HIV/AIDS - Under the umbrella of UNAIDS, the International Partnership Against AIDS in Africa (IPAA) was launched by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in December 1999. By intensifying its efforts and welcoming non-UN entities and individuals in defining their roles and objectives through UNAIDS, it is able to take a multi-pronged approach that will curtail the spread of HIV, sharply reduce its impact on human suffering and halt the further reversal of human, social and economic development in Africa. The Working Group will support the overall priorities and principles of the IPAA by developing a global advocacy campaign to raise awareness and resources, for the compelling and escalating needs generated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.
HIV/AIDS Website
 

Leadership for Results Initiative - In South Africa, where more than one in five adults is living with HIV/AIDS, UNDP has launched the Leadership for Results initiative to respond to the epidemic at all levels. It is a new partnership that is transforming the responses of communities and community-based initiatives to the epidemic. The Leadership for Results initiative is part of a programme that is a partnership between UNDP, the National Department of Health and three provinces most affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty – Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Nimpopo.

Community Conversations - UNDP initiative entitled Community Conversations is a strategy developed and utilized by communities to involve community members in discussing and finding solutions to the problems of HIV/AIDS. The methodology builds on stories about people, what they do and their social life and enables them to talk about the epidemic starting from their own point of departure. The approach helps local communities find ways to talk, build relationships and reflect on the issue of HIV/AIDS in their communities. The process leads to social contracts between men and women, those people living with AIDS and those not, intergenerational relationships, the urban/rural relationships and relationships between the rich and poor.

Confronting HIV/AIDS:In Botswana, UNDP supports a local initiative to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. In Palapye, a small town outside the capital Caborone, UNDP supported a local initiaitive to open the House Of Hope, where 50-odd orphans children spend their days dealing with the after-effects of AIDS. UNDP, at the same time, supported the launch of the National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), which monitors the Government's HIV/AIDS programme, for which UNDP actively contributes with studies on the impact of HIV/AIDS to lead to more effective responses.
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Ethiopian Community Conversations Raise Awareness on HIV/AIDS: Experimental community conversations in a village in southern Ethiopia have succeeded in raising awareness about HIV/AIDS, Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Lewis, who returned recently from a trip to Ethiopia, said he was stunned by the substantial achievements made in the community. These community conversations have resulted in huge behaviour change, he said. The conversation sessions, led by skilled facilitators, take place in the local community of Alaba, with people of all ages talking about subjects that have been taboo in their communities.
Among the main themes during these talks were female genital mutilation (FGM), use of condoms, bride sharing, polygamy, early marriage and sexual violence. The conversations aim at educating people about the traditional practices and gender inequalities that have boosted the reach of HIV/AIDS in the country. It was designed in 2003 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in conjunction with the local non-governmental organization Kembatti Mentti Gezzima. The intention is to draw on the natural organic power of conversation, inherent in most
indigenous communities, Lewis said.
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