Introducing Ian Michado Sebastian Royer – RFP Caribbean

I started my career in Advocacy in 2006 at a United Nations Global Youth Conference in New York City. Truth be told, I was a wide-eyed and hopeful young man who wanted to be a superhero and make great changes.

In 2009 my mentors from the UN, Djibril Diallo and Richard Leonard, switched from UNDP to UNAIDS and I found myself plunged head first into the global HIV Response. In 2010 I was also elected the Co-Chair of the Campaign to End AIDS Youth Caucus. During these past two years, I have realized how important it is to treat the pandemic with vigor and innovation.

Since 2009 I have dedicated a great portion of my time training young advocates, working on global declarations of youth, shaking up the system, and fostering talented young people across the globe with a challenge to empower themselves and inspire others for greater change. In the last few years I have participated and assisted drafting declarations for the 5th Summit of the Americas, the UNAIDS Mali 2011 Youth Conference, and many more.

I’ve been working on the Rotary Club of Central Port of Spain’s Model United Nations Assembly here in Trinidad and Tobago, working with approximately 100 youth. At the MUNA, the team I lead is responsible for the training curriculum and relevant topics. This year we challenged the delegate to create a declaration based on the usage of a fictional HIV vaccine that was discovered. It was exciting to watch the delegates equip themselves with knowledge of the virus and the political implications of finding a cure. It is even more delightful to discover that, now that the program is over, they are still interested in developing a youth movement for HIV/AIDS in the months to come.

In June of this year I will be spearheading a conference with my fellow Co-Chair, Tony Ray of the C2EAYOUTH, in Washington, D.C. Here we will develop an advocate boot camp for a select group of 25 young people from across the United States with a particular focus on affecting the International AIDS Conference. This is a program that I am continuously supportive of and hope to grow in the near future.

I am very grateful to be GYCA’s Regional Focal Point for the Caribbean and I believe this election was very timely. The beliefs of GYCA fall in line with my own and the talent and support systems that are in the organization is quite encouraging to me. 2012-2013 looks to be an exciting year and as I plan my goals as the Caribbean RFP, I will say this: I am dedicated to empowering the region’s youth and affecting the HIV/AIDS response with a particular focus on young people and how they impact Policy Makers.

Read more

Introducing William Stringer - RFP Western Europe

Hello! My name’s Will and I’m the new Regional Focal Point for Western Europe. Ready for an amazing two years? Yeah! But first, I’d like to introduce myself.

I’m from the rural heart of Northern Ireland, surrounded largely by grass and cows, and came to be involved with HIV and AIDS activism through a charity called Restless Development. Restless Development is a youth-led development agency, which basically means they believe that young people are the answer, and that not involving them in development work is counterproductive.

For the past two years I’ve been volunteering with them as a journalist for the UK dance4life programme, a HIV and AIDS programme which operates internationally. My experience there includes researching, interviewing and consequently producing articles aimed at increasing youth awareness of HIV and AIDS issues, as well as getting other young people actively engaged with tackling these through actions.

Within the past year I have stepped up my volunteering to a new level. Whilst continuing working with dance4life, I have also had the opportunity to tailor Rafi.ki’s online information on HIV and AIDS issues. Rafi.ki is a network of school-age young people from around the world, looking to be engaged through school networks, on many global issues. It was a fantastic opportunity, which made me think increasingly about the possibility of working on grassroots projects overseas.

I feel that I need experience in grassroots projects to inform my understanding of poverty and HIV and AIDS issues in countries outside of Western Europe. This will hopefully give me the understanding necessary to produce real change within the Western Europe region, both on national HIV and AIDS issues and international. Therefore, from April 15th, I will be spending 12 weeks in Nepal, working with young people in an area just outside Kathmandu called Dhading. It’s an amazing opportunity, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! In these next two years we can see real change; we just need more young people engaged.

Read more

Public Health Institute Becomes GYCA's New Host

For the last 3 years, GYCA has been a program of TakingITGlobal (TIG), an international youth organization based in Toronto, Canada. February 1, 2012 marked the beginning of a new cycle for GYCA.

