Dear friends,

I just came back from a meeting with representatives from international organizations such as the Global Fund and UNAIDS, bilateral institutions such as DFID and the US government, and civil society organizations.

It was an interesting meeting where different views were shared, from the Global Fund's Executive Director (Richard Feachem) position on creating a central financial mechanism for disbursing HIV/AIDS funds, and have the World Bank concentrate on building up and strengthening health and delivery systems. This partnership, in Mr. Feachem's view, would help achieve concrete goals such as universal access for treatment.

The representative from civil society talked about the need to stop talking about a "Global AIDS structure," and focus on minimizing jargon when talking about fighting the pandemic.

The representative from DFID, as usual, focused on harmonization and system strengthening as the way to maximize the impact that financing has at the country level.

The representative from the US government disagreed with Mr. Feachem's view, and stated that it was better to have different organizations working together, instead of one central institution. He said that it is "against human nature" to just have one central organization.

In conclusion, this was a very interesting meeting. I was happy to see these decision-makers talk about international financing to fight HIV/AIDS at the national level, but was disappointed that young people were not mentioned at all. For example, I think young people might have some good ideas in creating delivery mechanisms that benefit non-formal education programs at the country-level, which could be a core part of country coordinating mechanisms (CCMs). Oh well... We still have a long way to go in advocating for young people!

(sin acentos)

Hola amig@s,

Como estan? Acabo de regresar de un evento con Bill Clinton. Hablo muy bien sobre los esfuerzos de su fundacion relacionados a erradicar la epidemia. Me parecio un buen discurso ya que fue muy concreto al explicar las actividades que su fundacion implementa a nivel internacional.

Una anecdota interesante... Al salir de la conferencia y pasar por los bannos, me di cuenta que habia mucha seguridad, y no dejaban entrar. Al rato salio Bill Clinton! Lo pude ver muy de cerca, y habia mucha gente tomando fotos. Me parecio una experiencia interesante.

Abrazos,

Luis

(sin acentos... esta computadora no deja poner acentos...)

Hola amig@s!

Les escribo desde Toronto! Estoy en la XVI Conferencia Internacional sobre el Sida. La participacion juvenil ha sido increible hasta ahora. Tuvimos una pre-conferencia del 10 al 12 de agosto. El 12 en la noche tuvimos un evento para la culminacion de la pre-conferencia. Ya el domingo estabamos dentro de la conferencia, especificamente en el "Youth Pavilion" en el "Global Village" de la conferencia.

Hay muchisimas personas de todas partes del mundo. Creo que voy aprender mucho de otras personas que tambien trabajan en el tema de la participacion juvenil, pero especialmente concentrados en el tema de VIH/SIDA. De igual forma, creo que voy a aprender mucho mas sobre los avances cientificos mas novedosos en la lucha contra la epidemia.

Me parece que todavia tenemos mucho que hacer, pero vamos por buen camino. Los mantendre informados!

Un abrazo,

Luis

Estimados amigos (en español para variar un poco),

La situación en Hong Kong está un poco agitada. Mientras los países en vía de desarrollo siguen en discusiones con los países desarrollados, la situación en la calle está bastante convulsionada. La mayoría de la gente dentro del centro de convenciones está pegada a los televisores viendo como activistas de todo el mundo protestan contra la OMC a metros del centro de convenciones. Me cuentan que desde ciertos puntos del edificio se pueden ver las protestas, las cuales se han vuelto violentas en algunos puntos.

Muchos de los activistas son jóvenes, a los cuales tuve la oportunidad de conocer esta mañana, como parte de la estrategia de GYAN de intercambiar ideas con los jóvenes que protestan a las afueras del centro de convenciones, y con grupos participando en la conferencia ministerial. Durante el encuentro, me comunicaron que grupos de jóvenes de todo el mundo con ideología izquierdista, se reunieron días antes de la reunión ministerial y acordaron su rechazo total a la OMC. Según me comentaron, su trabajo se concentrará en crear campañas en sus países buscando la disolución de la OMC.

Hace unos minutos estuve en una conferencia de prensa con el Ministro Celso Amorim de Brasil, y con otros ministros de relaciones exteriores y comercio de otros países. Parece que el acuerdo final va ser bastante flojo, y se organizará otra conferencia ministerial para terminar la ronda de negociaciones de Doha en el 2006. Cuando sepa más les cuento.

Abrazos desde Hong Kong!

Hi everyone!

I'm currently in Hong Kong at the WTO Ministerial. I got in yesterday, but was too exhausted to post. I'm just coming for an internse planning workshop with UNDP Asia in Manila on setting up the groundwork for a regional program on Youth in Democratic Governance. A lot of good things for youth and youth organizations are in the pipeline, but will probably update everyone later...

Back to Hong Kong!

This city is quite amazing! I am pretty impressed with the arquitectural design and just general feel. This is my first trip to Asia, and overall I must say I am really impressed.

The WTO negotiations seem to be deadlocked, but there is a possibility of advance via a development package for least developed countries (LDCs).

NGOs are running around the place trying to communicate their position to delegates when available, and delegates are busy trying to find common ground on the future of international trade.

Last night I went to a workshop organized by Oxfam's International Youth Parliament on youth movements working on trade issues. It was good to see friends (like Connie from Kenya working on GYCA) and meet new ones. The workshop was held at a meeting place next to the convention center. I hope that in upcoming ministerials, young people are able to be part of the negotiating process or at least hold meetings inside.

GYAN is trying to figure out an arrangement to increase youth participation at the Ministerial. Maybe governemnts could bring youth delegates as part of their delegations, or there could be a youth caucus recognized by the WTO secretariat and delegations, maybe there could be easier access to young people interested in attending the meeting. On this we are meeting contacts in the WTO secretariat in the upcoming days, as well as some friendly delegations.

All for now from exciting HK!

Luis