The linkages and relationships among the organisations involved in HIV/AIDS mitigation-including community-based implementing organizations, policy makers, funding agencies, and research institutions-have not been strongly emphasised in development practice. Highlighting such linkages will foster collaborative learning and enhance the incorporation of such learning in the design and delivery of future programs.
In West Africa in particular, there is very little empirical knowledge on the particular needs of HIV/AIDS-affected households, especially with regards to agricultural and nutritional maintenance and improvements. A further issue which emerges in the field is the practical difficulty of implementing training, outreach, and agricultural extension work with non-literate, elderly people.
This conference will provide a platform to showcase best practices and knowledge with a view towards strategic adaptation and replication. The positive impact of community-based organizations (CBOs), often working with little training or technical support, is a story which will be highlighted.
Conference Hosts and Organisers
The conference is being co-organized by:
CTA, the EU-ACP Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) and WARDA/SWIHA (Africa Rice Center, which is CGIAR-supported, and the System-Wide Initiative on HIV/AIDS and Agriculture, hosted at WARDA).
Conference Objectives
Some of the main objectives of the conference are:
- Provide a platform for exchange, sharing of knowledge, and learning about best practices/technologies for mitigating the agricultural, food security, and nutritional impacts of HIV/AIDS on rural communities in West Africa.
- Build and strengthen partnerships for continued learning and research.
- Identify ways of improving collaboration among a wide array of entities (governments, nonprofits, donors, the private sector, researchers) as a sustainable strategy to address the food and nutrition requirements of people and communities affected by HIV/AIDS.
- Explore ways to provide short-term relief and map out strategies for scaling up promising pilot projects on HIV/AIDS, agriculture, food security, and nutrition.
- Launch a capacity-building effort in collaboration with partners in SSA.
Programme Theme
The proposed themes of the conference will be:
- Regional challenges and responses of research on the conference themes
- Policies and interventions
- Best practices/successful strategies on conference themes highlighted
- Programs that have been scaled up and lessons learned
- Trans-African perspectives
 Further Information
For further conference information, see http://www.warda.org/mitigating-hiv-aids/index.html
You can also contact:
Dr Afiavi Rita Agboh-Noameshie, SWIHA Coordinator, at a.agboh-noameshie@cgiar.org
John Woodend, Programme Co-ordinator EU-ACP Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) at woodend@cta.int.
Submission of abstracts deadline is 15 June 2008 , and submissions should be sent to both contact persons.
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