Strengthening the response to women, girls and gender equality in National Strategic Plans for HIV and AIDS

In conjunction with the ATHENA Network the Gender Programme has been working on a project to strengthen the response to women, girls and gender equality in National Strategic Plans for HIV and AIDS in southern and eastern Africa. Between 2010 and 2011 the project was focused on assessing how women, girls and gender equality were integrated, while from 2011 onwards, the emphasis is on supproting change in the next generation of National Strategic Plans for HIV and AIDS.

 

From Talk to Action

From Talk to Action is an analysis of all 20 countries in southern and eastern Africa assessing how they scored against the Framework on Women, Girls and Gender Equality in National Strategic Plans on HIV and AIDS in Southern and Eastern Africa. It highlights that the majority (16 out of 20) of National Strategic Plans on HIV and AIDS in the region fail to comprehensively address women, girls and gender equality. Where National Strategic Plans on HIV and AIDS do address women and girls, it is in the context of the prevention of vertical transmission services programmes. This report clearly identified the current weaknesses in the response to women and girls in the context of HIV and AIDS.

Collaboratively developed and endorsed by 19 regional and global organisations, the Framework presents a vision as to how National Strategic Plans on HIV and AIDS across southern and eastern Africa should meaningfully address women, girls, and gender equality.

 Report

Click here to download the From Talk to Action.

HEARD/ATHENA Strategic Meeting (25 – 26 September) 2011

HEARD and ATHENA held a NSPs (National Strategic Plans) strategic retreat from the 25 – 26 September 2011 at the African Rainbow Hotel in Durban, South Africa.  The retreat was organized by HEARD’s Gender Programme in collaboration with ATHENA network. The purpose of the retreat was to discuss and strengthen the next generation of National Strategic Plans on HIV and AIDS to champion women, girls and gender equality. 

Key Successes

The Framework and From Talk to Action are already shaping the next generation of National Strategic Plans on HIV and AIDS globally - below are highlights are where this is already happening:

  • June 2011: ATHENA built from the content and approach of the Framework to identify ten building blocks of the HIV response for women, girls, and gender equality toward the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS that were jointly launched with UNAIDS, UN Women, and the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS on 7 June 2011 in the UN with participation and endorsement by President Kagame of Rwanda, former President Bachelet of Chile, and Prime Minister Wescot-Williams of Saint Maarten, among others. 
  • April 2011: Utilisation of the Framework at the Windhoek Consultation around women, girls, and gender equality toward the 2011 High Level Meeting on AIDS.  HEARD/ATHENA collaborative partners WAC, ARASA, Open Society Institute of Southern Africa, Sonke Gender Justice, Mama's Club, and SWAPOL worked with other regional partners to developed a consensus statement and call for action that aligned with and reflected the Framework content and approach.
  • December 2010-April 2011: Application of the Framework in four countries in Africa, including South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia, through workshops collaboratively convened by the World AIDS Campaign (WAC) and Gestos to rollout the UNAIDS Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, and Gender Equality.
  • December 2010: The Framework is piloted at a workshop in Nairobi, Integrating programming to address gender-based violence and engage men and boys to challenge gender inequality in national AIDS strategies and plans, convened by UNAIDS, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, WHO, and the MenEngage Alliance (Sonke Gender Justice Network and ATHENA Network) in close collaboration with the Interagency Working Group on Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV