Addis Ababa — The Economic Commission for Africa, as organiser of the African Development Forum 2000, invites you to participate in A GLOBAL ONLINE DISCUSSION ON AIDS: The GREATEST LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE
The online discussion will be launched on 1 July 2000 preceding the Forum, which will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 22-26 October 2000.
The African Development Forum (ADF) is an initiative led by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to position an African-driven development agenda that produces a consensus among major partners and that leads to specific programmes for country implementation.
The aim of the African Development Forum is to present the key stakeholders in African development (governments, civil society, the private sector, researchers and academics, intergovernmental organisations and donors) with the results of current research and opinion on key development issues in order to formulate shared goals and priorities, draft action programmes and define the environment that will enable African countries to implement these programmes.
The Forum meets annually on a different development issue. The 1999 Forum was the first, and was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 24-28 October 1999, on the theme "The Challenge to Africa of Globalization and the Information Age". The second Forum, ADF 2000, will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 22-26 October 2000 on the theme "AIDS: the greatest leadership challenge". Additional information is available on the ADF web site at: http://www.un.org/depts/eca/adf2000
Online discussions in the African Development Forum are open to participants from around the world interested in issues of AIDS and African development. The discussion list will be moderated. In order to assure that those with limited Internet access can participate, the dialogue will be conducted by means of an e-mail list, with summaries of posted messages archived to the ADF web site. Summaries of the discussion will be posted to the ADF web site.
Your contributions are sought on the following discussion themes:
1. POLICY THEMES OF The CONFERENCE:
AIDS and Development (July 1 to June 14) - Macroeconomic impact and development implications for Africa - Extent of impact on various economic and social sectors and indicators - Impact on military and security personnel and systems that keep the peace - Increased poverty of victims, families and communities
Learning from country responses (July 15 to July 28) - Mobilize broad community support in the fight against HIV/AIDS - Showcase examples of sustained actions at national level - Overcome stigma and denial
Building on lessons learned from intensified responses to HIV/AIDS (July 29 to August 11) - Develop leadership at all level - Develop partnership at different level - Mobilize resources, set priorities and the design and implement innovative financing mechanisms - Use local institutions, communities and public and private sector efficiently
Leadership role and approaches for an effective HIV/AIDS responses (August 12 to August 25) - Partnership in leadership at international level for an emergency response to counter the spread and devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa - Partnership in leadership at national and community level for a greatly intensified response to HIV/AIDS - Partnership in leadership with people living with HIV/AIDS (PWHAs)
2. SPECIAL ISSUES OF EMPHASIS:
In addition to the main conference themes, there will be five focus groups on: gender; youth; People living with HIV/AIDS; Diaspora; and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
The focus groups are special interest groups providing an opportunity for people to air their perspectives on the issues by reacting to the proposals to be made with respect to each sub-theme of the conference, report to the plenary their perspectives on the issues, and shape their own recommendations.
The discussions will focus on:
- Gender issues in the fight against HIV/AIDS (August 26 to September 1) - The leadership role of People Living with HIV/AIDS (September 2 to September 8) - The role of the youth in the fight against HIV/AIDS (September 9 to September 15) - The leadership role of the African Diaspora in the fight against HIV/AIDS (September 16 to September 22) - The importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the fight against HIV/AIDS (September 23 to September 29)
3. FREE FORM DISCUSSION (September 30 to October 22)
The topics of discussion from September 30 to October 22 will be determined based on the contents and direction of the discussions in the previous months.
Although these discussions will not begin until July 1, we invite you to subscribe now to the list. All you need is an e-mail account.
To join the list, please send a message to:
join-adf2000-l@lyris.bellanet.org
When you subscribe to the list, you will be sent a confirmation e-mail to which you must reply. Once the confirmation message is received, you will be added to the list. You will also receive a welcome message with instructions on how to post messages, unsubscribe, etc. The moderators will prepare weekly summaries of the discussion as well as a final summary -- which will be distributed to all list members and posted on the web site.
If you do not subscribe, you will still be able to read the messages on the African Development Forum web site, but you will not be able to send messages without first subscribing to the list.
We hope you will be able to join us.
We invite you to share this invitation as widely as possible to friends and colleagues who might be interested in participating. For further information on ADF 2000, visit our web site at http://www.un.org/depts/eca/adf2000
