The Governance and AIDS programme (GAP), with support from SIDA and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) launched a five year programme in September 2008, as part of Idasa’s contribution to the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The programme will aim to strengthen good governance to counter the effects of HIV/AIDS by instituting evidence-based advocacy, skills building and active citizenship targeting intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) and relevant regional non-state actors.

The five year programme is primarily informed by Idasa-GAP’s own groundbreaking research of the past five years which demonstrates that:

• a  changing human context characterized by increased AIDS deaths among elected representatives and voters, may lead to institutional weakness, necessitating political engineering processes that are relevant to human development;
• the economic resources required for replacing deceased leaders and sustaining democratic institutions are onerous for under-resourced countries in the hyper-endemic zones;
• that over-dependence on foreign donors for AIDS funding is highly unsustainable for African governments;
• local government is seemingly ill equipped to partner other actors in the fight against AIDS due to a myriad of capacity problems, often exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic on its skills and revenue bases; and
• There are entrenched exclusionary tendencies amongst political elites against People Living with HIV and AIDS who seek high office; and low participation in public voting, community activity and economic life by People Living with HIV and AIDS due to stigma and discrimination. The studies also reveal the marginalisation of care givers from the public policy processes due to contending priorities of survival and social responsibility.

The programme is further motivated by questions emerging from regional policy dialogue forums on the need to develop long term evidence-based interventions to address these complex political, economic and social challenges posed by the epidemic. The key areas considered by this programme are captured in five strategic objectives (SOs):

SO 1: Research, advocacy and network building: evidence-based policy dialogue, strong cross-sectoral partnerships provide new knowledge and re-condition political commitment to AIDS

SO 2: Accountable governance: budget analysis and resource tracking processes and training strengthen legislative over-sight and civil society watchdog roles. The evidence based advocacy will be informed largely by the findings from multi-country research.

SO 3: Local government: impact studies identify indicators of fragility and training contributes to the strengthening of capacity for cooperative governance on AIDS, to improve conditions of affected local communities in Sub Saharan Africa

SO 4: Human Rights and Democratisation: building capacity of regional and national human rights institutions on stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS, in political, social and economic life

SO 5: Political communication: Promote public awareness and policy discussion on governance, HIV/AIDS, human development and security

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See report entitled Building AIDS Resilient Democratic Societies in Sub-Saharan Africa, by Harry C. Boyte.