| Newsletter Issue: March 2008 |
|
Welcome to the March Edition
of the Mexico City YouthForce Newsletter!
The
Mexico YouthForce is gearing up for the XVII International AIDS
Conference in Mexico City next August. This newsletter will keep you
informed and up to date with the conference, with a special focus
relating to youth participation. This newsletter is where you can
connect with other youth and organizations who share your interest and
passion in combating HIV and AIDS. To find out more about the Mexico
YouthForce and how you can get involved keep reading! The Mexico
YouthForce is comprised of 5 different organizations: Global Youth
Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Advocates for Youth, TakingITGlobal, Ave de
Mexico, and Youth Coalition. The Mexico City YouthForce recognizes the
importance of meaningful youth participation during the International
AIDS Conference in Mexico 2008 and beyond. |
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| Speakers Corner |
Youth Profile
"Youth and AIDS in Rwanda and my motivation to participate in Mexico International Conference on HIV/AIDS"
Jean Claude Dusingize, Rwanda
Article By Jean Claude Dusingize, the RFP for GYCA-Central Africa."
My name is Jean Claude Dusingize I am 27 and I come from Rwanda. In
Rwanda, HIV prevalence among youth age 15-24 is estimated at 1.0
percent. This figure varies from 1.5 percent among women to 0.4 percent
among men, which gives a ratio of infection of 3.8 between women and
men. The country proportion of young people age 15 to 24 who have a
comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS is only 51 percent of young women
and 54 percent of young men are shown to have a comprehensive knowledge
of the means of prevention and transmission of HIV/AIDS. Like adults,
young people in urban areas (63 percent of women, 59 percent of men)
are more likely to have comprehensive knowledge of AIDS than those in
rural areas (48 percent of women, 53 percent of men).(Rwanda DHS 2005).
I have been working as a peer educator helping my peers, especially
young people who live in rural areas, to have access to updated
information related to HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. I have been
advocating the role of poverty reduction as a tool to fight against
HIV/AIDS in rural settings by helping young people to create their own
income generating projects. Currently, I am serving as the Regional
Focal Point for Central Africa for Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (www.youthaidscoalition.org).
My duties include building in my region our Global Directory of youth
HIV/AIDS interventions worldwide and connecting initiatives to each
other, to NGOs working locally, to the government, and to the United
Nations for support and to create sustainable partnerships.
I hope that participating in the coming Mexico 17th International
Conference on HIV/AIDS, will help me to further my work because this
conference will be a wonderful skills and capacity building opportunity
and a chance to network with key funders, to interact with researchers
and clinical investigators in the field of HIV/AIDS and I hope to meet
people from different cultures and to discuss with them about different
strategies to respond to HIV/AIDS in our respective countries and an
opportunity to have the issues facing my community heard about in the
international arena and I will bring back expertise and contacts to my
organization after the conference. In general I will become more
professional and more efficient to respond to the need of young people
in my community.
Attending conferences helped me to be more self-confident, to be able
to talk to the policy makers to understand different issues that our
community is facing today and helped me to get in contact with
different stakeholders that are working in the field of HIV/AIDS
worldwide. |
| Meet your Subcommittees |
A Message from the MYF Subcommittees
This year the Youthforce has created 6 subcommittees that will help
with specific tasks for the youth activities of the International AIDS
Conference. To learn more about the sub committees keep reading!
Reception/Affiliated Events
The Youth Opening and Reception is the official event welcoming young
people to the International AIDS Conference. It emphasises and
recognises the importance of youth leadership in the global response to
HIV and AIDS. The Mexico Youth Force Reception Subcommittee is
responsible for planning this event and we are happy to announce that
we are officially up and running!
The Reception subcommittee is co-chaired by Susan van Esch, Dance4Life
International, and Claudia Ahumada, World AIDS Campaign. We have 9
members, out of which 7 are young people, and all work in the field of
HIV and AIDS. In addition, we come from a variety of networks and
organisations, as well as regions.
Pre-Conference
The pre-conference subcommittee, formed of 12 members from Mexico, the
United States, Canada, Kenya, India, the Dominican Republic, and
Nicaragua, is hard at work planning the Mexico Youth Force
pre-conference, which will be held for 250 young people from July 31st
to August 2nd. The pre-conference aims to provide skills-building and
technical information, in order to make young participants at AIDS2008
better able to advocate around youth and HIV at the conference and when
they return home.