The Public Health Institute (PHI), based in Oakland, California and Washington, D.C., will serve as GYCA’s fiscal and operational host moving forward, while GYCA’s programming aspects, including capacity-building e-courses and Focal Points programs, will operate out of GYCA's Northern and Southern Secretariats in New York and Ghana. As a program of PHI, GYCA will continue its work to build the capacity of young leaders in the global HIV response.

The Regional Focal Points of the 13 regions of the world where GYCA works will continue working on advocacy, capacity building and information sharing with young activists who are connected through our listserv and our website www.gyca.org

We want to express our gratitude to our founding partner TakingITGlobal and its Executive Director, Jennifer Corriero, for support during the time that GYCA was a part of TIG. Given our history and dynamic membership, we are certain that this transition will allow GYCA to maintain its position as one of the most important youth-led organizations working in the field of sexual and reproductive health and HIV globally. GYCA and TIG will continue to collaborate around GYCA's e-courses and online platform.

The GYCA team is currently conducting e-courses, preparing for the International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. as a part of the YouthForce, and conducting several activities at the regional and local level. If you want to know more about us and our members visit www.gyca.org or follow us on Twitter (@_GYCA_) and our Facebook page.

For further information please get in touch with Lindsay Menard-Freeman, Program Coordinator, at lindsay@gyca.org.

Read more

Organization Highlight - Global Network of People Living with HIV

GNP+ is the global network for and by people living with HIV, which advocates to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV. As a network of networks, GNP+ is driven by the needs of people living with HIV worldwide. Based on emancipation and self-determination, GNP+ works with independent and autonomous regional and national networks of people living with HIV in all continents.

The young people living with HIV programme (Y+ Programme) is a GNP+ programme for and led by young people living with HIV (YPLHIV). GNP+ established the Y+ Programme to address specific gaps in the HIV response and to address the specific needs of young people living with HIV (aged 15-30). The Y+ Programme has 3 principle aims: (a) To strengthen the global network of young people living with HIV (Y+ Network), by supporting and enabling YPLHIV and their networks and organizations to mobilize, share information and learn from one another; (b) To consult with YPLHIV and build an evidence base that informs advocacy efforts; (c) To advocate for the rights and needs of young people living with HIV through supporting GNP+ own advocacy and through supporting the work of partner organizations.

The Y+ programme is supported and guided by an Advisory Group made up of young people living with HIV from around the world. The Y+ Advisory Group was established to provide support and guidance to the coordination of the Y+ programme and to GNP+ programming more generally. They are also a resource for other stakeholders seeking to strengthen their work with young people living with HIV.

Notable activities over the last 12 months have included: establishing a set of tools which support the greater involvement of young people living with HIV in the HIV response both for organizations and networks and for individual young people themselves; conducting a number of different consultations with young people living with HIV to identify their specific needs on a number of different issues; designing a Leadership Programme for young people living with HIV to build their leadership skills and capacity.

If you would like to know more about the Y+ Programme, go to the GNP+ website. To join the Y+ Listserve, please send a blank email to:
ypluslistserve+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You can also join the Facebook group.

Read more

Young People Present First-Ever 'Crowdsourced' Recommendations for AIDS Response in UN History

ABUJA, 24 April 2012—Youth leaders from around the world today presented a set of youth-defined recommendations that will guide the UNAIDS Secretariat’s work on HIV and young people through 2015. The recommendations were received by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé at an event in the Paiko community near Abuja, organized together with Nigerian youth leaders and government officials.

Based on the voices and views of more than 5,000 young people from 79 countries, the recommendations resulted from CrowdOutAIDS, an innovative youth-led policy project initiated by UNAIDS. Leveraging crowdsourcing technology and new media tools, the five-month project enabled young people to fully participate in the development of strategic recommendations for the UNAIDS Secretariat’s youth agenda.

“I am so impressed by the dedication, energy and enthusiasm that young people have shown through the CrowdOutAIDS initiative,” said Mr Sidibé. “The recommendations they have presented to UNAIDS will help us mobilize a new generation of young leaders and we will work together to stop new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths.”

