Working

TOGETHER
Quarterly Newsletter of the National AIDS Foundation 2009 ¹3(22)
2 õàìòðàí àæèëëàöãààß 2009 îí ¹3(22)

World
AIDS Day -
December 1...
T
he 20th annual World AIDS Day has been An awareness raising activity was held at the the
commemorated as an opportunity to pay busiest department store and supermarkets /all
attention to HIV/AIDS issues globally. the branches of “Nomin” supermarket network/
among general public during the peak shop-
World AIDS Day was conceived and adopted
ping hours of 15.00-18.00 o`clock on Sunday,
unanimously by 140 countries meeting at the
World Summit of Ministers of Health on AIDS,
London in January 1988. The concept of the
World AIDS Day was supported by the World the crowd as well.
Health Organisation (WHO) and the date of Moreover, on Friday, the 28th of November, an
December 1 was declared as World AIDS Day. awareness raising event was organised in the
Since that time, all the nations around the world “Ikh Mongol” pub where young people visit a lot.
have been organizing campaigns to celebrate A Question & Answer contest was held among
this day annually under certain shared theme the customers of the pub and the winner was
developed by WHO and Joint United Nations awarded with condoms and a t-shirt, which was
Programme on HIV/AIDS. In Mongolia, a variaty an interesting event for many people.
of HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness raising
activities has been implemented in the scope of
the November 30th. During this time, informa-
the World AIDS Day since 1990.
tion board was set up and various information
With financial support from NAF, an NGO “In- education communication materials such as
formation, Cmmunication and Initiative Center” brochures, bracelets and cell phone decorations
organized awareness raising activities during with messages about HIV/AIDS and STI preven-
period between November 27 and December 1, tion, and condom use were distributed to the
2008 in the light of the World AIDS Day- De- people and comprehensive information on cur-
cember 1. rent situation of HIV/AIDS was disseminated to

On December 1, in cooperation with “Unitel”

company, awareness raising materials accom-
panied by cell phone decorations, bracelets
and condoms were distributed to young people
served by the OKTA and ROKMON centers of the
company. During these activities, around 6000
people visited these service centers.

ÄÎÕ-òîé òýìöýõ ¿íäýñíèé ñàíãèéí ìýäýýëëèéí ñýòã¿¿ë

õàìòðàí àæèëëàöãààß 2009 îí ¹3(22) 3
A skills building workshop “How to write
a project proposal?” was held

Building capacity of its partner NGOs/CBOs and ect proposals to its newly selected partner NGOs/ posal; what are goals and objectives of a project;
providing them with neccessary technical and fi- CBOs, and to improve capacity of both the existing what should be changed for whom; how to identify
nancial support has always been a part of NAF’s and newly selected partner NGO/CBOs. project implementation period and expected results;
mission and one of its main strategic directions. The training was designed in a systematic way and how to assess risks; how to do budget breakdown;
In compliance with this strategy, we organised a a total of 18 people consisting of project manag- how to monitor and evaluate project implementa-
training entitled “How to write a project proposal?” ers and officers from the partnering NGOs/CBOs tion; what could be criterias for writing a succesful
during the period of December 13-15, 2008. Main participated in the training. The participants were project proposal; and tips to consider during imple-
purpose of the training was to impart knowledge taught about a concept of a project proposal, its mentation of the project, etc.
and skills of developing community focused proj- main structure; process of writing a project pro-

ÄÎÕ-òîé òýìöýõ ¿íäýñíèé ñàíãèéí ìýäýýëëèéí ñýòã¿¿ë

4 õàìòðàí àæèëëàöãààß 2009 îí ¹3(22)

A training on how conduct

cbo capacity analysis, with
use of a toolkit entitled
“Community based
organizations’
capacity analysis”

B
uilding the organizational, HIV technical, organisations, with an aim to train them as facili-
and policy capacity of civil society orga- tators who then will conduct the capacity analysis
nizations is key to planning and delivering of their respective community based organiza-
high quality responses to HIV. tions using the participatory methodologies given
NAF, with an aim to strengthen capacity of pub- in the toolkit. The participants gained knowledge
lic and non-governmental organisations working and practical skills on how to assess the capacity
actively in the field of HIV/AIDS and STI preven- of their organisations, how to identify organisa-
tion, and to provide assisstance to them, has been tional needs, and how to plan responsive actions
developing and publishing various manuals and to meet the identified organisational needs in a
toolkits and training materials, and adopting in- complex manner. As a result of obtaining these
ternational toolkits and materials, getting them methodologies, users will be able to generate
translated into Mongolian language with adjust- both quantitative and qualitative baseline infor-
ments to suit to our country`s context when it mation, which can be used to track progress in
organizational development.

