Dear AIDS-ASIA FORUM,

UNDP South East Asia HIV and Development Programme is happy to announce the
latest publication to be added to its website. "Building Dynamic Democratic
Governance and HIV-Resilient Societies" By Dr. Lee-Nah Hsu

The Oslo Governance Centre was established by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) to serve as a resource centre on the role of democratic
governance in the development process. Development is not just a matter of
increasing a country’s gross national product. Human development is both the
measure and the objective of development. This is why one of the Centre’s roles
is to provide opportunities for UNDP staff to research and reflect on all
issues likely to contribute in one way or another to sustainable human
development. The democratic governance fellowship programme is designed to
enable staff members to spend up to two months in Oslo for purposes of
reflecting on an important activity carried out in the field and writing a
paper on it to draw out the lessons learned and recommend new ways of dealing
with the activity.

While much of the work done under the fellowship programme is likely to fall
into the different service lines of the democratic governance practice, staff
members are encouraged to undertake research on issues that cut across the five
UNDP practice areas of governance, poverty, environment and energy, HIV/AIDS,
and crisis prevention and recovery. The first research fellowship on the
cross-practice between governance and HIV was granted to Lee-Nah Hsu, Manager of
the UNDP South East Asia HIV and Development Programme.

Studying the impact of HIV/AIDS on democratic governance, and how the latter can
be a factor in the prevention, treatment, care and support of people living with
HIV/AIDS and in dealing with the pandemic, is essential to achieving sustainable
development, particularly in countries with high HIV prevalence rates. Dr. Hsu
makes an important contribution in this regard. Her paper shows that introducing
democratic governance practices into development does facilitate the building of
a community’s HIV resilience. From such a perspective, governance issues are not
a luxury for developed countries, but a means of survival and prosperity for
developing countries.

The Oslo Governance Centre hopes that the present paper, which has been reviewed
by both governance and AIDS experts, will trigger new thinking on which to build
effective and sustainable policies and programmes to stem the spread of
HIV/AIDS. Far more work is necessary at both the conceptual and operational
levels to resolve the many theoretical and practical issues that have been
raised.

This publication can be downloaded at:
 
http://www.hiv-development.org/publications/Oslo_Paper.htm

For further details please contact

Vincent Fung
Health and Information Technology Intern
UNDP South East Asia HIV and Development Programme
14/F Block A, United Nations Building
Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand
E-mail: seahiv.dev@...