World AIDS Day 2007 Theme: Leadership

The theme for World AIDS Day 2007 and 2008 is “LEADERSHIP”. This theme will continue to be promoted with the campaigning slogan, “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.”

Why the theme of leadership?

Since the beginning of the epidemic, experience has clearly demonstrated that significant advances in the response to HIV have been achieved when there is strong and committed leadership. Leaders are distinguished by their action, innovation and vision; their personal example and engagement of others; and their perseverance in the face of obstacles and challenges. However, leaders are often not those in the highest offices. Leadership must be demonstrated at every level to get ahead of the disease - in families, in communities, in countries and internationally. Much of the best leadership on AIDS has been demonstrated within civil society organisations challenging the status quo. Making leadership the theme of the next two World AIDS Days will help encourage leadership on AIDS within all levels and sectors of society. We hope it will inspire and foster champions within a range of different groups and networks at local and international levels.

Leadership as a theme follows and builds on the 2006 theme of accountability. In 2006 a number of milestones were reached where accountability was particularly crucial. It was the year of the United Nations High Level Meeting on AIDS, which reviewed the progress on the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS – an important blueprint for reaching the Millennium Development Goals on AIDS. 2006 marked the fifth year anniversary of the African Abuja Declaration. 2006 was also the year in which national targets were set, or should have been set, by governments for achieving Universal Access to Treatment, Prevention, Support and Care by 2010. In addition, at 2006’s International AIDS Conference, “accountability” was the buzzword throughout the global forum, reflecting the conference’s theme,“Time to Deliver.”

Despite the efforts to hold leaders accountable in 2006, progress in halting HIV is falling far short of targets. Over 25 million people have been lost to AIDS so far, and 4.3 million people were infected with HIV 2006. The spread of HIV is quickening – with more people infected in 2006 than in any previous year. This is despite the number of promises by world leaders to provide services to curb the rates of infection and to bring down death rates. The G8 has made commitments on AIDS which now need to be delivered upon. In other high level meetings, governments of rich countries promised to increase the spending on development aid to 0.7 percent of their annual budget. Only a handful of countries have done so. In the Abuja Declaration, African leaders committed to allocating 15 percent of their budgets to health. This has happened in just one or two countries, with only one-third of African countries spending over 10 percent. Promises are not being kept because there is a lack of leadership at every level.

Using the theme

As with past World AIDS Day themes, leadership has been chosen as a loose global campaigning concept. Local campaign themes and World AIDS Day messages are best shaped at national, or community levels, where campaigns can tailor the theme towards their specific situation or constituency. Where possible, campaigners are encouraged to link local messages to the leadership theme, particularly around World AIDS Day. This helps maximise national, regional and international visibility of global campaigning efforts on AIDS. Also where possible, we encourage the use of the slogan “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” in the accompanying language of World AIDS Day materials.

The principle behind all the work of the World AIDS Campaign is that local messages should underpin all global campaigning efforts. Whatever messages are most appropriate for AIDS campaigning work can be promoted with the leadership message. The theme of leadership is offered as a vehicle for uniting efforts within a common global message. World AIDS Campaign themes have a number of campaigning functions, including:

• helping to generate media coverage for AIDS and World AIDS Day.
• providing organisations who have limited resources access to meaningful campaigning materials.
• enhancing solidarity within the global response to AIDS through working through an united effort.
• galvanising action both nationally and internationally in a way that other smaller scale efforts can not by representing a world AIDS campaigning message.

Where the global campaigning theme of leadership detracts from the impact of local efforts it should not be used. In any situation where the global campaigning theme is seen as diminishing the autonomy of local campaigning voices it should not be used. The global theme offers only a loose organising principle where it compliments existing or emerging campaigning efforts.

One advantage of using the theme, particularly around World AIDS Day, is that it can offer a universally recognised vehicle for promoting a wide range of AIDS issues. The media, governments, local businesses, and a range of institutions locally and globally embrace World AIDS Day, and the annual theme that accompanies it, as an opportunity to demonstrate commitment and action on AIDS. So a diverse range of campaigners can use the theme to promote their causes. Campaigns could be politically orientated towards government, for example, “Leadership on treatment now: we are still dying. Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” Or they could be designed to mobilise a certain sector within a common cause, for example “Textile workers, lead the fight against AIDS in your workplace.” The theme of leadership is designed to be as flexible as possible to accommodate a range of campaigning needs.

The World AIDS Campaign International Support Team will be working with a range of global networks to develop materials which are adaptable to many different situations. More guidance and campaigning notes will be circulated throughout the year. As in 2006, posters, leaflets and CD-ROMs will be developed and distributed. These will be available from around August 2007 in a number of languages, including French, Spanish, Russian, Swahili and English. Other language versions, particularly African languages, will also be offered via electronic distribution.

Background on World AIDS Day themes

The overall purpose of the World AIDS Campaign from 2005 to 2010 is to ensure that leaders and decision makers deliver on their promises on AIDS, including the provision of Universal Access to Treatment, Care, Support and Prevention services by 2010. Within that five-year mission, annual campaigning themes are selected which are timely, relevant and adaptable to a number of different regions and issues.

The theme for World AIDS Day has been determined by the World AIDS Campaign since 1997. Since that time, the campaign has developed into to its current form, governed by a committee of global constituency-based AIDS networks. The Global Steering Committee of the World AIDS Campaign selected the theme of leadership during their fifth steering committee meeting held in Geneva on 8th and 9th of February 2007. This Global Steering Committee is comprised of the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, the Youth Coalition, the Global Unions Programme on HIV/AIDS, the International Council of AIDS Service Organisations, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, and the International Women’s AIDS Caucus. UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria are non-voting members.

COURTESY: www.worldaidscampaign.info