Mexico, 31 July and 1 August 2008
Reaffirming Positive Leadership
Agenda
Key messages
The summit is a gathering of 300 PLHIV leaders from around the world focusing on common HIV advocacy issues.
International People Living with HIV (PLHIV) conferences have been regularly held in various locations around the world since 1986, the latest ones being Poland 1999, Trinidad/Tobago 2001, and Uganda 2003.
These meetings were seen as successful in terms of bringing together hundreds of positive people from around the world in a safe and empowering environment contributing to a strengthening of the PHLIV movement.
However, the international PLHIV conference that was planned for Peru in 2005 was postponed and then eventually cancelled due to financial constraints.
To re-affirm the commitment to this global gathering, several organizations, convened by the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), have formed the Living 2008 Partnership.
The Living 2008 Partnership is consortium of organizations committed to strengthening the movement of PLHIV and their communities and is composed of the following organizations:
• Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+)
• International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW)
• International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
• International HIV/AIDS Alliance
• International AIDS Society (IAS)
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
• International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)
• The Mexican Network of People Living with HIV
• Sidaction
• United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
• World Health Organization (WHO)
Because these regular gatherings of PLHIV are seen by the Living 2008 Partnership, as a vital component of the global HIV response, the partnership has proposed that an international PLHIV gathering be held immediately prior to AIDS 2008.
The summit is a gathering of 300 PLHIV leaders from around the world focusing on common HIV advocacy issues.
This gathering will be a ‘stand-alone’ Positive Leadership Summit, logistically and programmatically linked to AIDS 2008, and PLHIV focused themes and activities will continue to be an important component of AIDS 2008.
Being a conference for people living with HIV, all the delegates will be living with HIV.
The IAS has joined the Living 2008 Partnership to facilitate open communication between all key organisations involved in planning for Living 2008 and AIDS 2008.
It is expected that there will be approximately three hundred delegates to Living 2008.
The Global Network of PLHIV (GNP+)—as the only world wide network of all PLHIV— will coordinate and facilitate the planning and operation of LIVING 2008.
However, all other organisations in the Partnership are equally committed to making Living 2008 a success, especially in engaging their networks and partners at global, regional, country and community level.
Expected Outcomes of Living 2008
1. Delegates will have shared their experiences, knowledge and opinions, and gained a greater understanding of the issues affecting PLHIV throughout the world, particularly those issues related to universal access.
2. Delegates identify points of consensus on key issues and develop appropriate actions to address these concerns within their own agenda’s and those of their organizations.
3. PLHIV voices from marginalized populations will have had opportunities to express their viewpoints, both at sessions dealing with their specific issues and in the general sessions of Living 2008.
4. PLHIV will have developed new skills through skills building sessions that they will be able to implement in their day to day practice and lives on return to their communities.
5. A concise PLHIV statement of issues of concern and proposed actions - (partially drafted by the Living 2008 Partnership before the conference) will be further developed, refined and endorsed by delegates to Living 2008, and then presented at AIDS 2008, in various forums, including media conference, rapporteur sessions etc., as well as published in the AIDS 2008 daily newsletter and through various other media.
6. A plan of action will have been developed and published in the form of the summit report and will become an important component of the ongoing strengthening of the PLHIV movement.
It is vital that the issues identified during Living 2008 that require attention and action are recorded and followed-up.
The Living 2008 Partnership is committed to ensure this follow-up happens in a timely and effective manner, and the LIVING 2008 report is intended to provide a framework for future action in this regard.
Visit the Living 2008 website at www.living2008.org