Hivos not only implements programs that specifically address HIV and human rights. We adopt a rights-based approach throughout our work, making our HIV and AIDS agenda cross-sectional.
We Lead
We Lead strengthens the influence and position of young women whose sexual and reproductive health and rights are neglected the most. It works with young women and adolescent girls who: live with HIV; identify as lesbian, bisexual, trans, or intersex (LBTI); live with a disability; and/or are affected by displacement.
In nine countries in Africa, the Middle East and Central America, the program puts young women rightsholders in the driver’s seat, connecting them with each other in Communities of Action. In these spaces they share knowledge, experiences and ideas, and learn from one another, while they also develop joint strategies to improve their SRHR.
We Lead
The program is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Consortium partners are: Positive Vibes, Restless Development, Marsa, FEMNET, the Central American Women’s Fund, and Hivos as lead party. M&C Saatchi World Services is our technical partner.
The Regional SRHR Fund
The core purpose of the Regional SRHR Fund is to improve access to high quality SRHR information and services for adolescents and youth in all their diversity as underserved populations. It employs policy engagement with duty bearers, youth-driven research, capacity strengthening, and grant making.
Its initiatives aim to build strong, resilient, diverse and well-coordinated youth-led movements and organizations that can challenge young people’s exclusion, amplify their voices, and shift narratives regarding youth sexuality.
The regional SRHR Fund
The fund was set up by Hivos and Ford Foundation in 2010. In 2017, Swedish International Development Cooperation (Sida) enabled the fund to increase its technical and geographical reach across East and Southern Africa. The fund has partnered with over 55 partners across East and Southern Africa and reaches over 15 rightsholder organizations.
ALEP
The “Positive Leadership Alliance & Key Populations” project (ALEP+PC) is a Latin American consortium that aims to improve the living conditions of people living with HIV and of key populations, such as trans people, men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers, and people who use drugs.
ALEP connects Hivos’ work in the impact areas Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Civic Rights in a Digital Age. The program launched the online platform www.observadatos.org to promote the use of open data, oversight, and social control of public policies to ensure an effective and inclusive response to HIV and AIDS.
Alep
ALEP is funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It works in 11 countries and reaches nearly 78 organizations across Latin American and the Caribbean. The program has built partnerships throughout the region with high level institutions such as GNP+, USAID, and several health and fi nance ministries, and with Human Rights Secretaries, to ensure a holistic response to HIV and the needs of key populations.
Our track record
1991: AIDS is a human rights problem
Hivos was one of the first development organizations to respond to the HIV and AIDS pandemic that had hit Africa so hard. We chose an unconventional approach, arguing that AIDS is not a purely medical problem, but a development and human rights problem. Our HIV and AIDS program focused on the dignity and human rights of the groups that were most at risk of infection. As long as these people were discriminated against and stigmatized, they would lack access to HIV prevention and treatment.
Today
We are proud of our strong HIV and AIDS track record in working with key populations. Up to the present, we have consistently focused on the underlying socioeconomic changes that are needed to fight the epidemic. Through our regional offices, we reach those who are most vulnerable to HIV, and who are disproportionately denied access to HIV prevention, care and treatment. We link our HIV work with other areas of Hivos’ work because we believe bringing together perspectives of governance, health, rights, and poverty reduction can lead to effective cross-cutting interventions.
Unheard Voices
One of the focus areas of our KP Reach program (2016 – 2017) was developing and spreading messages co-created with LGBTIQ+ and sex worker organizations to reduce stigma and discrimination amongst key segments of the public.
The Unheard Voices campaign featured positive stories that modeled a new social norm of embracing Key Populations. The campaign – developed together with M&C Saatchi –measurably improved public sentiment in eight countries in Southern Africa. The accompanying radio campaign reached over 33 million people.
