In brief…

AIDS-Free World conducts advocacy by:

• researching the facts
• critiquing the literature
• keeping abreast of news and developments
• assessing situations on the ground
• analyzing trends
• investigating issues
• defining problems
• analyzing their causes,
• applying the principles of social justice and women's rights to spoken and written advocacy and activism,
• identifying required changes and improvements,
• advocating for new or different policies, positions and approaches,
• encouraging discussion,
• kindling debate,
• coaxing and pressuring governments and international agencies,
• enlisting and engaging individuals and organizations, and
• supporting the efforts of advocates and activists who are struggling against the pandemic at the grassroots.

And in more detail…

AIDS-Free World advocates for more urgent, just and compassionate responses to AIDS by using public speaking; written material; the media; access to high-level officials, international experts and influential policy- and decision-makers; relationships with grassroots organizations in Africa and beyond; and a global network cultivated over decades. The organization places strong emphasis on populations and issues that have received inadequate attention by AIDS programmers and policy-makers. We raise funds from American and other publics, and will disburse a portion of the money raised as grants to support the advocacy of grassroots organizations in developing countries affected by AIDS.

AIDS-Free World’s staff has a proven track record of working on several fronts, with several partners and on several issues and activities simultaneously. We have succeeded in this partly by choosing to avoid excess deliberation, knowing that AIDS is a matter of life and death; partly by drawing on ties established over many years with people in positions to affect change; and partly because decades of experience in political, diplomatic and organizational arenas have grounded our views and reduced our equivocation. We practice a discipline born of urgency that verges on desperation. Time spent working on HIV/AIDS has left us hyper-aware of how quickly the virus can destroy lives and deeply committed to picking up the pace of the response.

The team’s small size, common ideology and shared work ethic allow us to work unencumbered by layers of bureaucracy. We are nimble and judicious with time and access, often making use of a single meeting with a key leader to address multiple issues. We come prepared for each advocacy opportunity – high-level meetings and conversations, writing, public speeches, conference participation, interactions with the press – with knowledge of the issues, clear positions and a specific purpose. Because we constantly consult not only each other, but our partners – organizations of people living with AIDS, student-led groups, women’s organizations and community activists as well as the staff of various UN agencies, major NGOs, faith-based organizations, donors and foundations – we are also able to use our access and influence to raise the concerns of partners outside the room.

Our perspectives are determinedly non-aligned: AIDS-Free World enthusiastically endorses and promotes positive developments that augur well for the pandemic’s demise, and we are just as unafraid to challenge governments, the United Nations, decision-makers and power-brokers when their responses are found wanting. Our past successes have demonstrated that a handful of people can mobilize the public and push the international community toward more just and effective responses.