HIV/AIDS & Advocacy – Ensuring “Outsized” Impact.
Authored by: Daniel Jae-Won Lee, Executive Director, Levi Strauss Foundation, and Chair, FCAA Board of Directors
Invoking Our Pioneering Spirit to End HIV/AIDS
The organized response to HIV/AIDS has always started at the community level—driven by the efforts of people living with the disease, their caregivers and allies, and activists. Since 1983, the Levi Strauss Foundation has supported leading advocates in the HIV/AIDS field who know their communities’ needs and have the vision and courage to drive long-term change. 
This week, almost 3,000 delegates representing more than 55 countries gathered at the 10th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and Pacific (ICAAP) to discuss the HIV/AIDS response in the region. On the final morning of ICAAP, I had the honor of speaking at the closing plenary session about the changing political and financial environment and its implications for HIV/AIDS funding and advocacy. Besides community leaders, the audience also comprised representatives from the health, business and government sectors. My speech underscored the power of integrating HIV/AIDS advocacy in every aspect of their work to drive meaningful change.
I proposed four guiding principles to ensure "outsized" impact, with unique roles for business, funders and community members:
- Advocate and Serve: It is no secret that HIV/AIDS is arguably the most stigmatized medical condition in human history. With HIV/AIDS, we must contend with twin epidemics: the medical epidemic and a staggered social epidemic of stigma and discrimination. In the HIV/AIDS movement, no organization can afford to serve effectively without embracing advocacy in our efforts.
- Culture is no excuse for human rights violations: in Asia Pacific as elsewhere, every culture and religion is called to bring compassion and support to the AIDS response. But as we witness a resurgence of religious “fundamentalisms” – Hindu, Muslim and Christian—people in many parts of the world are being denied access to accurate information. Human rights calls for a different social and cultural order: one that embraces diversity, upholds the participation of groups in the issues affecting them, and supports the efforts of disempowered groups to stake a claim in being part of a culture.
- Own the results, share the lessons: I am deeply convinced that there is a ‘bang for the buck’ that comes with effective advocacy work. Let us all take careful stock of its results— and own that we are leaders in the human rights movements. It is high time that advocates in the fight against AIDS share their lessons with other human rights movements as well.
- Evangelize, evangelize, evangelize: Advocates are individuals with the fortitude to understand that the “perfect storms” of change are often triggered and defined by clear rights violations and bad policies – and have the tenacity and stubbornness to turn these into the seeds of movements for good. Let us each recommit our passion so that together we become the generation that puts a decisive end to AIDS and inspires the next wave of visionaries that steps up and makes that final push.
You can read my remarks in full here.
Watch Daniel's Speech:
Part 2: