Georgina Yidanpoa Caswell
Youth Journalist - Mexico Youth Force

Ban Ki-Moon (UN Secretary General), Felipe Calderon (Mexican President) Bill Clinton (former US President), Margaret Chan (WHO), Dr. Pedro Cahn (IAS President), Peter Piot (UNAIDS), Stephen Lewis (AIDS-Free World, former UN Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa), Thoraya Obaid (UNFPA)…this conference has involved several world leaders. All spoke about the importance of addressing HIV issues; all mentioned that this is a collective effort.

A session entitled ‘Reclaiming our Lives: Developing accountability for positive (PLHIV) leadership and our advocacy priorities’ focussed on meaningful positive leadership to address HIV. Presenters demonstrated that positive leadership can happen at different levels and in different ways. Some people bring HIV positive together to influence policy in countries where no structures to do so existed. Others are using innovative research methods, such as picture maps, to encourage people living with HIV to express their needs and aspirations, which are in turn used as advocacy tools to lobby policymakers. Some people living with HIV are on the board of trustees of organisations and/or speak at conferences to ensure that the specific needs of HIV positive people are recognised and acted upon. What was clear from the discussion about positive leadership is that it is not easy to be a leader who represents other peoples’ voices in the community. A participant in the audience stated ‘Really, [networks representing us] listen to our voices. If you don’t have a story to tell, if you don’t hear us, you don’t represent us’. Representation involves accountability to the people you are representing and to the issues they are raising.

Giovanny Romero Infante from the Movimiento Homosexual de Lima, a Peruvian gay activist living with HIV’ provided me with a definition of ‘positive leadership’ from a young person’s perspective. He powerfully stated,

‘Positive leadership is the capacity that HIV positive youth have to talk about their own experiences, to represent the needs of other youth, including LGBT, and to take action using evidence of what is really happening’.

What a responsibility and a privilege!