Community & leadership

To end the AIDS epidemic, community leadership responses to HIV must be integrated into national AIDS plans, from the planning and budgeting phases, to the implementation, monitoring and evaluation phases.

In the United Nations Political Declaration on Ending AIDS, Member States affirmed the critical role of communities in advocacy, participation in the coordination of AIDS responses and service delivery. Moreover, Member States recognized that to meet the Fast-Track Targets, community responses to HIV must be scaled-up, and committed to at least 30% of services being community-led by 2030.

Community action translates into results. They can achieve improved health outcomes, mobilize demand for services, reach people with services difficult to reach with formal health systems, support health systems strengthening, mobilize political leadership, change social attitudes and norms, and create an enabling environment that promotes equal access.

Community leadership responses to HIV include:

• Advocacy and participation of civil society in decision-making, monitoring and reporting on progress made in delivering HIV responses.
• Direct participation in service delivery, including HIV-related health services, prevention, sexual and reproductive health and human rights-services.
• Participatory community-based research.
• Community financing.

We supports the integration of community leadership responses into national plans through:

• Facilitating the meaningful participation of civil society in national and international processes to ensure that policies and services are responsive to community needs.
• Providing technical guidance to Member States and partners on planning and resourcing community responses through domestic and international resources.
• Documenting and disseminating good policy and practice of community responses.

We upholds the principle of the greater involvement of people living with HIV (the GIPA principle) and commits to support the meaningful engagement of all communities vulnerable to HIV.

Community leadership responses to HIV are essential to ending the AIDS epidemic, and they are a model on how to reach Sustainable Development Goal 16 (promote peaceful and inclusive societies).