The Manitoba HIV-STBBI Collective Impact Network:
also known as “CINetwork”
Who We Are
The Manitoba HIV–STBBI Collective Impact Network (CINetwork) is an initiative of Nine Circles Community Health Centre, which serves as its backbone organization. It is a provincewide collaborative initiative that brings together community organizations, Indigenous partners, researchers, clinicians, people with lived and living expertise, and health system leaders to strengthen Manitoba’s response to HIV and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs).
Since its establishment in 2016, the CINetwork has played a critical role in building relationships, fostering trust, advancing peer leadership, conducting research, developing tools, providing capacity building and educational programs, and supporting innovation in community-based prevention, testing, and care.
A Decade of Impact and Complexity
Over the past decade, the Network has helped establish a strong foundation for collective impact in Manitoba. This includes strengthening cross-sector collaboration, advancing culturally grounded and trauma-informed approaches, supporting and conducting research, developing tools through pilot studies, developing recommendations for policy and practice changes, building knowledge capacity and mobilization, developing national and provincial partnerships and embedding the leadership of people with lived and living expertise. These efforts have contributed to more coordinated and responsive approaches across the HIV–STBBI ecosystem.
Throughout the decade, the CINetwork’s efforts were funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada-Community Action Fund, REACH-Nexus, the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, the Canadian Public Health Association and Nine Circles Community Health Centre itself. Numerous long-time partners have also provided in-kind support, including the University of Manitoba, the National Laboratory for HIV Reference Services (NLHRS) and CATIE.
At the same time, Manitoba continues to experience rising rates of HIV and other STBBIs, driven by complex and interconnected structural factors, including colonization, systemic racism, housing instability, stigma, and the impacts of the toxic drug supply. While Indigenous people make up the largest proportion of new cases (over 70%), the ACB community also represents a significant percentage of new HIV diagnoses in Manitoba, often linked to migration. These challenges highlight the need to move beyond coordination alone toward more intentional influence on systems and action.
CIN Stewardship Team
CINetwork is guided by the CIN Stewardship Team, which oversees the network’s direction, activities, and sustainability. It also monitors the broader level CINetwork activities, including planning events, evaluating the CINetwork, and making sense of findings from the CINetwork’s activities to connect with policymakers and facilitate policy changes in Manitoba. The team consists of people with lived experience, researchers, community-based organization reps, health authority reps, policymakers, Indigenous organization reps, and other interested parties.
Our Vision
Improved health, well-being, and equity for people and
communities affected by HIV-STBBIs in Manitoba through a
collective impact-systems change approach.
Our Mission
The CINetwork is a connector, convenor, and catalyst that mobilizes
partnerships and collective action to advance Indigenous leadership,
meaningful engagement of affected sectors and communities,
community and research innovation, and system coordination to
advance an equitable HIV response through a collective impact-systems
change approach.
Funders
Funding for CINetwork comes from primarily three agencies:
- Public Health Agency of Canada through the Community Action Fund
- REACH – Nexus
- Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).
Partner
Waniska – Saskatchewan/Manitoba Indigenous Centre for HIV/HCV/STBBIs Inequities.
Waniska is an Indigenous-led centre for HIV research, Hepatitis C, and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) focused on Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The centre already has broad connections in both provinces, nationally and internationally, both in community and among Indigenous and allied academics. Waniska hopes to reduce the HIV/HCV/STBBI inequities within and across Indigenous communities in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and other parts of Canada. Waniska also wants to build up its capacity to conduct research through partnerships with Indigenous and non-Indigenous experts of Indigenous health and HIV/HCV/STBBI research.