Funding Priorities
1. Leadership
Over the years, resources and responses to HIV have adapted to significant shifts in the nature of the pandemic. Leadership must also evolve. For example:
- As HIV affects women in disproportionately greater numbers than men, it becomes even more important to enlist women into HIV leadership at local and global levels.
- Twenty-five years ago, the AIDS response was led by impassioned individuals, many of whom found themselves in the midst of a battle for their own lives. Today, the same passion and urgency is needed to keep us committed to reaching our goal: a world without AIDS.
- In the 1980s, the heart of AIDS action was located in civil society. Most business leaders and governments had not yet embraced HIV as an issue deserving public recognition and intervention. With leadership now squarely in the public sector, we must develop a shared leadership approach that combines community, business, the public sector and the emerging global forum.
2. Accountability
Systems need to be in place at global and local levels to ensure that people and institutions fulfill their commitments by holding leaders to account and tracking their progress. For example:
- The heads of governments around the world have committed themselves to leading their national HIV action efforts by signing on to the UN Millennium Development Goals and the principles of the Three Ones—which also apply to bilateral and multilateral donors. They must be held to these promises.
- Religious leaders, teachers, artists, entertainers and athletes influence the beliefs and behaviors of large segments of societies. Establishing accountability among such cultural tone-setters is critical to defeating AIDS.
- The Global North must be held accountable for the effects its donor actions have in the recipient nations of the Global South. In turn, the leaders of the South must be accountable to their citizens for safeguarding their well-being as they engage with the North.
3. Equity
Equity should be the core value in responding to HIV. Key work in this area includes:
- Guaranteeing that women as well as men are active in articulating and implementing HIV policies and programs around the world.
- Ensuring that people living with HIV, in regions around the world and from all walks of life, have access to state-of-the-art treatments and services and are free of stigma and discrimination.
- Making certain that the vast majority of the world's population remains HIV-free and is equipped with a full range of prevention options.
- Preparing individuals to make informed and voluntary sexual decisions without being subjected to discrimination or violence.
4. Partnership
The Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS emphasizes the value of a partnership approach because:
- HIV transmission reflects multidimensional causes and results within complex scenarios; therefore, successful responses demand cooperation across disciplines and sectors.
- Local HIV epidemics impact each other; the global pandemic is a mosaic of multiple local epidemics. None will be controlled in isolation; all demand collective actions.
- Within an epidemic, no one entity holds full responsibility; nor can one entity implement a solution alone.
Your Role
The Ford Foundation Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS has grown out of a series of conversations with the world's leading experts and people—including those living with HIV/AIDS—who represent a range of disciplines and viewpoints. This collaborative process will continue to be the central focus of the initiative, guiding our operations and our working relationships with grantees and partners.
As a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS, whether you are a policy maker, a person living with HIV/AIDS or a health care practitioner, we want to hear from you. We can be reached at HIVinitiative@fordfound.org.
We are especially interested in consulting with colleagues whose HIV/AIDS work has global implications for policy and practice. To seek assistance with country-specific or regional HIV grants and activities, feel free to contact the appropriate Ford Foundation regional office.