Multi-country project to strengthen women’s rights in the Andes
30 March 2007
An Alliance initiative in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador has started targeting the human rights infringements experienced by women living with HIV in the region. The rights of these women have been neglected in the region, with governments and other sectors failing to tackle comprehensively the widespread stigma and discrimination they face.
The innovative multi-country project is being implemented by Alliance partners Vía Libre in Peru, the Institute for Human Development (IDH) in Bolivia, Kimirina in Ecuador, the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) Latina regional network based in Argentina, and ICW’s three representatives in the three Andean countries. Funded by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI), the project will strengthen the Andean women’s leadership and capacities, and increase their participation and influence in decision-making about comprehensive access to services from a gender perspective and linked to sexual and reproductive health and rights. The project is also supported by UNIFEM HIV/AIDS Andes on gender and women’s issues and Escuela Andaluza which will promote the project in Spain.
In the Andes, approximately 85,000 women are living with HIV. Most of these women are facing poverty and social exclusion. The project places their rights within a wider framework of sexual and reproductive health and rights and HIV.
The Alliance partners are working in six locations (two in each country) where there are high numbers of women living with HIV. The project is also reaching 17 countries in Latin America through the ICW Latina network.
The initiative aims to support community organisations of women living with HIV, creating educational materials about HIV with the women’s participation, and strengthening coordination among the women at local, national, and regional levels. It will draw on advocacy, capacity-building, coordination and awareness-building activities in its work.
Representatives from Vía Libre, IDH, Kimirina, ICW from Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, ICW Latina and the UNIFEM HIV/AIDS Andes office met in Lima, Peru, in March to continue coordination of the project.
