The UN Economic Commission for Africa, as organiser of the African
Development Forum 2000, invites you to participate in A GLOBAL ONLINE
DISCUSSION ON AIDS: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE

The online discussion will be launched on 1 July 2000 preceding the Forum,
which will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 22-26 October 2000.

The African Development Forum (ADF) is an initiative led by the Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA) to position an African-driven development
agenda that produces a consensus among major partners and that leads to
specific programmes for country implementation.

The aim of the African Development Forum is to present the key
stakeholders in African development (governments, civil society, the
private sector, researchers and academics, intergovernmental organisations
and donors) with the results of current research and opinion on key
development issues in order to formulate shared goals and priorities,
draft action programmes and define the environment that will enable
African countries to implement these programmes.

The Forum will meet annually on a different development issue. The 1999
Forum was the first, and was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 24-28
October 1999, on the theme "The Challenge to Africa of Globalisation and
the Information Age". The second Forum, ADF 2000, will be held in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia from 22-26 October 2000 on the theme "AIDS: the greatest
leadership challenge". Additional information is available on the ADF web
site at: http://www.un.org/depts/eca/adf2000

Online discussions in the African Development Forum are open to
participants from around the world interested in issues of AIDS and
African development. The discussion list will be moderated. In order to
assure that those with limited Internet access can participate, the
dialogue will be conducted by means of an email list, with summaries of
posted messages archived to the ADF web site. Summaries of the discussion
will be posted to the ADF web site.

Your contributions are sought on the following discussion themes:


1.      POLICY THEMES OF THE CONFERENCE:

AIDS and Development (July 1 to June 14)

o Macroeconomic impact and development implications for Africa

o Extent of impact on various economic and social sectors and indicators

o Impact on military and security personnel and systems that keep the
peace

o Increased poverty of victims, families and communities

Learning from country responses (July 15 to July 28)

o Mobilize broad community support in the fight against HIV/AIDS

o Showcase examples of sustained actions at national level

o Overcome stigma and denial Building on lessons learned from intensified
responses to HIV/AIDS (July 29 to August 11)

o Develop leadership at all level

o Develop partnership at different level

o Mobilize resources, set priorities and the design and implement
innovative financing mechanisms

o Use local institutions, communities and public and private sector
efficiently Leadership role and approaches for an effective HIV/AIDS
responses (August 12 to August 25)

o Partnership in leadership at international level for an emergency
response to counter the spread and devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in
Africa

o Partnership in leadership at national and community level for a greatly
intensified response to HIV/AIDS

o Partnership in leadership with people living with HIV/AIDS (PWHAs)

2. SPECIAL ISSUES OF EMPHASIS:

In addition to the main conference themes, there will be five focus groups
on: gender; youth; People living with HIV/AIDS; Diaspora; and Information
and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

The focus groups are special interest groups providing an opportunity for
people to air their perspectives on the issues by reacting to the
proposals to be made with respect to each sub-theme of the conference,
report to the plenary their perspectives on the issues, and shape their
own recommendations.

The discussions will focus on:

·       Gender issues in the fight against HIV/AIDS (August 26 to September 1)
·       The leadership role of People Living with HIV/AIDS (September 2 to
September 8)
·       The role of the youth in the fight against HIV/AIDS (September 9 to
September 15)
·       The leadership role of the African Diaspora in the fight against HIV/AIDS
(September 16 to September 22)
·       The importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the
fight against HIV/AIDS (September 23 to September 29)

3.      FREE FORM DISCUSSION (September 30 to October 22)

The topics of discussion from September 30 to October 22 will be determined
based on the contents and direction of the discussions in the previous
months.

Although these discussions will not begin until July 1, we invite you to
subscribe now to the list. All you need is an email account.

To join the list, please send a message to:

[log in to unmask]

When you subscribe to the list, you will be sent a confirmation e-mail to
which you must reply. Once the confirmation message is received, you will
be added to the list. You will also receive a welcome message with
instructions on how to post messages, unsubscribe, etc. The moderators
will prepare weekly summaries of the discussion as well as a final summary
-- which will be distributed to all list members and posted on the web
site.

If you do not subscribe, you will still be able to read the messages on
the African Development Forum web site, but you will not be able to send
messages without first subscribing to the list. We hope you will be able
to join us.

We invite you to share this invitation as widely as possible to friends
and colleagues who might be interested in participating. For further
information on ADF 2000, visit our web site at
http://www.un.org/depts/eca/adf2000