• LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN KENYA HOLD POLICY AND DIALOGUE FORUM ON HIV/AIDS – MAY2003
  
• UNAPP AND WORLD BANK FACILITATE AND SUPPORT ACTIONS ON HIV/AIDS IN CITIES AND TOWNS IN BENIN – MAY 2003
  
• BLANTYRE CITY ASSEMBLY IN MALAWI LAUNCHES HIV/AIDS INITIATIVE – MAY 2003
  
• SENIOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT MANAGERS IN SOUTH AFRICA TACKLE ISSUE OF LIVING POSITIVELY WITH HIV/AIDS – JUNE 2003
  
• US CONFERENCE OF MAYORS ANNUAL MEETING AND 2ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF MAYORS – JUNE 2003

LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN KENYA HOLD POLICY AND DIALOGUE FORUM ON HIV/AIDS – MAY 2003
Representatives of the Association of Local Government Authorities of Kenya (ALGAK), National AIDS Control Council (NACC), Ministry of Local Government, Kenyan Association of NGOs, Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Kenyan Local Government Workers Union, Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa, UNDP and UN AMICAALL Partnership Programme (UNAPP) jointly planned and organized a Policy and Dialogue Forum on HIV/AIDS, 13-15 May in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants included over 350 mayors, councilors and town clerks from Kenya and representatives of local authority associations in Rwanda, Tanzania andUganda. The meeting was opened by the Deputy Minister of State, President’s Office. After the forum, the ALGAK Annual General Meeting was held and endorsed a resolution urging greater involvement of local government authorities in the response to HIV/AIDS and launch of a National Chapter of the Alliance in Kenya, tentatively scheduled for October 2003. NACC has proposed reviewing current strategies to enable local government to contribute more effectively to the national response to HIV/AIDS.

UNAPP AND WORLD BANK FACILITATE AND SUPPORT ACTIONS ON HIV/AIDS IN CITIES AND TOWNS IN BENIN - MAY 2003
The UN AMICAALL Partnership Programme (UN APP) and World Bank conducted a joint mission to Benin in May 2003 to identify ways and means of supporting mayors and municipal leaders to become more actively engaged in responding to HIV/AIDS in their cities and towns. UNAPP and World Bank (Urban Programme) are working together to enhance capacities at the local government level to confront the growing challenges of HIV/AIDS. The mission team met with key stakeholders in the country. A workshop was held which brought together mayors and local leaders, UNAIDS and UN representatives, national and international agencies, and NGOs to share information on local government responses to HIV/AIDS in other countries, the work of the Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa and AMICAALL. A follow-up plan of action is being developed.

BLANTYRE CITY ASSEMBLY IN MALAWI LAUNCHES HIV/AIDS INITIATIVE - MAY 2003
Mayors and municipal leaders from Blantyre City and Zomba Municipality have expressed strong interest in becoming more engaged in the response to HIV/AIDS in their cities. In May 2003, the Blantyre City Assembly hosted a meeting that brought together representatives from Malawi Local Government Association (MALGA), National AIDS Council, Council of NGOs in Malawi (CONGOMA), UN AMICAALL Partnership Programme (UN APP), the Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa, UN and other partners. About 40 people attended this meeting which initiated a process to develop a municipal HIV/AIDS program in Blantyre City and launch a National Chapter of the Alliance in Malawi. UNDP funding is supporting preparatory activities, such as: leadership for results training; city consultation activities, with support from the Urban Management Programme; and establishment of an HIV/AIDS information center in Blantyre, with technical support from SAfAIDS, an NGO based in Zimbabwe. A commitment was made to launch the Malawi Chapter of the Alliance, tentatively in August.

SENIOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT MANAGERS IN SOUTH AFRICA TACKLE ISSUE OF LIVING POSITIVELY WITH HIV/AIDS – JUNE 2003
Stigma, fear and discrimination still block efforts to address HIV/AIDS. To sensitize local government authorities and leaders to the importance of creating a more enabling environment for people living with HIV/AIDS, the Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa, with support from the UN AMICAALL Partnership Programme (UN APP) sponsored a presentation by Major Rubaramira Ruranga on “living positively with HIV/AIDS” at the Annual Conference of the Institute for Local Government Management of South Africa in June, 2003. Major Ruranga, who serves in the Ugandan army and is coordinator of the National Guidance and Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda has been living with HIV for 20 years.

US CONFERENCE OF MAYORS ANNUAL MEETING AND 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF MAYORS – JUNE 2003
The Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa was invited to participate in the US Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting and 2nd International Conference of Mayors. The Alliance was represented by African mayors from Namibia, Uganda and Swaziland, and the Deputy Coordinator of the Alliance. African mayors urged local government leaders to embrace the challenges of HIV/AIDS and to spearhead a global movement, based on solidarity amongst cities and towns, to ensure that increased capacity and resources are available at the local level. At the Conference US and African Mayors were able to share and exchange information, build trust and solidarity and strengthen ties for future collaboration. Through a partnership between the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the US Conference of Mayors and the UN AMICAALL Partnership Programme (UN APP), city-to-city cooperation to address HIV/AIDS is being promoted and facilitated between US and African cities within the framework of the Alliance of Mayors’ Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL). (Copy of Alliance statement delivered at the Conference is available on this website, at: http://www.amicaall.org/publications/statement/usConference.html)

AMICAALL (Alliance of Mayors’ Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level) is the strategy for translating the goals of the Alliance into concrete actions in countries.

The UN-AMICAALL Partnership Programme was established in April 2001 to support development of the Alliance and its country programmes.

For more information, visit AMICAALL website:  www.amicaall.org
Or contact the UN-AMICAALL Partnership Programme Director Mina Mauerstein-Bail:   mina.mauerstein-bail@undp.org

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