat together.

For those who may want to make phone calls my mobile number is: +232 76 604878. Blaise you can also share your phone number if necessary.

In sending your stories, reports by e-mail you can send them in the forms they are now or in the form of knowledge assets (i.e. in a format with the principles, stories, contacts and or references or sources of the stories). For critical appraisals, you can send responses with evidence on some critical questions relevant to proving that malaria competence process is unique and working in your respective areas.

For instance, below were questions raised by Blaise?

"I would like to put some discussions on that and suggest that if we could add

a study cases on how the process of malaria competences contribute (in the

countries that the experiences were made):  1. to mobilize the communities

2. to increase the using rate of the ITN 3. reduces the death cases of

the children under 5 years and pregnant women"

Do you have similar questions that can help probe into how malaria competence process is working or do you have responses to the questions already posed by Blaise? Answers to Blaise's questions and any other ones you may also come up with will be very useful for us to prove to others that the malaria competence process is working and can indeed help to roll back malaria across the globe.

I already have something from the Gambia, Cameroon and Tanzania but please still send me whatever information you have.

I am looking forward to hearing from all of you.

My best wishes

Ibrahim