Some people believe that leadership is a quality one is born with, while we believe it requires an opportunity that will lead to change and facilitate an individual to become empowered to be a transformative leader in his or her community. The workshops in our trainings help individuals establish their roles as leaders and provide them with the tools needed to be effective leaders within their community or the larger HIV/AIDS movement.

Because of the association of HIV with behaviours that may be considered socially and culturally unacceptable by many people, HIV infection is widely stigmatized. People living with the virus are frequently subject to discrimination and human rights abuses. Together, stigma and discrimination constitute one of the greatest barriers to dealing effectively with the epidemic. Stigma discourages governments from acknowledging or taking timely action against HIV and AIDS. Stigma deters individuals from finding out about their HIV status and inhibits those who know they are infected from sharing their diagnosis, protecting others or seeking treatment & care. Experience teaches us that a strong movement of people living with HIV or AIDS that affords mutual support and a voice at local and national levels is particularly effective in tackling stigma. (UNAIDS)

The idea of involving people living with HIV was formally adopted as a principle at the Paris AIDS Summit in 1994, where 42 countries declared the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV and AIDS (GIPA) to be critical to ethical and effective national responses to the epidemic. As an organization we acknowledge that the experience and perspective of Positive Leaders are key to addressing the needs of our communities and are valuable tools to challenge public misconceptions about living with HIV today.