Within the target group the following key categories of organisation will be included as partners in the advocacy group:

1. Trade unions and professional associations: Key unions and professional associations can be identified in many countries. In South Africa, COSATU is a strategic partner that can be accessed through CPS. Some lobby and advocacy can be done through the CHGA Task Teams, so that e.g. teachers unions can be identified and targeted through the Public Service Provision Task Team. The issue can also be raised in the framework of the African Union ECOSOCC.

2. Faith-based organisations: Selected church agencies, convened through the WCC, will be important partners. Church organisations have unparalleled access and legitimacy, and also work at all levels from the grassroots to the international, including material assistance, advocacy, influence over policy, and moral and spiritual leadership.

3. Grassroots organisations: These are intrinsically difficult to organise. Given the fragility of grassroots organisations as institutions, it is likely that many will simply disappear as their key leaders either succumb to AIDS or are unable to focus on their tasks because of the demands of caring for sick relatives. HEARD has undertaken a pioneering study in KwaZulu-Natal which can be built upon and replicated elsewhere.

4. Youth organisations: Student unions, the youth wings of political parties, sports associations, etc., are all candidates for specially adapted versions of the ‘AIDS audit’. It is likely that the mobilisation of youth organisations can become the centrepiece for a strategy of political mobilisation against HIV/AIDS. Key events in this regard include the African Youth Parliament (March 2003) and the Youth and Governance Forum in advance of the African Development Forum (May/June 2003).

5. Women’s organisations: The women’s agenda already enjoys substantial overlap with the HIV/AIDS agenda, and women’s organisations have often gone further than others in addressing a range of key issues. For that reason, there is much to learn from them. There’s need to take advantage of their leadership on many aspects of the HIV/AIDS issue and make this relevant to the new challenges of HIV/AIDS and governance.

6. The media: Newspapers and radio/TV stations are vital institutions in their own right and also key media for transmitting information and opening up debate. Undertaking the ‘AIDS audit’ exercise, in all its stages, with influential media companies will be an important exercise, both for helping to maintain media companies as institutions, and for influencing their approach to HIV/AIDS. The key intermediary with the media can be allafrica.com.

7. Parliaments: Parliamentarians are not immune from HIV/AIDS, and the functioning of parliaments and political parties will be impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. One of the challenges of the Advocacy Group will be to engage with parliaments to persuade them that the issue must be taken up using democratic channels.