Empowering Communities at the Global Village: A Call for Engagement and Action

1. Community Programme and Global Village

2. Community Programme Rapporteur Team • Nandinee Bandyopadhyay - (India) • Glen Brown - (Canada) • Jane Galvao - (Brasil) • Bechir N’daw - (Mali) • Ec. María del Carmen Quevedo Tobar - (Ecuador) • Amitrajit Saha (Piklu) - (India)

3. Community Programme Vision • Reclaim ownership of the agenda • Reach and involve diverse communities • Address issues of human rights, social justice and economic inequality • Bring together community and evidence-based science • Ensure a long-term legacy for the region • Demand accountability and action

4. What is the place of community at this conference? Is it here? Physically and symbolically removed in what some have called a “Global Ghetto”….?

5. Or is it here…..?

6. We are all engaged in a quiet struggle over the future of community at the conference - and nature of the conference itself • We must address - • The migration of too many scientists to attend only Pathogenesis • The sense of two distinct & barely connected conferences that many attendees report feeling • The need to build on interdisciplinary sessions and networking opportunities across traditional boundaries of community/ science/ funders/ government/ etc

7. Does it matter? • Where, how and why does the presence of community at the conference make a difference? • The reality behind the statistics • Experience that can validate or challenge theory • The ability to break down barriers/myths through personal contact • The recognition and valuing of expertise not acquired through advanced studies, but rather through life

8. Enabling dialogue • Non-abstract driven sessions - bridging sessions, special sessions, plenaries, invited presentations, satellites and networking sessions - brought depth, diversity and dialogue that would not happen in single track sessions.

9. 12,000 first time attendees • In Mexico City c. 60% of the conference goers had never previously attended the International AIDS Conference • Does the conference accommodate and prepare them to make the most of the conference experience - to take information, skills, ideas, connections and materials back to their home country? • Are the advance information, orientation, logistics, translation, materials, etc enough to make the conference accessible to new attendees?

10. Communities as partners • Throughout the conference, we heard examples of successes (and failures) in building partnerships between community and other stakeholders.

11. Partnerships In research • Early, meaningful - extended to operations research • Clearly understood expectations for all parties • Investment and support for capacity and sustainability of community partners • Continuing after the project is over Similarly in prevention, care/treatment, policy making, and all other areas How can a partnership overcome inequities of economics, social power and formal expertise?

12. Partnerships without trust? • A recurring theme -- are powerful partners willing to share knowledge? • Controversies about how (and even if) the “Swiss Statement” should be shared with PLHIV and their partners • “Publish or perish?” US government delay of nearly a year in sharing important new epidemiological analysis with community?

13. Partnerships mean deep commitment • GIPA -- are we slipping back into tokenism? • Building PLHIV human capital through “Greater INVESTMENT in People with AIDS” • Commitment to working with youth and children • HDN bringing 7 reporters age 7-17 to cover the conference -- and recognising the huge support necessary to make that work

14. The voices of community:Sex workers • More plenaries, sessions and networking activities than ever before • The fundamental need to respect sex work as “work” instead of a pathology, and to protect sex workers from all forms of explotation and abuse • Policies that are reality-based rather than ideologically/morality based • “Save me from my saviours”

15. The voices of community: MSM • New attention in a region where the epidemic is predominately MSM • Understanding that poilitical will is the greatest barrier • Recognition of diverse ways of being a MSM in different cultural and personal constructs • Greater exploration of MSM issues in hostile social/political environments

16. The Voices of Community: Indigenous Peoples • Networking of native/ first nations/ indigenous peoples from South Americam, Meso-America, North America, and the Pacific • Need to recognise and respond to the enhanced vulnerability and growing epidemic • Need to understand and respect culture

17. Voices of communities: • Women • Youth • Transgender • Homeless • Drug using/ harm reduction • Faith • Migrant

18. Voices of communities • The Global Village as the centre of networking • Activism throughout the conference • Technology and innovation as forces for creating and reaching community • Culture as a powerful tool

19. Voices of communities • Human rights approach increasingly applied • Increasing attention to social justice • Facing key issues together: Criminalisation, travel restrictions, housing Greater south-south dialogue and coalition building

20. Place of the conference in community • Maximizing impact in Latin America - what will the long term be? • Changes in Mexican government policy on methadone • Head of host country denounced homophobia

21. Place of the conference in community • Expanding scope and participation • Regional hubs • Kaiser webcasts • Activist blogs (“AIDS2008”) • Community media

22. To Vienna and beyond • The Global Village and community actitivities were “messy, sloppy and noisy.” They were also where the energy of the conference and community was, and where the epidemic is. • How do we bring that energy not just into the next conference, but incorporate it as an essential part of the worldwide AIDS effort?