“KEEP THE PROMISE – to reduce stigma and discrimination” was this year's theme for World AIDS Day. This holds much promise for the quality of programmes, projects and campaigns we can all look forward to in 2007. For the Caribbean Regional Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (CRN+) this year's theme is even more significant as it is one of three components of our framework for action over the next five years – the CRN+ Regional Advocacy Agenda - which was launched at the XV1 International Conference on HIV/AIDS in Toronto last August. The other two components are:

• Access to Care, Treatment and Support, and
• The Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS – GIPA.

We have already begun to roll out this framework for action and will amplify our efforts in 2007. However, before I get ahead of myself, let me leave you with this teaser for a moment as I attempt to paint you a picture of CRN+ and its modest achievements for 2006.

The Chair, in her remarks already shared with you our pain at the loss of two outstanding Caribbean men and one phenomenal Caribbean woman - my mentor and friend, Dr. Dorothy Blake. I want to add another distinguished gentleman to this list - Mr. Kervin Jarvis from Antigua . Kervin succumbed to the disease earlier this year following a long battle for his life. He was the first President of the HHH Network (the network that won the distinction of being the best managed network for 2006 and won the inaugural Michael Fox Award) as well as an outstanding advocate. Like all the others, he too will be missed.

Looking back on 2006, CRN+ continues to be in the vanguard in the context of the true beneficiaries, the community of people living with the disease. Indeed it has been another exciting and engaging year for CRN+ as we continue to roll out our holistic and harmonised work programme based on the components of our five-year Strategic Plan (2003 – 2007). The three major funders of our work programme are:

• Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
• World Bank
• CDC.

There are also many organisations which help to strengthen and deepen our partnerships. Some of these are:

• The French Embassy of Trinidad and Tobago
• CAREC
• PANCAP
• UNIFEM
• DFID
• FORD Foundation
• NMAC.

REGIONAL ADVOCACY AGENDA (RAA)

The CRN+ Regional Advocacy Agenda is perhaps one of the more significant and ambitious undertakings of the Network. The RAA which was agreed to at our AGM in 2005 was finally unveiled at our satellite meeting at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto last August. However, we truly began to operationalise this agenda at our 10 th Annual Capacity Building Workshop, held last October in Port of Spain , Trinidad .

While this year marked a milestone in our history as an organisation it also signalled a turning point for us. We said goodbye to the old style of capacity building workshops and introduced a conference style agenda. Hence the meeting this year took on more of a conference type structure. Over the three-day meeting we commenced with plenary sessions followed by concurrent workshops. The three-day agenda was fashioned in the framework of the RAA, therefore on day one the plenary focused on Access to Care Treatment and Support; day two: Reducing Stigma and Discrimination; and day three: The Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS – GIPA.

We are currently in the third phase of formulating the RAA. In this regard we have engaged three consultants to support us in capturing and documenting the “authentic voice” in the context of the components of the Agenda. The first – Access to Care Treatment and Support, has already been completed and consultants have already been selected for the other two components. The consultancies will be completed in the first quarter of 2007.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The Regional Advocacy Agenda will form the basis for our next five-year Strategic Plan (2008-2012). Thanks to the continued support of the CDC we have already begun work on this and have undertaken an evaluation of our current Strategic Plan. As we are about to enter the final year of the current five-year cycle we need to assess what we have achieved and what still needs to be completed, as well as what are the elements in this current plan that we need to incorporate in the next five-year cycle.

Our Community Volunteer Programme and Capacity Building Workshops (in particular the leadership development and advocacy components) and strengthening of our National Networks both at the structural as well as the human resource capacity levels will be our focus for the future as we seek to fulfil our raison d'être, i.e. the development of a movement of knowledgeable PLWHA advocates sitting at the various fora, having meaningful input, impact and involvement from policy planning to implementation to monitoring and evaluation.

In closing let me take this opportunity to thank all of you, the hard working and committed team at the Secretariat, the regional Board and the membership, our funders and our strategic partners who continue to support us in our phenomenal work. I thank you all for your commitment to the community of people living with the disease, as well as those affected. Let us continue to actively demonstrate that we can indeed “KEEP THE PROMISE!”

In Solidarity and Strength

Yolanda Simon