is required, and making those publications ac-

cessable to relevant government and civil society
organisations. Within the scope of this task, we
published a toolkit entitled “Community Based
Organisations’s Capacity Analysis”, which is a
toolkit used for assessing and building capacities
for high quality responses to HIV. This toolkit has
initially been developed by International HIV/AIDS
Alliance and it provides structured approaches to
the participatory identification of capacity building
needs and planning of responses.
On December 21-23, 2008, we organised a train-
ing among the project officers from our partner

ÄÎÕ-òîé òýìöýõ ¿íäýñíèé ñàíãèéí ìýäýýëëèéí ñýòã¿¿ë

õàìòðàí àæèëëàöãààß 2009 îí ¹3(22) 5

A support center to carry out HIV/AIDS and STI preven-

tion activities among MSMs has been established
Based on needs and requests from the MSM commu- • Promote the importance and benefits of volun-
nity, NAF has established a community support center tary counseling and testing service and help the
with an aim of preventing gay men from HIV/AIDS and community to get medical care and treatment ser-
STIs and officially launched its opening on the date of vices;
December 4, 2008. This center has a goal to reach • Provide online counseling, etc.
both new and already existing community members Staff:
who were not able to be part of the HIV/AIDS and STIs Manager of the support center: N.Otgonbaatar
prevention projects and programmes implemented in Officer of the center: D.Myagmardorj
Ulaanbaatar. Main activities and services of the sup- Officer of the center: G.Dul
port center would be including and not limited to the Volunteer: G.Uuganbayar
activities below: Volunteer: A.Enkhtuvshin
• Reveal new communities and provide them with Ìàíàé áàéðøèë
trainings on sexual health, sexual orientation, and Çàð ìýäýý
HIV/AIDS and STI prevention; ñîíèíû áàéð

• Provide the communities with psychological 2 äàâõàðò

counseling and help them to get voluntary coun- 5 òîîò

ÄÎÕ¯Òºâèéí äýðãýäýõ
seling and testing service; “ÄÝÌÆÈÕ” òºâ Çîîñ ãî¸ë

• Organise family support group meeting and pro-

vide family members of MSMs with psychological Õ¿íñíèé 1-ð äýëã¿¿ð

counseling; Ҫ ÇÀÌ

• Provide hotline counseling service /at phone Ҫ ÇÀÌ
number: 88684861/;
Ҫ ÇÀÌ

Óëààíáààòàð

• Organize mobilizing activities /cultural, art and

áàíê

sports events etc./; 8868-4861

• Organize open group discussions based on se- 9668-1999
lected themes; 9965-0121

ÄÎÕ-òîé òýìöýõ ¿íäýñíèé ñàíãèéí ìýäýýëëèéí ñýòã¿¿ë

6 õàìòðàí àæèëëàöãààß 2009 îí ¹3(22)

LOOKING AHEAD–”Get up,

stand up, don’t give up
the fight”’

At the end of 2008, Dr Peter Piot, the founding Executive Director of UNAIDS, will leave his post after leading the organization
since his appointment in 1994. He reflected on past milestones and future challenges in an interview with John Donnelly:

How are you feeling on the eve of your depar- a challenge. equally important to that was the major reduc-
ture? When you look back on your time at UNAIDS, tion in the price of antiretrovirals later. They are
what do you consider the three biggest break- both very important milestones.
Peter Piot: I thought my last couple of months
would be pretty quiet. (Laughs) I underestimat- throughs? The second one was the UN General Assem-
ed that a bit. But my main objective has been to PP: The first one came in 1996, when treatment bly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in 2001. That
secure our funding for next year. That is always was discovered and became available, and was a turning point. After that, the Global Fund

