​Community education provides information to a community about research in order to increase awareness and knowledge about science to a level where individual informed consent can be obtained in an ethical manner. Community education addresses cultural attitudes and beliefs that provide any barriers to trial participation or supporting participants.

Community engagement focuses on the development and maintenance of partnerships and quality relationships with a variety of stakeholders to develop trust and engage those partners in a shared vision. Community engagement requires commitment to a process of shared principles and values for the mutual benefit of all parties.

Cultural Competency is a set of behaviors, attitudes, activities and policies that come together to address racial, ethnic and cultural characteristics in order to increase participation of populations disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic. Therefore, a culturally competent research enterprise should have the capacity to educate, recruit and retain individuals regardless of each participant’s core beliefs, values and differences. To achieve cultural competency throughout the research enterprise, all participants must embrace this goal as fundamental in the pursuit of HIV clinical research. (Adapted from the HIV Vaccine Trials Network definition.)