The Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa

Mayors and municipal leaders can be a vital link between the local and the national. They sit at the crossroads between national and local decision-making and policy formulation. Local authorities, working in partnership with civil society organizations and local communities, can make a significant contribution to scaling up and sustaining effective responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The Alliance was established to promote an expanded, multisectoral response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the local level. During the Xth International Conference on HIV/AIDS and STDs in Africa (1997) a symposium on HIV, development and the role of local government was held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Sponsored by the City of Abidjan, the National Association of Ivorian Mayors, the United Nations Development Programme and UNAIDS, the symposium led to mayors and municipal leaders from 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa issuing the Abidjan Declaration - a call to action on the epidemic by all mayors and local authorities. The Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa was officially launched during the 1998 Africities Summit in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The Alliance has adopted statutes and a streamlined management structure. An Executive Secretariat has been established, hosted by the City of Windhoek, Namibia, with support from the Government of Namibia. As well as being the institutional focal point for the Alliance, the Secretariat provides management and administrative support to activities of the Alliance, promotes the AMICAALL strategy and encourages partnerships. A regional liaison office is being set up in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

National chapters of the Alliance have been launched in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.  

AMICAALL - The Alliance of Mayors Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level

The Alliance has developed a strategy: Alliance of Mayors' Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL), reflecting the importance of locally led, multisectoral action which complements supportive national policies. The AMICAALL strategy is inclusive (involving a broad range of stakeholders); responsive (reacting to locally articulated needs and brokering dialogue among local people, municipalities, policy-makers and decision-makers); gender sensitive (responding to the different experiences of men and women in terms of vulnerability, response and impact); and dynamic (local action informs national policy which in turn supports a more enabling environment for sustained responses; strengthened management and financial systems at the local level provide the foundations for scaling up responses to the epidemic).

Most importantly the actions of the Alliance and its members represent concrete examples of how local governments, working in partnership with civil society and local communities, are beginning to translate principles and goals into concrete action in African cities, towns and communities. Mechanisms are being developed to facilitate rapid disbursement of funds to communities in need and to help countries diversify their sources of funding to address the epidemic. Action-oriented monitoring and reporting tools are being developed to promote understanding of what is working, and what is not, and to make the necessary adjustments.

The UN-AMICAALL Partnership Programme

The UN AMICAALL Partnership Programme, launched in April 2001, with the support of UNAIDS, works together with the Alliance and other partners to strengthen capacities to develop and scale up multisectoral responses to HIV/AIDS at the local level. The Programme is providing support in the following areas:

• Advocacy and Promotion of Partnerships
• Programme Development at Country Level
• Resource Mobilisation
• Documentation and Sharing of Lessons Learned
• Institutional Support to the Alliance