Sustaining Global Advocacy on Women and Girls: World YWCA re-elected to Conference Coordinating Committee (CCC) for AIDS 2010

On the CCC, the World YWCA represents global civil society, which includes women, young women and faith-based organisations. “World YWCA is excited about this tremendous opportunity and responsibility presented to us once again, “ said World YWCA General Secretary Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda.

As part of setting a precedent of fair and transparent representation, World YWCA has created a reference group to assist in meeting the objective of keeping women, especially young and HIV positive women on the global AIDS agenda. The 2010 reference group is made up of ATHENA, Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, Foundation for Studies and Research on Women (FEIM), International Women’s Health Coalition, Youth Coalition and the Women Wont Wait Campaign.

The International AIDS Conference is by far the largest and most comprehensive gathering on HIV. The conference addresses global issues relating to HIV and has the potential to shift perceptions, provide important opportunities for increased knowledge and partnerships and change the lives of women. The conference shares key research findings, lessons learned, gaps in knowledge and best practices as well as promotes dialogue among organisations working towards achieving Universal Access by 2010. Most importantly the conference can focus international, regional and local advocacy on HIV, which affects global policy and funding around women and girls in the context of HIV and AIDS. It is through the International AIDS Conference that global policy is debated and further developed.

The YWCAs principal challenge in Mexico was to sustain women’s leadership, mobilise new leaders and strengthen partnerships and programmes that work for women and girls. As Zonny Woods, Program Manager, Global HIV Initiative, Ford Foundation articulated in an AIDS 2008 conference interview ‘Toronto was a turning point, in terms of our understanding of how HIV is affecting women and girls. What we hope will come out of Mexico is beyond that understanding, for people to go away with very specific ideas about what that can mean on the ground. So, what does it mean to address the intersection between violence against women and HIV? What are some of the things that are working well, and how can they be replicated, taken to scale, adapted to the realities of the different countries where the epidemic is being felt?’

“Sustaining women and girls on the global AIDS agenda is vital if we are to influence global policy and research that affects the lives of women, young women and girls. Global policy on HIV and AIDS define health care, services and global approaches for women and girls but some times these policies do not reflect the realities of women and girls, who in 4 out of 7 regions of the world account for the majority of HIV infections,” says World YWCA HIV and AIDS Co-ordinator Sophie Dilmitis.

An important objective for the World YWCA is to ensure that women and girls are meaningfully involved throughout the AIDS 2010 conference agenda. The voices of young and community women must be heard at the conference if there is to be change to the global advocacy and donor driven agendas.

“We have not finished discussing the outcomes of Mexico and already attention is shifting to Vienna where the next IAC is scheduled to take place. As we work towards Vienna it will be important to sustain the leadership that all women, especially women from the YWCA showed in Mexico, “ says Gumbonzvanda.

Members of the Conference Coordinating Committee for Vienna 2010: