Global Citizen’s Summit for Social Mobilization to end AIDS

“Mobilise the Nations, Test the Nations, Treat the Nations and STOP HIV Infection!” The aim of the Global citizen’s summit is to create a new momentum on Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support through scaling up social mobilization to end HIV and AIDS.

Introduction

Civil society organizations, people's networks, PLHA networks, International Development Organizations, including Actionaid, Oxfam, Panos, APACHA, PAMOJA, AfriCASO, UNAIDS, welcome you to the first ever international summit on social mobilization for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. The summit is scheduled for May 27-29th, 2009, to be held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, in Nairobi, Kenya.

At a time when the world is witnessing the strengths as well as serious limitations of time bound projects in AIDS response, social mobilization has been observed as one of the best alternatives in reaching out to the communities and going beyond the time bound projects. It is high time for global AIDS response to seriously reflect on existing practices as well as alternatives especially in comprehensively curbing an epidemic that has been challenging broader development dynamics and demanding a combined response from different corners. The summit, in these contexts will seek to improve our understanding of the various social mobilisation experiences in an effort to scale up their application and maximize their impact to reach universal access. It will bring together a wide range of stakeholders who use participatory approaches, multi-sectoral mobilizations and other methods of social mobilisation to share their rich experiences that have proven to have results for community and social mobilization to end AIDS. It will explore radical options to mobilise the nations, test the nations, treat the nations and end aids. It will also explore the likely scenario of the global AIDS response in the context of increasing focus on climate change; food crisis; global financial crisis and agree urgent radical options for the course of action to reduce the cost of an AIDS response without undermining the quality of services.

1. Issues and agenda for a new and radical approach to end HIV and AIDS.
   
   
   1. Only 10% of people living with HIV&AIDS actually know their status: this is unacceptable verdict on the global aids response that requires a business unusual approach to step up testing. A special mobilisation of communities to attain universal access testing is urgently required. So far only Cuba has successfully tested the whole nation and yet it had a very low prevalence rate. Countries with very high rates such as the case for East and Southern Africa surely must do better to intensify mobilisation to attaining universal testing. (Figure to be added).
      
      
   2. Prevention strategies so far adopted continue to be behind the epidemic. All key influential institutions including traditional leaders and structures, religious leaders, broader social movement groups, women leaders, youths, student activists, trade union leaders, political leaders representing their multi-sectoral constituencies must rethink their action plans and adopt a new radical approach that is a departure from the business as usual approach to stop new infection. The summit will explore, and insist that a completely new and radical approach be adopted to deliver universal access to aids services.
      
      
   3. Impact mitigation, especially to address women, men, Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and PLHA issues, requires comprehensive and multi-sectoral approach. The burden of women in the context of HIV and AIDS has been increasingly high. OVC issues are massive that calls for targeting the individual child and family and mobilize multi-sectoral institutions. Meaningful involvement of PLHA still requires a proactive support and role.
      
      
   4. With limited or dysfunctional Primary Health Care people and governments in the global south must develop actions that strengthen the Primary Health Care Systems. People should be mobilized for increased health consciousness and democratizing health services to achieve universal access.
      
      
   5. AIDS financing has continued to be donor driven, project- based and unaccountable to the citizens and countries. A recent study (OSISA/CADRE) of 3000 organisations in southern Africa revealed that despite 600% increase in AIDS funding only 11% reached the frontline CBOs. The geopolitics of aid is undermining the reality of HIV prevalence and actual funding needs of, especially, some hyper-epidemic countries. The summit will discuss radical options of funding and accountability for the aids response and other health issues in this era of global climate change, food, fuel and financial crisis
      
      
   6. Partnership and Alliance building is at the core of social mobilization. It is high time to connect and mobilize the broader social movements and multi-sectoral constituencies to promote inclusive and functional partnerships to end AIDS.
      
      
   7. Investments in aids research by Southern Governments and local institutional have been very dismal, with minimal impact on the HIV&AIDS response. The summit will seek to change this trend and promote programmatic research that works.
      