At present, the Mexican members of the subcommittee are hard at work
finding an appropriate venue and accommodations. In addition, the whole
group is creating a work plan and discussing what sessions are integral
to the pre-conference program. Later this spring, applications for
attending the pre-conference and applications for presenting a sessions
will be disseminated through email and on the AIDS2008 youth website.
Stay posted for that information; and we hope to see you on August 31st!
Advocacy
The Advocacy sub-committee came together for its first meeting this
past month and is preparing to launch the Take Two to Mexico (TT2M)
campaign this coming week. We have drafted a letter to be distributed
to NGOs and government agencies around the world encouraging them to
sponsor young people to attend AIDS2008. This letter can also be used
by young people in order to fundraise and petition NGOs in their
country to facilitate their attendance at the conference. We hope that
this campaign will build off of the successes of the Take Two to
Toronto (TT2T) campaign for AIDS2006 which resulted in 118 youth
scholarships.
From March 3-21, 2008 the Advocacy sub-committee will undertake its
e-consultation for AIDS2008. The e-consultation seeks to gather
recommendations for the MYF's advocacy message, strategy, and materials
from both young people who will and will not be attending the
conference. Participants will also be asked to consult with their peers
who do not have access to internet to include their opinions on what
issues need to be included. The advocacy messages will form the basis
of a youth visibility campaign with posters, stickers, t-shirts,
conference sessions, and pre-conference advocacy training.
To participate in this 3-week long e-consultation process please sign up at this address: http://groups.takingitglobal.org/MYF08consult.
You need to make an account on TakingITGlobal to participate.
Media/Communications
The Media and Communications subcommittee is excited to keep you
informed and connected with the International AIDS Conference through
the podcasts, blogs and this newsletter! The committee is comprised of
members hailing from all over the globe from countries including
Canada, USA, Russia, Ghana, UK Columbia, Nicaragua and Jamaica.
Working with TakingITGlobal, one of our major responsibilities is
creating and maintaining the YouthForce official website that has now
been launched! We are very excited for its launch and invite you to
visit www.youthaids2008.org to check it out!
We are looking forward to connecting with media, journalists and youth
in the near future and bringing you updates about press conferences
during the conference.
Main Conference
As part of a comprehensive strategy to foster young delegates¡¯
meaningful participation within AIDS 2008, the Mexico YouthForce Main
Conference Subcommittee aims to strengthen the participation of young
people and the profile of youth issues in AIDS 2008. In the build up to
AIDS 2008, we will coordinate an Orientation Group, assist with
navigation around the Conference, connect delegates, work with youth
speakers, engage with the scientific program, and publicize
youth-focused sessions, among other tasks.
The Main Conference Subcommittee is composed of 9 individuals from all
around the world, including Chile, Dominican Republic, Canada,
Venezula, Turkey, China and Thailand.
Pavilion
The youth pavilion sub-committee's introductory meeting was held on
Wednesday, February 20th, where we discussed timelines and brain
stormed ideas of the usuage of space at the conference.The new co-chair
of the sub-committee is Caitlin Padgett who serves as the coordinator
for the International Youth Network for Harm Reduction. The Pavilion
subcommittee is excited to be organizing, scheduling and designing the
program. The subcommittee members are: Godfrey Mungazi, Tinna Ezekiel,
Salma Ismail, An Jing, Nthazie Nalungwe, Christabel Atieno Opudo, Nick
Carkner, Ahmed Malah, Mingrui Li, Muhammad Imran Shahid, Kyla Zinardi,
Karol Andrea Garcia Buitrago, Corina Martinez Sanchez, Rosario
Velasquez, Bessy Carmina Pineda, Todd Murray, Diego Cal, Amirreza
Moradi and Jose Antonio Ruiz Hernandez. |
| Hello my name is... |
Claudia Ahumada, a Chilean activist (http://profiles.takingitglobal.org/ycclaudia) is now working for the World AIDS Campaign (http://www.worldaidscampaign.info/),
as the Youth Campaigns Coordinator. Claudia is 26-years-old and has
been working on sexual and reproductive rights issues, including HIV
and AIDS, since she was 16. She is also a member of the Board of
Directors of the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights. In
addition, she co-authored a booklet called ¡°Making the Linkages:
HIV/AIDS and Sexual and Reproductive Rights¡±.
As Youth
Campaigns Coordinator, Claudia will provide support around
international HIV and AIDS events, such as for the Mexico City
YouthForce, facilitate and contribute to the creation of stronger
linkages amongst youth organisations and networks, support youth
leadership and youth Universal Access campaigns, as well as assist in
fundraising initiatives.
