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Celebrating Women Leaders on World AIDS Day   
This World AIDS Day is one of celebration. There is a decrease in HIV cases around the world according to a report just issued by UNAIDS, religious leaders have opened discussion surrounding condoms, and there is promising research on prevention and treatment, such as the microbicide study released during the International AIDS Conference in Vienna. Though progress has been made, the face of the epidemic continues to be that of a woman. Despite that fact, there still remains a shortage of women at the decision-making table. CEDPA is working to change this fact by building the capacity of women leaders from the global south who are in turn sharing that knowledge with those around them. Svitlana Moroz (pictured below) was already working for the All-Ukraine Network of People Living with HIV when she heard about CEDPA’s Womenlead in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS workshop. But she felt that she was lacking an understanding of the gender dynamics of the epidemic, so she rushed to be included in the application process.
Svitlana gained a new compassion for mothers of infants infected with HIV at CEDPA’s workshop and continues to speak out for the need for an anti-retroviral drug treatment for expectant mothers living with HIV. She takes every opportunity she can to share what she learned at the workshop. In fact, in 2009 Svitlana agreed to be a facilitator for a new CEDPA-led HIV and AIDS workshop in Nepal as part of the Advancing Women’s Leadership and Advocacy for AIDS Action program. Verónica (Vero) Feicán Carrasco (pictured above) was working in Cuenca, Ecuador when she saw the community clinics that she worked in lacked any sort of knowledge about HIV. When Vero heard about the Advancing Women’s Leadership and Advocacy for AIDS Action workshop she knew that this would be a great chance to increase her own knowledge about HIV and AIDS and begin to disseminate some of this into her community to make a lasting change. When she returned to Ecuador, Vero began to advocate for policy changes, “If I hadn’t done the course with CEDPA, I wouldn’t have asked myself about public policies, about empowering communities, about doing advocacy or about working towards the defense and promotion of rights.” Like Svitlana, when the Latin America Regional workshop took place in 2009, Vero was one of the first to sign on as a facilitator. She was excited to share her knowledge with other women working at the grassroots-level. Svitlana and Vero are not unique. The workshops provide technical depth and engage participants in strategy development and skill building in CEDPA’s signature highly interactive learning environment, which promotes the exchange of expertise and experience. Many alumni express interest in reproducing the workshops for their communities in a more formal manner. To answer that call, with Ford Foundation funding, CEDPA is compiling a training manual geared toward guiding alumni and others in leading workshops on HIV and AIDS advocacy. This manual and a new publication of case studies from the Advancing Women’s Leadership and Advocacy for AIDS Action program are expected to be released in early 2011. Read more about CEDPA’s alumni and the Advancing Women’s Leadership and Advocacy for AIDS Action program. |
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