Women participate in the development of National AIDS Plans in fewer than 10% of the 79 countries surveyed recently by UNAIDS. Women are also poorly represented on many of the Country Coordinating Mechanisms that develop and submit funding proposals to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

To be effective, AIDS responses must be planned with - and not just for - the people they are meant. It is therefore vital that women – particularly HIV positive women - participate meaningfully in designing and implementing policies and programmes.

Moreover, while many policy makers acknowledge that sex workers are key players in shaping the AIDS epidemic, they have been slow to recognize the vital role sex workers can play as agents of change in the response.

This is why the GCWA supports initiatives to provide girls and women with training in leadership and advocacy skills to enable them to make their voices – and those of the constituencies they represent – heard.