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õàìòðàí àæèëëàöãààß 2009 îí ¹3(22) 7
(to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria) was before introducing antiretroviral therapy, as so est countries won’t be able to run their AIDS
created; presidents and prime ministers took many suggested, we would still be nowhere on programmes. In developing countries, govern-
charge of the response in many countries; AIDS ART and millions would have died. ments may have less income. They may have
made it to the top of the agenda in the world. fewer remittances, less private direct invest-
What concerns you most about the response to
It was no longer just an issue for ministers of ments. That means more people will be vul-
the epidemic today?
health. It was discussed in places where you nerable, and could lead to an increase in sex
discuss the really big issues. And the third PP: What really concerns me is that while we’ve work. We don’t know this will happen. But it’s
thing, I guess, is that the fact that the money we made measurable progress on access to treat- something I’m very concerned about.
spent last year on AIDS reached US$ 10 billion. ment, we don’t have the same impact when it
It’s a formidable resource mobilization. A really comes to HIV prevention. Is it because we need You often describe yourself as an activist. What
important part of that is the major role of people more time, or are we not on the right track? I is your grade for activists over the past several
living with HIV. Money is the result of the com- personally think more and more that we need years?
bination of this activism and the political work to be working with the professionals who do the Where have they succeeded? Failed?
symbolized in the General Assembly session. marketing for branding businesses, who know PP: I think activists have been hugely success-
Can you describe a moment when you received how to influence people’s behaviors. HIV pre- ful in terms of treatment, advocacy, and mobi-
epidemiological data that scared you? vention is what will require the extra shot in the lizing funds, particularly for The Global Fund.
arm. That’s a top grade. But as for activists working
PP: Many of them. My most recent experience for prevention, well, Treatment Action Cam-
was when I saw the data recently on the rise in
paign in South Africa is doing it, but they are
HIV in the gay populations in Asia. It was exact-
an exception.
ly what we saw in the West in the early 1980s.
I saw the same thing with injecting drug us- How do you take politics out of the prevention
ers in Eastern Europe about 10 years ago. And debates?
when I was working in central Africa, in then
PP: It’s not possible-and there’s nothing wrong
Zaire, in the mid-1980s, South Africa had less
with that. It’s about fundamental choices in
than 2% prevalence. Then, a few years later,
society and life. Thinking that we could have a
you saw it skyrocketing, and say, ‘Wow. That’s
society that is completely rational about these
unbelievable.’ There have been many moments
things is an illusion and may not be good. …
like this. It’s something that I think we should
bear in mind when we think of the future of this You’ve identified a US$ 10 billion annual short- You need to have a set of values and principles
epidemic. The virus will continue to surprise fall in the fight against AIDS. What’s your best guiding policies, and then you automatically get
us. That’s why I’m very sceptical when people argumentto increase funding? into politics with AIDS. The key is to make sure
say about Asia, ‘Oh, it will be limited to con- it is good politics, the politics where as much
PP: The number one argument is that funding as possible that if there is scientific evidence,
centrated populations.’ Maybe, maybe not. We for AIDS works, is saving lives, and has shown
don’t know. that evidence is used to save lives. There are
high return on investments. The needs are there.
still countries where harm reduction in working
Has the fight against AIDS strengthened or Just take treatment-close to 4 million are now
with drug users is against the law. That’s bad
weakened health systems? on antiretrovirals today, but still about 8 mil-
politics.
lion need it. Also, we are so far better equipped
PP: There’s absolutely no evidence that I’ve What’s going to be especially hard in preven-
to spend the money before. Initially, systems
seen that it undermines health services. If any- tion work ahead?
had to be developed, labs established, people
thing, it certainly strengthened certain services,
trained. Delivering the goods is now cheaper PP: In Asia and Eastern Europe, we have to start
such as laboratories. Determined governments
because we have made the initial investments. looking beyond sex workers and drug users,
will make sure that disease specific funding is
used to strengthen local capacity. The AIDS ep- How could the global financial crisis affect pro- and how it could make inroads in the general
idemic itself has overburdened health systems. grammes? population. And secondly, in an increasing
It also for the first time has brought money to number of eastern and southern African coun-
PP: If there’s a decline in funding, the return on
strengthen the health workforce in, say, Malawi tries, up to half of all infections are occurring
the investment will be much less. Postponing
where they even built health clinics with AIDS in stable couples. How do we deal with that?
action just increases the bill later on. I worry
funds. Ethiopia is another example. They have That calls for a revision in our approaches. In
now that governments will cut the social sector
a strong government and a strongminister of addition we need help from business to profes-
first. That is often the experience in economic
health. sionalize HIV prevention.
downturns. In Japan, after their financial cri-
He has been using AIDS funds to build rural sis in 1990, they cut development assistance What will be the role of the modes of transmis-
health clinics. But let’s also not forget that if we by 60%. And without ODA, without The Global sion studies that show where the new infections
had waited until the health services were fixed Fund, the heavily AIDS-affected and poor- are likely to occur?

