IAC Programmes

Full programmes of Interational AIDS Conference 2008 can be located in the website
Here is the collated programmes:

INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCE 2008 PROGRAMMES
[under the theme of Migration, Mobile & Refugee Populations; HIV and Mobility; HIV-related Travel Restriction]

3 August 2008
09.00 – 11.00 Labour Migration & HIV: Emerging issues
11.00 – 13.00 Undermining Public Health & Human Rights: The US HIV Immigration and Travel Ban

4 August 2008
10.00 – 12.00 Mexican Migrants & HIV-AIDS
14.00 – 16.00 Redefining AIDS in Asia - Community Perspectives
Gender networking needs and opportunities Asian Networking Zone (7 Sisters)
Panel Discussion - Suksma Ratri, Anandi, Rico Gustav
14.30 – 16.00 Hidden Side Stigma & Discrimination
16.30 – 18.00 Mobile Population & Globalization [Bridging Session] - speakers: Malu Marin, Brahm Press

5 August 2008
11.00 – 12.30 Prevention Programmes with Female Sex Workers
12.30 – 14.30 Travel Restriction on PLHIV: Going Against The Grain of Human Rights & Public Health
14.30 – 16.00 - Scaling up HIV Testing & Counseling: A Human Rights & Public Imperative - speaker: Amara Quesada
- Mexico – US Migration and Vulnerability to HIV and AIDS
16.30 – 18.00 Access & Coverage in Resource Limited Setting

6 August 2008
10.45 - 12.00 Redefining AIDS in Asia [Women's Networking Zone] - speaker; Suksma Ratri
11.00 – 12.30 HIV-AIDS on The US – Mexico Border: A Multi MSM Community Approach to HIV-AIDS Prevention & Change
16.30 – 18.00 Fighting AIDS Under Fire: HIV Programming in Conflict and post-conflict Setting
17.00 – 18.30 Challenging HIV-related Travel Restriction [Global Village] - speaker: Suksma Ratri

7 August 2008
11.00 – 12.30 The Aftermath of War: Women, Children and Displaced Population
13.00 – 14.00 Vulnerabilities of Mobile and Refugee Populations - speaker: Amara Quesada

Poster Presentation:
Wednesday, 6 August 2008 - "Life or livelihood - not a clear choice for HIV positive Cambodian migrants in Thailand" by Brahm Press

TFEM Workshop on ADVOCACY AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS BUILDING

TFEM was conducting another skills building workshop in Bangkok on Advocacy and Communication. This workshop was held on June 27 - 29, 2008 and made lively by the participants from Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand [Phanga and Mae Sod]. The workshop was actually a combination of advocacy, basic GIPA and communication skills.Greg Gray, the advisor of APN+ was sharing about the GIPA Principles to the participants. All participants had the chance to do discussion and brainstorming regarding GIPA, in order to see their understanding on the issue and also how to integrate the GIPA Principles into their works. The discussions were around What is GIPA? | Why GIPA? | What are the benefits? | Why GIPA is important for populations? | How does it suit migrant workers situation? | How can GIPA make a difference? |

In this opportunity, CARAM Asia also introduced their new look of brochures and their first Annual Report. The brochures had been designed in a more attractive and colourful themes. It contained brief information on CARAM Asia and its Task Forces.
There were a lot of interactive activities during the workshop as well as brainstorming. All the participants had to write "perceptions" on meta-cards and try to put it on the board and sort out accordingly to the similarities. The participants were learning on how to group the issues and avoid the repetitions as well as learn on how to identify same issues wrapped in different terms.

Grouping the migrant's issues based on country.

Grouping the issues based on similarities and themes. Apparently it wasn't THAT easy.... Joel [facilitator] was helping the participants on grouping the issues. These issues, later on, will be collated to be core messages from where the participants should create an advocacy plan.

It is always said that Regional Workshop had a lot of challenges including language barriers. But participants can always resolve the language barriers. We were not only building the capacity here, deeper than that, we were building friendship and family-hood here. And in friendship and family, there's no such thing as LANGUAGE BARRIER.

Apart from the language barriers and dozens of assignments, the participants were not just learning all the time. We had fun too! We had many games that brings us closer as family, and the good thing is, in these games, nobody cares whether you can speak English or not, because the most important thing was YOU NEED TO HAVE A GOOD LAUGH... :)

Every country had several chances to do presentations and everyone was paying full attention to each and every presentation made by other participants. A lot of questions, inputs and suggestions were made during this interactive sessions. It was, clearly, a learning process for everyone. And more over, it was also a forum to share.

During country discussions on action plan and advocacy plan, all participants got the chance to have full supervision and consultation from the facilitator. They can ask questions and consult their discussion result with the facilitator in order to get the best result to be presented. Furthermore, cross-discussion with other countries also very much encouraged. Learning from other country's experience has always been the best method for everyone to analyze and compare the results.

Finally, the presentation of Country Action Plan! All countries had to present their Action Plan. They are guided to produce the most simple and doable plan, and were expected to implement the plan as soon as they go back to their country.

Finally, everyone was happy to be in this workshop and excited to share the knowledge with their peers in the country......