April 1998, Vol 1. No. 2

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COMMUNITY UPDATES

Here is an update on several main features of activities that will target Community participants this summer in Geneva.

Community Rendez-Vous

The Community Rendez-Vous will be a forum for community exchange and skills development. It will begin on Friday, June 26 in the late afternoon with a retrospective plenary looking back to Vancouver 1996 followed by a community reception. Saturday, June 27 will be a full day consisting of regional and subregional meetings, followed by targeted network meetings on community-based research, human rights, sex work, migration and a joint GNP+/ICW meeting. There will also be Skills Building sessions on treatments activism and computer use. A plenary summary session including community resolutions will take place in the early evening of Thursday, July 2. The main focus of the Community Rendez-Vous will be on communication and mechanisms for better networking.

Registration for the CRV will be offered to all community-based scholarship recipients. There will also be registration (up to 200 people) at Palexpo on June 26 for other community-based delegates who are attending the Conference through other means of support. There will be an overall limit of 200 people from each of the 5 regions of the world.

There will also be alternative meetings preceding the Conference, including a Prevention Symposium, a Nurses' Satellite, a Treatments Activist Training workshop, and various commercial satellites.

Community Symposia

In the evening (from 5:30pm – 8pm) of each of Monday 29 June, Tuesday 30 June and Wednesday 1 July, there will be four or five community-led symposia. These will deal with a number of issues related to community action and HIV/AIDS. The formats for these symposia will vary according to issues, but will focus on interactive exchange including case studies, demonstrations, and workshops.

Topics include strategic lobbying; developing national and international networks; human rights and AIDS; long-term survivors; treatment access by the South for the South; role of HIV+ people in prevention; sex work; alternative and traditional therapies; religion and HIV (how believers are addressing HIV/AIDS within their religious bodies, and lessons to use); and AIDS and media responsibility.

Orientation Sessions

Orientation sessions to help delegates, especially newcomers to large international AIDS conferences, will take place in the morning and early afternoon of Sunday 28 June.

These will be offered in English, French and Spanish and will be approximately an hour in length. They will cover three aspects: making sense of the Conference programme; making sense of the Conference Centre; and making sense of Conference language.

Skills Building Programme

Over the past few years, the Skills Building programme has become an increasingly important component of the programmes at international AIDS conferences. Skills Building programmes offer capacity building in key content areas and complement the scientific sessions.

Skills Building sessions are aimed principally at delegates from the South; poverty and working in resource-poor settings will be addressed in all content areas. Eighteen topic areas have been identified and grouped under five headings: developing/implementing prevention strategies; programme and organisational development; care and treatment of HIV; policy and advocacy; information and communications technology. Specific workshop titles and descriptions will be available by April 15th.

The Skills Building workshops conducted during the course of the Conference will be made up of six to seven workshops offered simultaneously during two time periods (from 11: 00 AM to 2: 30 PM and 3: 00 PM to 6: 30 PM) on Monday 29 June, Tuesday 30 June and Wednesday 1 July, and one time period (from 11: 00 AM to 2: 30 PM) on Thursday 2 July. In addition, several skills building sessions will be offered during the Community Rendez-Vous (Friday 26 June to Saturday 27 June and Friday 3 July). Most skills building sessions will be conducted in English, though some of the workshops will be offered entirely in French or Spanish, and/or targeted to participants working in a specific geographic region.

Visit the Community page of the Conference Web site in Mid-April for an update on the Skills Building Programme.

Child care

Child care will be available for Conference delegates. A special request needs to be made on the registration form or be received at Congrex by May 1, 1998. Please note the child's age and special needs, if any. Basic child care will be free of charge but parents should supply basic needs such as nappies, a change of clothes, etc. and provide for any special dietary requirements.

Community Village

The Community Village will be the central location for NGO and community activity. It will contain the NGO booths and a special area illustrating the Swiss Response to HIV. It will also be the focal point for the Electronic Talking Tree, the 12th World AIDS Conference's message and programme services. The Internet Café will be housed here. Special lounge areas for informal exchange and session overflow viewing will be part of the Village. Just to one side will be a lounge area for PWAs, which will provide basic nourishment needs for diverse medication regimens and a space for rest and relaxation. Through the PWA lounge, delegates can get assistance in readjusting their medication schedules over time zones. Information to this effect will be available on the Conference Web site in April. An area for cultural responses to HIV/AIDS will be accessed through the Village. The Conference Centre, Palexpo, will be non-smoking.

The Community Liaison Officer, Christopher Park, can be reached at
The 12^th World AIDS Conference
94, rue des Eaux-Vives
1207 Geneva
Switzerland

Tel : +41 22 737 33 44
Fax : +41 22 700 33 11
e-mail : park@aids98.ch

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