M⋅A⋅C AIDS
Fund
Leadership Initiative

Recognizing
the critical need to catalyze and support emerging
leadership in HIV/AIDS prevention in countries hard hit
by the epidemic, the MAC AIDS Fund launched the
Leadership Initiative in collaboration with Columbia
University and UCLA in April 2007. In January 2009, we
were joined by a new partner in South Africa: the Human
Sciences Research Council (HSRC).
If you have
the initiative, the vision, and the determination to
become a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS in South
Africa, we would like to help you take the next step.
What is the Leadership
Initiative?
The Leadership Initiative
is a one-year program designed to cultivate
emerging leaders in
South Africa who will make a major contribution
to HIV/AIDS prevention advocacy at the local, regional,
and/or national levels. The focus of the program is on
reducing the spread of HIV and the impact of AIDS by
seeding new and innovative HIV prevention programs and
promoting gender equality. The Leadership Initiative
provides a structured, supportive training Fellowship
that enables participants to learn about and engage in
the exchange of successful approaches to HIV/AIDS
prevention that can be modified to meet local needs.
This program is underwritten by the MAC AIDS Fund and is
directed by the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral
Studies (Columbia University, New York City) and the
UCLA Program in Global Health (University of California,
Los Angeles). As of January 2009, a third partner has
joined the initiative -- the Human Sciences Research
Council of South Africa (HSRC).
What are the goals of the
Leadership Initiative?
The Leadership Initiative
supports the emergence of new leaders who will
contribute to the development of effective approaches
that reduce the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS. For the
first two months of the program (mid-May to mid-July
2009), the MAC AIDS Leadership Initiative Fellows are
immersed in a daily, intensive, in-residence
HIV/AIDS prevention training in South Africa,
which will include time spent in the Drakensberg region,
Pretoria, and Durban. During the training, each Fellow
will gain HIV/AIDS prevention knowledge regarding "what
works" nationally and locally; each will also design a
plan for HIV/AIDS prevention advocacy in her or his
respective field with the guidance of an appointed
faculty mentor. The training curriculum is global in
scope, based on best-practices in HIV prevention that
have been identified in countries throughout the world.
Following
the two-month training period, Fellows receive ten
months of pilot funds and other support to launch
their HIV/AIDS prevention plan in South Africa.
All plans focus on the link between the promotion of
gender equality and HIV/AIDS prevention. Areas of
concentration include such topics as challenging stigma
and sexism, reducing sexual and domestic violence,
working with men as partners in prevention, promoting
educational or economic empowerment, and empowering
women to negotiate safer sex with male partners.
What happens during the
Leadership Initiative?
During the two-month
training period, Fellows participate in specially
designed didactic trainings and prevention plan
workshops, attend seminars and presentations by HIV/AIDS
practitioners and researchers, visit HIV/AIDS-related
community-based organizations, and work with their
mentors in the development of their prevention plan.
The two-month intensive
training, which is rigorous and involves a full-time
commitment, provide participants with the opportunity to
- Develop leadership
skills that incorporate vision, purpose and clarity
in HIV prevention work;
- Develop skills to
design and implement an effective, feasible HIV
prevention plan with concrete goals, strategies and
evaluation components;
- Develop skills to
sustain an HIV/AIDS prevention program (budgeting,
identifying sources of funding, working with the
media);
- Expand knowledge of
the multiple factors contributing to HIV
transmission; intervention strategies in HIV
prevention; gender empowerment and the impact of
gender inequality in the spread of HIV; and behavior
change interventions;
- Network with local
leaders, advocates, and providers in the field of
HIV prevention.

To assist with prevention plan development, Fellows
receive ten months of mentorship, advice, support, and feedback regarding the
conceptualization and successful implementation of the
prevention plan. Further, participants will develop an
extensive network of diverse faculty and other cohorts
of Fellows that will provide mutual support and
collaboration during and following the Fellowship
tenure. At the conclusion of the two-month training
period, the Leadership Initiative will provide ten
months of pilot funding for Fellows to carry out their
HIV/AIDS prevention programs in South Africa.
About the sponsors

Established in 1994 by MAC
Cosmetics, the MAC AIDS Fund supports men, women, and
children affected by HIV/AIDS globally. Introducing its first VIVA GLAM lipstick that same
year, MAC decided that every cent of the selling price
of the VIVA GLAM lipsticks would go to the MAC AIDS
Fund. With a total of four VIVA GLAM lipsticks now sold
worldwide, and through the annual Kids Helping Kids Card
Program, MAC Cosmetics has provided over $86 million
(US) to date for the MAC AIDS Fund. The MAC AIDS
Fund is the heart and soul of the company – with its
employees giving their time, energy, and talent to help
those affected by HIV/AIDS worldwide. Fore more
information on the MAC AIDS Fund, visit
http://www.macaidsfund.org.
Founded in 1987, the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral
Studies is a multidisciplinary research center at the
New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia
University that serves as a national and international
hub for research and engagement with a broad range of
HIV-infected and -affected populations. For more than 20
years, the HIV Center has played a leading role in
advancing research on the HIV prevention needs of
women and men, including in South Africa and other parts of the
developing world. For more information on the HIV
Center, visit
http://www.hivcenternyc.org.
The UCLA Program in Global Health partners with academic institutions in
developing countries to advance prevention, policy, and clinical research for
HIV/AIDS and other diseases in all regions of the world. They work with
developing-country partners to integrate treatment and prevention of HIV,
implement innovative prevention programs, stimulate the implementation of
beneficial policies and laws, address gender inequity, and train the next
generation of U.S. and developing-country scientists and advocates to continue
this essential work. For more information, visit
http://www.globalhealth.med.ucla.edu.
The
Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa
is a statutory body, established in 1968. It supports
development nationally, in the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) and in Africa. It primarily
conducts large-scale, policy-relevant, social-scientific
projects for public-sector users, non-governmental
organizations and international development agencies, in
partnership with researchers globally, but specifically
in Africa. The HSRC aligns its research activities and
structures to South Africa's national development
priorities: notably poverty reduction through economic
development, skills enhancement, job creation, the
elimination of discrimination and inequalities, and
effective service delivery. For more information, visit
http://www.hsrc.ac.za/.
Program Staff

Anke Ehrhardt (Principal
Investigator, HIV Center)
Thomas Coates (Co-Principal Investigator, UCLA)
Laurie Bruns (UCLA, South
Africa)
Diane di Mauro (HIV Center)
Joyce Hunter (HIV Center)
Linda Loffredo (HIV Center)
Relebohile Moletsane (HSRC, South Africa)
Mushambi Mutumba (UCLA, South Africa)
Dean Peacock (UCLA, South Africa)
Vasu Reddy (HSRC, South Africa)
Raymond Smith (HIV Center)
Program Participants
Cohort
2:

Kholisa Beatrice Gogela
Estelle Heideman
Nwabisa Jama
Fumane Khanare
Matshidiso Maseko
Babalwa Pinky Mazaleni
Romiela Pillay
Carmen Shadwell
(To view profiles of
Cohort 2,
click here.)
Cohort
1:

Somaya Latief
Ntokozo Madlala
Constance Sibongile Mamogobo
William Mapham
Joyce Busisiwe Maseko
Nobuntu Matinise
Sybil Nandi Msezane
Mantombi Nala-Preusker
Padmini Patsy Pillay
Jabulisile Tugwana
Wessel van den Berg
Lesley Wood
(To view profiles of
Cohort 1,
click here.) |