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8 õàìòðàí àæèëëàöãààß 2009 îí ¹3(22)

PP: They should be very helpful because we be in countries with generalized epidemics- PP: I don’t know yet. I’ll be in an academic po-
don’t always know what is going on. We may be how to interpret the information. If HIV is in sition at Imperial College in London, United
basing our prevention work on where the epi- married or stable couples, boy, that’s quite a lot Kingdom, and will continue some work in AIDS,
demic was five years ago. It may have changed, of people, and how do you do that? but as a citizen and member of the community.
or may not have changed. My concern is not I need some time now to work on my next life.
In your speech at the International AIDS Con-
only that we have good studies, but the stud- But I definitely want to work across disciplines.
ference in Mexico City, you quoted Bob Mar-
ies are used. In Lesotho, similar studies led to Like Bob Marley said, ‘We’ve got a mind of our
ley’s lyrics,
changes. In Thailand, they are trying to change own’”.
the prevention approach based on new infor- “Get up, stand up, don’t give up the
mation, and in China, the studies are drawing fight”. Then you said, “That’s what I will do.
attention to homosexual men. Most difficult will What will you do?”

Red
Ribbon The Red
A W A R D

Ribbon Award
T
he red ribbon is a global symbol in the not individuals; transmitted infections and gender-based
movement to address AIDS. The Red Rib- • Special consideration is given to nomina- violence.
bon Award, launched on World AIDS Day, tions from low and middle income coun- • Fortaleciendo la Diversidad - Mexico focus-
will honor and celebrate twenty-five outstand- tries; es on improving the quality of life, health and
ing community organisations, that demonstrate • Past Red Ribbon Award Winners are not eli- acceptance of transgender populations and
leadership and action in curtailing the spread and gible. sex workers while providing HIV prevention
impact of HIV and services such as facilitating access to vol-
AIDS in the following five categories: LANGUAGE untary testing and monthly condom distribu-
• Providing access to care, treatment and sup- Nominations are accepted in English, Spanish tion in San Luis.
port for people living with HIV. and French. • Mama’s Club - Uganda is a community-
• Promoting human rights and addressing so- based organization working to empower HIV
PRIZE
cial injustices including homophobia, sex- positive mothers by providing psychosocial
ism and any other example of stigma and All 25 Red Ribbon Award-winning communities peer to peer support, prevention literacy, in-
discrimination. will receive $5,000 each. Five of these communi- come generating skills, and mentor training
ties will receive special recognition and an ad- for young mothers.
• Empowering women and girls and address- ditional $15,000.
ing gender inequalities that fuel the spread • Promoteurs Objectifs Zéro Sida (POZ) -
of HIV. In total 25 winners were announced from over Haiti operates from five sites to offer guid-
500 nominations from 147 countries across the ance, counseling and support to over 2,000
• Providing support to children orphaned by globe. people living with HIV and collaborates with
AIDS and other vulnerable children
religious leaders and the media to shape the
The five organizations are:
• Promoting HIV prevention programmes and Haitian response to AIDS
services. • Association de Lutte contre le Sida (ALCS)
- Morocco who have advocated for the hu-
ELIGIBILITY man rights of people living with HIV since
Ìàíàé õàÿã:
• Grassroots initiatives, community-based 1988 and achieved a variety of policy and Óëààíáààòàð õîò, Ýíõòàéâíû ºðãºí ÷ºëºº 9À,
organizations, small non-governmental or- programmatic successes including provid- “Çîðèã ñàí”-ãèéí áàéð, Òºâ øóóäàí Ø/Õ-117
ganizations and faith-based organizations ing access to antiretrovirals, increased HIV Óòàñ: 976-11-321659, 318016,
are eligible for the Red Ribbon Award; large awareness and voluntary counseling and Ôàêñ: 976-11-321659
organizations, international NGOs and gov- testing. Ý-øóóäàí: [email protected],
ernmental programs or institutions are not • FIMIZORE (“Organization for the rights of Âýá ñàéò: www.naf.org.mn
eligible; all”) - Madagascar works to reduce the www.dotno.mn
• Awards are being presented to communities, vulnerability of sex workers to HIV, sexually

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