In order to follow up with adopted initiatives concerning HIV/AIDS, a group of interrelated Latin American counterparts met for a third time in the city of Bahía, Brazil to discuss their common goal to combat ignorance, exclusion and discrimination.
Nombre de autor: Manuel Agüero. Programa VIH y sida
It is their hope to develop strategies and specific actions that each participating organization could adopt in order to successfully integrate the theme of HIV/AIDS into their respective agendas. This integrative initiative is referred to as the transversalization of HIV/AIDS.
The Lutheran Church of Costa Rica was represented in this significant gathering by Mr. Manuel Agüero, the coordinator of the church’s HIV/AIDS program, and by Pr. Magnus Hedqvist. Many representatives from participating organizations were also in attendance: Investigación Social y Asesoramiento Legal Potosí ISALP, (Bolivia), la organización Ser Mulher de Brasil, Centro Nordestito de Medicina Popular CNMP (Brazil), Fundación Mujer y Futuro (Colombia), Consejo de Iglesias de Cuba CIC (Cuba),Centro Ecuatoriano de Desarrollo y Estudios Alternativos CEDEAL (Ecuador), Equipo Mujeres en Acción Solidaria EMAS (Mexico), Centro de Mujeres de Masaya CMM (Nicaragua), Confederación Nacional Agraria CNA (Peru), GAPA-BA (Brazil), Pan Para el Mundo (Germany).
This gathering marked the fulfillment of the first phase of the process, in which participating members presented plans to initiate transversalizing HIV/AIDS in their respective countries. While all parties elaborated on these plans, overall guidance was provided by GAPA. (GAPA is a Brazilian organization that has spearheaded the movement to educate people by transversalizing the topic across agencies and borders.) A second objective of the meeting was to announce the next phase of the project – discovering ways to execute the adopted plans in each participating organization. In consideration of both objectives, discussion revolved around three main axes:
Consideration of global climate concerning HIV/AIDS
Incorporation of the ideas of each counterpart into the final adopted plans
Guarantees from each of the counterparts to pursue the second phase of the project
Each of these gatherings marks an important moment in the execution of the project, and the adopted resolutions are more meaningful because so many organizations have contributed to their formation. Initiating a new stage of the project is of utmost importance to the Lutheran Church of Costa Rica, which has already pledged itself to seeing this project through to completion.
Translated by Anna Marshall