Banerjee S, Torres MA; International Conference on AIDS (15th : 2004 : Bangkok, Thailand).

Int Conf AIDS. 2004 Jul 11-16; 15: abstract no. WeOrE1305.

International Council of AIDS Service Organizations, Toronto, Canada

Issues: Implementation of the Declaration of Commitment (DoC) is a government led process with active civil society (CS) participation. In 2003 member states were asked by the UN to report back on indicators developed by UNAIDS to monitor progress made towards reaching the 2003 targets. Though the onus to report is on governments, CS input is critical. ICASO undertook a community based research project to measure civil society participation in the implementation and monitoring processes of the DoC and to determine if the process by which governments report back is transparent and inclusive of CS inputs. Description: The project compiled data from various stakeholders to determine how CS has interacted with their governments to implement some of the commitments. Four countries namely Kenya, Philippines, Ukraine and Venezuela were selected for the study. The project collected and analyzed information in five commitment areas: access to treatment, empowerment of women, human rights of PLWHAs and vulnerable groups, resource allocation and CS participation in all implementation processes. Finally a general analysis of the overall situation in each country was made. The project also made a gap assessment for advocacy, public policy development and programs for in-country NGOs. Lessons learned: Low awareness of the DoC among CS; NGOs lack resources to build their capacity in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E); partnerships between government and CS can lead to sharply scaled up response; in many instances policies are in place, implementation is in progress but outputs are long overdue, PWAs unaware of treatments. Recommendations: Need to establish communication channel to disseminate information related to DoC; government should engage CS & PWAs in designing policies and programs on HIV/AIDS; M&E task force groups should be created with representation from diverse CS groups; greater fund allocation by government and donor agencies and adequate representation of women and vulnerable groups in all programs that promote their economic empowerment.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Female
• Financial Management
• Government
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• Human Rights
• Humans
• Kenya
• Philippines
• Public Policy
• Ukraine
• United Nations
• Venezuela
• economics
• methods
• organization & administration

Other ID:

• GWAIDS0039308

UI: 102283524

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