In a major vote of confidence from the MAC AIDS Fund, the MAC AIDS Fund Leadership Initiative (MAFLI) has been extended to make possible the enrollment of a fifth cohort of Fellows.

The MAFLI was launched in collaboration with Columbia University and UCLA in 2007; in 2009, a partner in South Africa, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), joined the program. The Leadership Initiative is designed to cultivate emerging leaders in South Africa who will make major, sustainable contributions to HIV/AIDS prevention in the context of gender equality.

For the first five weeks of the program, Fellows are immersed in an intensive, full-time, in-residence HIV/AIDS prevention training. Following the training, Fellows receive pilot funds and mentoring to launch their HIV/AIDS prevention plans at their Sponsoring Institutions in South Africa. Fellows receive mentorship, advice, support, and feedback from MAFLI program staff towards successful implementation of the prevention plan.

Further, participants become integrated into an extensive and diverse network of more than 40 prior Fellows that provides mutual support and opportunities for collaboration during and following the Fellowship tenure.  The process of building a MAFLI Network in HIV prevention in South Africa has also been continuing, with a major event held in February, 2011. For two days, 37 prior Fellows (pictured above) met in Cape Town with program staff and leadership to explore how the Fellowship experience has transformed their professional lives and to give shape to their plans for the future.

Enrolling the next cohort of Fellows

Twelve new Fellows were chosen in July, 2011, through a nationwide search for emerging leaders in HIV prevention. Cohort 5 will be trained in KwaZulu-Natal in July and August 2011.

An important innovation in Cohort 5 is that Fellows applied in tandem with a Sponsoring Institution, which will work with the Fellow in the development of a plan for sustainability of the prevention plan begun by each Fellow. An individual Sponsor from within the institution will have responsibility assisting the Fellow with implementation of the prevention plan along with the Fellow and planning for it to be sustained. In this way, the work of HIV prevention will be continued within the Sponsoring Institution even after the end of the Fellowship period.

As part of the continuing transition of the program to South Africa, a lead role will be played by Vasu Reddy, Ph.D. of HSRC, along with Lisa Wiebesiek, M.A., and a newly hired staff member, Nadia Sanger, Ph.D. The U.S. institutional partners will also remain integrally involved, under the leadership of Anke A. Ehrhardt, Ph.D., (Director: HIV Center) and Thomas J. Coates, Ph.D. (Director: UCLA Global Health Institute). Key staff members include Laurie Bruns and Mushambi Mutuma from UCLA and Raymond Smith, Ph.D., Patricia Warne, Ph.D., and Masud Rahman, M.B.A., from the HIV Center.

Photo above by Joyce Hunter

To read more about the Capstone Conference, including reflections by MAFLI Fellows, click here to access the "From the Director" column in this issue.

To learn about work being conducted by MAFLI Fellows, in their own words, click here to read the "Voices of the Community" column in this issue.

To view a podcast about the Leadership Initiative presented by the MAFLI team at HIV Center Grand Rounds on March 17, click here.