Invitation to Participate in HIV/AIDS Consultation

International Code of Practice for organizations working with HIV/AIDS

February 10, 2004

Dear Colleagues:

I am writing to invite your organization to participate in a
consultation process on an International Code of Practice for
organizations working with HIV/AIDS. The International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has been facilitating this effort
to ensure better accountability and set forth programming standards
through a voluntary Code of Practice for NGOs. The process has been
led by a steering committee of twelve organizations including Action
Aid,CARE USA, the Global Health Council, the International HIV/AIDS
Alliance, and the World Council of Churches. The voluntary Code of
Practice that is being developed will outline guiding principles and
practices for the service-delivery, programming and advocacy work of
international and local organizations.

The first draft of the Code of Practice will be completed in late
February 2004, after which organizations around the world are being
invited to provide comments and suggestions for improvements. The
finaldocument will be introduced at the 2004 World AIDS Conference in
Bangkok in July. More details on this process can be found in the
attached project outline.

As a member of the steering committee, CARE USA is organizing the
consultation process within the US and has asked InterAction to assist
in this effort. They anticipate a two-part process, where interested
organizations will be provided a copy of the draft document for
comments and then a daylong consultation meeting will be held. The
details of this process are as follows:

1. If interested in participating, notify Patricia MacWilliams,
<mailto:pmacwilliams@...>, by February 20, 2004.
2. Receive a draft of the Code of Practice during the
first week of March. A discussion guide of key questions and
points to consider prepared by the International Federation of Red
Cross/Red Crescent will accompany the draft. Organizations are
encouraged to seek wide participation and comments from within their
organizations, including field offices and partner groups where
applicable.

3. Participate in a one-day consultation on the draft Code of
Practice. This event will be held during the first week of May and
will be facilitated by Julia Cabasi from the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. For those groups
unable to participate, written comments are welcome.

4.The comments from the meeting will be consolidated and shared with
the participants prior to being formally presented to the Steering
Committee.

The development of the HIV/AIDS Code of Practice is an important
initiative that will help ensure a high standard of programming. All
interested organizations are encouraged to participate in this
process.


Sincerely yours,
Mary McClymont

InterAction
1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Suite 701
Washington, DC 20036
202-667-8227 x139

MacWilliams, Patricia [mailto:pmacwilliams@...]