      
   8. A New and Radical Action Plan will be adopted with the aim of revolutionising the global response across the African, Asian and Latin American continents.
      
      
2. Approaches and methodologies for social mobilization
   
   Social mobilization to end HIV and AIDS requires people-centred approaches that build collective actions against AIDS. In the conference, participatory and other practical approaches for social mobilisation to end HIV and AIDS will be shared by various organisations and alliances. An agreement will be reached on simplified common key principles and actions for increasing social mobilisation and action to end HIV and AIDS.
   
   Actionaid will also share and launch the STAR (Societies Tackling Aids through Rights) approach for social mobilisation which has been practiced globally. Similarly, APACHA will share its unique experiences in mobilizing multi-sectoral approaches in different parts of Asia. Panos and Health Link Worldwide will share participatory communication approaches for social mobilization. Other organizations will be sharing …….
   
   
3. Expected outcomes from the global summit
   
   
   • A new impetus for demanding the right to universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support
     
     
   • New and people-centred radical social action plans to end aids is agreed
     
     
   • A movement of change agents for social mobilisation and action is initiated
     
     
4. The objectives of the meeting are:
   
   
   • To provide a forum for civil society, community-based organizations, and people's networks to articulate and voice what is needed to make universal access a reality;
     
     
   • To agree on the key issues in scaling up towards universal access where social mobilization can make a difference by creating demand for services or by supporting community participation across all levels of the response;
     
     
   • To share, learn, build consensus and take initiative for people- centred social actions and multi-sectoral mobilization to end AIDS
     
     
   The summit will be largely dominated by frontline communities struggling with aids every day. The process will include discussion groups and not workshops aiming at facing our failures and successes upfront and working out the best way to achieve universal access and end aids; plenary to share issues from the groups under the following three tracks:.
   
   
   • Track A: Frontline Realities in Achieving Universal Access to HIV Prevention Treatment care and Support
     
     
   • Key Actions to Take
     
     
   • Track B: People- Centred Actions for Social mobilization to end aids
     
     
   • Key Actions to Take
     
     
   • Track C: Mobilizing People for AIDS financing
     
     
   • Key Actions to Take
     
     
   These frontline reality-check discussion groups will be followed by a high level meeting of government representatives and aid agencies. The outcomes and recommendations will be discussed in the high level meeting and adopted for action. This summit seeks to revolutionize the aids response to face up to the upcoming challenges in the coming years of Global Crisis.
   
   
5. Who is invited to attend and share their experiences, aspiration and passion?
   
   
   • PLHA and WLHA organizations and networks working on community and national advocacy, Social Movements such as People’s Health Movement, Universal Access and Treatment Campaign and others.
     
     
   • National AIDS secretariats from Asia and Africa will share their experiences
     
     
   • National and international organizations (Panos, Healthlink, Christian Aid, Save the children, Oxfam, Asian People's Alliance for Combating HIV&AIDS (APACHA), Care, World Vision, Africa CSO coalition, Africaso, OSISA, OSIA, OSIWA, etc) that are committed on social mobilization to ground the right based approach and advocacy.
     
     
   • Media (international and national) such as Aljazeera, BBC, CNN, IPS, Reuters, SABC, NTA, KTN, NTV , Citizen, etc.
     
     
   • FBOs and religious institutions' role in social mobilization will be shared by high profile personalities taking in to account the personal leadership experience and the role of the organizations.
     
     
   • AIDS service organizations from Asia, Africa and Americas will contribute on the practical aspects of the social mobilization towards the AIDS response.
     
     
   • The experiences of social mobilization challenging the feminization of HIV and AIDS from international to local level will be shared by women organizations and movements
     
     
   • Donor governments, UNAIDS and other UN agencies such as UNICEF and UNDP will share their social mobilization on comprehensive planning approach that emphasize political coalition building and community action as well as community conversion respectively
     
     
   • Internationally renowned personalities on their HIV and AIDS social mobilization inspirations and strategies will be presented.
     
     

For more details please contact.:

globalcitizenssummit@gmail.com
secretariat.asia@apachanet.org