Presenting the recommendations to UNAIDS, Gabriel Adeyemo, a young Nigerian activist, described CrowdOutAIDS as a ‘high level meeting’—but ‘by and for’ young people. “It brought decision-making to the grassroots, to the skilled and unskilled, learned and unlearned, rich and poor, to contribute to an issue that affects all our lives: HIV," said Adeyemo, who is also the West Africa Focal Point for the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS.

Globally, an estimated five million young people (15-24 years of age) are living with HIV. About 3,000 young people are newly infected with HIV each day. According to recent surveys in low- and middle-income countries, only 24% of young women and 36% of young men responded correctly when asked questions on HIV prevention and transmission.

Through CrowdOutAIDS, young people proposed six key recommendations for the UNAIDS Secretariat, including:
1. Strengthen young people’s skills for effective leadership at all levels of the AIDS response;
2. Ensure the full participation of youth in the AIDS response at country, regional, and global levels;
3. Improve young people’s access to HIV-related information;
4. Diversify and strengthen strategic networks between the UNAIDS Secretariat, youth networks, and other key players;
5. Increase the UNAIDS Secretariat’s outreach to both formal and informal networks of young people; and,
6. Increase young people’s access to financial support.

“We have worked together, using the simplest tools—each one of us in their own corner of the world—to create spaces of exchange and draft this important document in real-time, public online sessions,” said Zahra Benyahia, a CrowdOutAIDS drafting committee member. “This is not the end. It’s the first step toward revolutionary youth leadership in the AIDS response.”

The full set of recommendations are presented in Strategy recommendations for collaborating with a new generation of leaders in the AIDS response—the first-ever “crowdsourced” AIDS-related document in UN history. The recommendations, together with an internal organizational assessment on HIV and young people, will inform the UNAIDS Secretariat’s New Generation Leadership Strategy.

Read more

Joseph Hindogbae Kposowa - Awareness Campaign Workshop in Bumpe

I am a final-year student of Fourah Bay College University of Sierra Leone and volunteer for the Kposowa Foundation where I work with a group of high school students from Bumpe High School (BHS) to campaign Against HIV/AIDS, STDs and Teenage Pregnancy. I wrote a proposal last year to the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, New York which funded a workshop to involve high school students in spreading a Campaign Against HIV/AIDS at the local level.

Held on March 21st, 2012 at the United Brethren in Christ Elementary School Hall, the workshop commenced with 90 participants from various schools in Bumpe. The purpose of the workshop originated from the viewing of the United Nations Student Conference on Human Rights (UNSCHR) held in NYC. The conference was coupled with presentations by various groups of students on the Discrimination Against Human Right Defenders, Disability, HIV/AIDS, and Racism. The conference inspired the students of BHS and skyrocketed their desire after holding a Mini Conference via Skype with Berkeley Carroll students.

The purpose of the workshop was to create awareness about HIV/AIDS among students and community people in Bumpe, to share information pertaining to the existence of HIV/AIDS, and to introduce the teaching of epidemic diseases into the curriculum. The session taught students about the hazards of HIV/AIDS, preventing STDs and teenage pregnancy, and served to create an interactive health program for Bumpe students.

Conference participants included the BHS HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign Group, responsible for the smooth running of the workshop. Students from various classes in BHS also shared their workshop experience with other students, thereby promoting awareness. Participants included students and their teachers from the three Elementary Schools in Bumpe who will be sharing their experience with other students in their school.

Facilitators of the workshop included members or medical practitioner from a health organization known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – an international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflicts, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural or manmade disasters. The MSF group spoke about the causes, symptoms, and preventions of HIV/AIDS and STDs to the students.

The students in Bumpe now have awareness about HIV/AIDS and STDs. Students were able to better understand the hazards of HIV/AIDS, STDs and Teenage pregnancy. The issue of campaigning against HIV/AIDS and STDS has skyrocketed in the desire of many students. Students were able to understand the symptoms, causes and preventions of HIV/AIDS and STDS. Charts, pills and condoms were provided for students who cannot afford them. Students were advised by teachers and medical workers to try to abstain from sexual activities. The students also expressed many thanks to the BC School for making this workshop a possibility.

Read more