Joint activity planning moves ahead following Alliance/HDN merger
25 November 2008
Plans for joint programme activities, which maximise the benefits of the merger between the International HIV/AIDS (the Alliance) and Health & Development Networks (HDN), have been moving ahead rapidly following the approval of the merger. Initial priorities will be to build on HDN’s National Partnership Platform Initiative and its team of citizen journalists (Key Correspondents), as well as developing a joint TB/HIV strategy.
The National Partnership Platform Initiative aims to create the space at a national level for effective dialogue and meaningful engagement between civil society, government and other stakeholders – with a particular focus on transparency and accountability, and helping to monitor national AIDS and TB targets and milestones. HDN and the Alliance will strengthen the existing National Partnership Platforms in Cambodia, Uganda and Zambia to promote information exchange and advocacy on HIV and TB. Additional countries will be identified where National Partnership Platforms will be developed in 2009.
HDN has a network of over 200 Key Correspondents, country-based citizen journalists who write and report on the local realities of those living and dealing with HIV and TB. In India, Cambodia and Uganda these Key Correspondents will be supported further to document and analyse local experiences and perspectives on HIV, TB and related health issues, bringing a wealth of community level learning back up to influence national and international policy and programming.
HDN and the Alliance started the process of developing a joint HIV/TB strategy at the 39th Union World Conference on Lung Health of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, held in Paris in October. This work will continue as a priority.
Other joint activities in the near future will include:
- A joint presence at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in December this year, as well as at the International Harm Reduction conference and the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), both being held in 2009
- Joint work to promote and influence the Global Fund’s ‘community systems strengthening’ funding component to increase Global Fund resources channelled to scale up community-based organisations and civil society-led service delivery
- Joint work to develop Communities of Practice. These forums for dialogue and learning will focus initially on specific topics such as harm reduction, and children and HIV
- Developing joint fundraising strategies and activities.
The Alliance and HDN are also looking together at wider collaborations. Staff from both organisations met in Amsterdam in October 2008 along with six other civil society partners at the Free Space Process sponsored by the International Civil Society Support (ICSS). Topics under discussion included establishing an understanding of the need for collaboration and building capacity for policy, advocacy and communications work at the national level – specifically for individual organisations and national networks.
Once an action plan has been developed the aim is for the eight Free Space Partners to collaborate on supporting and fundraising for this work. The other partners are the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+), the International Council of AIDS Service Organisations (ICASO), the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), World Aids Campaign (WAC), and the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA).
It is anticipated that legal agreements formalising the merger will be signed at the beginning of December. A joint strategy paper is currently being developed that will outline the mission, vision and key programmatic areas of the new foundation that will be created within the Alliance as a result of the merger. The paper will clearly illustrate the ways the foundation will support the achievement of the Alliance’s three-year strategy.
