Civil society development activities
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Civil society involvement in the Commission on AIDS in Asia
Authors:
Publisher:
Health and Development Networks, 2009
The Commission on AIDS in Asia (CAA) was an independent body established in 2006. Over a period of 18 months, the Commission conducted a thorough analysis of the developmental consequences of the AIDS epidemic in the region, and its medium- to long-term implications on the socio-economic environment. The Civil Society Representative of the Commission on AIDS in Asia aimed to help ensure that civil society opinion and input from the region was fully incorporated into the work it was mandated to accomplish. This document outlines the CAA from the perspective of Frika Chia Iskandar, who was the only civil society representative on the Commission and was entrusted to give the civil society voice and perspective into the CAA recommendations.
The author outlines the process of the Consultation and provides information on the methodology and survey findings. The document explains how the CAA report provided a unique opportunity to lobby for the inclusion of advocacy points and community perspectives to be included into the report. The civil society chapter and inclusion was different and significant because the community discussions and viewpoints went beyond the simplistic ''include community' stage to inclusion and discussion at a high-level. The following recommendations were made:
- civil society consultation is necessary to ensure that policy and programming planning is representative of the needs of affected communities
- broad civil society participation provides valuable contributions to enhance civil society representatives’ ability to represent in bodies such as the CAA, UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and UNITAID
- civil society consultations can be simple, effective and replicable
- strong civil society consultations need to be fed back to the constituent base
- networks are effective mechanisms for engaging a broad range of stakeholders