Currently, Claudia is the co-chair of the Reception and Main Conference sub-committees of the Mexico City YouthForce.
If you would like to learn more about this, please email Claudia at ahumadac@worldaidscampaign.org
|
| Get Involved |
Check out the YouthForce Website at www.youthaids2008.org
The YouthForce web site is now up and running. Learn more about how you
can get involved before, during, and after the Conference!
Become a fan of the YouthForce on Facebook!
You also can become a fan of the Mexico YouthForce on Facebook. Go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/YouthForce/8802473399 and become a fan now!
Submit Your Artwork!
Artwork has a way of expressing thoughts, feelings and beliefs that
simply cannot be captured into words. It has the ability to transcend
language barriers and touch a soul. The Mexico YouthForce has started a
Global Gallery Collection on TakingITGlobal (www.TakingITGlobal.org)
and would like to invite you to submit your artwork on what HIV/AIDS
means to you and your community. To view the collection please visit http://www.tigurl.org/hivaidsgg.
To submit your work please visit here.
Presenting the Mexico City Youth Partnerships Initiative!
Throughout the upcoming 2008 International AIDS Conference, the World
AIDS Campaign (WAC), and the Mexico Youth Force, will implement the
Mexico City Youth Partnership Initiative (YPI). The YPI will pair youth
leaders with established leaders of a wide-range of constituencies, in
order for youth to develop practical leadership skills experientially,
as well as for the constituencies to learn from youth leaders and
develop partnerships with youth as a constituency. Through a two-way
learning process, the YPI will promote mutual understanding, facilitate
networking, and enable a transfer of knowledge and skills between
participants.
Through its Global Steering Committee (GSC), the WAC will identify and
encourage leaders from the constituencies of media, people living with
HIV and AIDS, business, women, non-governmental organisations, youth,
activists, faith and labour, to take part in this initiative. In
addition, leaders from academia, parliamentarians, harm reduction and
MSM will be engaged.
If you would like to learn more about this initiative, please get in touch with Claudia Ahumada, at ahumadac@worldaidscampaign.org
Help create Advocacy Messages for AIDS2008
The Mexico YouthForce has started to develop advocacy messages and a
visibility strategy for AIDS2008 and want to hear from you! If you want
to be part of creating significant messages then join the
e-consultation group by signing up at http://groups.takingitglobal.org/MYF08consult.
The outcomes of this e-consultation will be all over the conference in
the form of t-shirts, posters, stickers, and banners! This is your
opportunity to get involved and get heard.
Registration for the 2008 International AIDS Conference in Mexico City is now open
The International AIDS Conference is a biennial forum that brings
together a global community of scientists, health workers, government
representatives and activists who will work together to share best
practices, build partnerships and share knowledge that deals with
HIV/AIDS issues. This year the conference will be held in Mexico City,
To register visit: http://www.aids2008.org/mainpage.aspx?pageId=4 |
| Check out These Useful Resources |
Applications for the Media Scholarship
Media Scholarship application forms are now available on the AIDS2008
website through the conference profile. Scholarships will be offered to
people from a variety of backgrounds, including those who are
submitting abstracts, skills building session proposals and programme
activities proposals (Global Village, Cultural Programme or Youth
Programme). A number of applicants who are not submitting directly to
the conference programme, as well as media representatives will also be
granted scholarships.
To learn more about this scholarship please visit http://www.aids2008.org/.
AIDS 2008 Media Scholarship Department can be contacted via email at mediascholarship@aids2008.org.
2008 Staying Alive Awards
The 2008 Staying Alive Foundation Awards are now accepting
applications. Awards of up to $12,000 will be made to both young
individuals (aged between 15-27 years) and youth-led organizations who
are working on HIV prevention and AIDS education campaigns within their
communities. Applications in English, Spanish and French will be
accepted. The deadline to submit your application is April 7th, 2008.
Visit www.staying-alive.org to apply or for more details.
Websites and Organizations
www.staying-alive.org
is an interactive website available in 13 languages and is a place
where young people can share their life experiences, as well as access
crucial sexual and reproductive health resources. The Staying Alive
Campaign Materials are also available on DVD (in various languages) and
are distributed to youth groups worldwide free of cost, for any
requests please write to hello@staying-alive.org. |
Special Thanks...
The
Mexico YouthForce would like to extend a special thanks to Advocates
for Youth for all of their help in the first two editions of the
newsletter! |
