Joint Learning Initiative On Children and HIV/AIDS

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Latest LG1 Newsletter

Please read the latest newsletter for Learning Group 1, Strengthening Families. In this issue, LG1 showcases the completion of LG1 papers and presents an overview of JLICA's activities at the XVII International AIDS conference in Mexico and updates you on key meetings. Previous issues of the newsletter are located further down on this page.

High-profile for JLICA at 4th Global Partners Forum, Oct. 6-7, 2008

JLICA achieved a high profile at the Fourth Global Partners Forum on Children affected by HIV and AIDS, which was held at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin, Ireland on October 6-7, 2008 and co-hosted by Irish Aid, Department of Foreign Affairs, and UNICEF. The high-level forum brought together approximately 150 delegates from key stakeholder organizations. Peter Power, Ireland’s Minister for Overseas Development, and Annie Lennox, singer-songwriter and prominent HIV/AIDS activist, were among the key speakers.

Professor Linda Richter’s plenary address summarized JLICA’s key findings and was enthusiastically received. JLICA colleagues Dr. Alex de Waal (Co-Chair of Learning Group 4 on Social and Economic Policies), Professor Lorraine Sherr (Co-Chair of Learning Group 1 on Strengthening Families), Dr. Lydia Mungherera (Co-Chair of Learning Group 3 on Expanding Access to Services and Protecting Human Rights), and Nathan Nshakira (member of Learning Group 2 on Community Action), all had prominent roles in the four panel discussions that explored the Forum’s main policy and programming areas.

The GPF strikingly confirmed the degree to which JLICA’s arguments have influenced thinking and discourse among key stakeholders, among which are importantly UNAIDS and UNICEF. The final GPF communiqué reflected an emerging consensus JLICA has done much to crystallize, around ideas such as family-centered policy; strengthening community action; social protection as a key instrument for improving children’s wellbeing in the context of HIV and AIDS; integrated service delivery; child participation; and policy and programming approaches that are AIDS-sensitive, not AIDS-exclusive.

Please visit the Irish Aid website where all documents have now been posted, including presentations, speeches, the list of participants and the finalised communique.

JLICA findings make headway at regional level at Regional Inter-Agency Task Team on HIV and AIDS conference on children, Sep. 27- Oct. 2, 2008

JLICA made great progress at the regional level through its participation at the Regional Inter-Agency Task Team on HIV/AIDS (RIATT) conference on children in Dar es Salaam, Sep. 27 – Oct 2, 2008. With the theme "Getting it Right for Children" the meeting, sponsored by UNICEF and REPSSI among other partners, convened delegates from governments, civil society groups, and UN agencies, from 19 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. The purpose of the conference was to review progress to date in responding to issues facing children affected by HIV and AIDS, and engage young people and older carers in shaping the agenda for scale-up. To this end, 22 youth delegates, and a smaller group older carers played a central role in contributing to conference deliberations and recommendations.

Professor Linda Richter, Co-Chair of Learning Group 1 on Strengthening Families, delivered a strong key note address at the plenary session on October 1, which gave a regional audience the opportunity to hear the findings from Learning Group 1, in particular for those not present at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City.

Dr. Geoff Foster, Co-Chair of Learning Group 2 on Community Action, and Masuma Mamdani, Co-Chair of Learning Group 4 on Social and Economic Policies, both presented on the main panel which followed, on integrating and coordinating responses to children in the context of HIV. Dr. Foster looked at alignment of civil society organizations to national OVC priorities in the Eastern and Southern Africa region. Ms. Mamdani addressed the role of government and other actors in designing, financing and implementing social protection policy. In mini-plenary sessions, Dr. Lydia Mungherera, Co-Chair of Learning Group 3 on Expanding Access to Services and Protecting Human Rights and Dr. Alayne Adams, JLICA Executive Co-Director, both presented on the family and community based approaches panel. Richard Mabala, member of Learning Group 4, analyzed mapping of HIV vulnerability among adolescent girls in Tanzania.

Throughout the week, JLICA colleagues also participated in afternoon country delegate breakout sessions, which enabled delegates to engage more directly with the issues from morning sessions. Delegates were very receptive of JLICA recommendations and incorporated them into their deliberations.

Dr. Adams was a key part of the committee which drafted the RIATT recommendations, which included a number of JLICA themes under the following categories: keep children and families alive; strengthen families as a unit of care, increase effectiveness of service and care, and human rights for vulnerable children. These recommendations subsequently fed into the Global Partners Forum the following week.

Please click here to access presentations made at RIATT by JLICA participants.

JLICA reveals emerging findings at International AIDS Conference in Mexico City

JLICA garnered international attention and high-level media coverage at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, August 3-8, 2008.

JLICA participated in multiple events at the conference, including a plenary on August 2, 2008 at the pre-conference Symposium, “Children and HIV/AIDS: Action How, Action Now,” organized by the Coalition on Children and Affected by AIDS (CCABA). Moderated by Helene Gayle, President and CEO of CARE USA, the interactive session was structured as a talk-show discussion focused on JLICA’s key messages including family–centered social protection strategies; innovative approaches to channeling resources to community–based organizations; and models of successful, integrated, family–centered service delivery. Approximately 500 participants were in attendance.

Child welfare expert and JLICA Learning Group Co-Chair Professor Linda Richter (Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa) delivered the first plenary address on the epidemic's impact on children's wellbeing in the Conference's 23-year history to a packed 5,000-person audience on August 6, 2008. Professor Richter recommended redirecting policies, programmes and funding to families; rethinking policies to develop comprehensive and integrated family-centred services, giving much greater attention to social protection for poor families, and expanding the use of income transfers.

The event was followed by press conference for both Linda Richter’s plenary address as well as a press conference for JLICA. The Initiative organized a satellite session entitled “Beyond the Orphan Crisis: Findings of the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS“ on the evening of August 6 to an audience of approximately 250 delegates. Key speakers included Michel Sidibé (UNAIDS); Julio Frenk (newly appointed Dean, Harvard School of Public Health and former Minister of Health, Mexico); and Agnes Binagwaho (Rwanda National AIDS Control Commission).

JLICA participation at Mexico City was crucial to the dissemination and uptake of key emerging recommendations and findings, securing a high international profile for the initiative, and influencing the global dialogue on meeting the needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Please click here to access key news coverage of JLICA at Mexico City.

Please visit conference and symposium materials to access presentations from JLICA events at Mexico City.

Go to For the Media to access JLICA media materials for the conference.