The Kampala Commitments on AIDS and Gender Inequality

The Hunger Project’s Meeting on “AIDS and Gender Inequality: Action at the Grassroots” – March 9-10, 2002, Nile International Conference Center, Kampala

More than 60 Hunger Project leaders and other experts from eight African nations took “personal and collective” responsibility for commitments aimed at transforming the condition of gender inequality that fuels the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS.

In the two-day meeting, participants examined traditional gender roles in African society. On the second day, women and men met separately to redefine who they need to be as women and men in the 21st century, and to create commitments consistent with that redefinition. They then came together and created a shared program of action to make their commitments a reality.

Commitments of the men

As men, we recognize that it is our behavior that is driving the spread of HIV/AIDS, and we therefore must act. We take personal and collective responsibility for the following commitments. We promise:

·        To take action to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

·        To respect and defend the rights of every woman.

·        To contribute to changing harmful attitudes which threaten everyone’s health.

·        To undertake an “outreach crusade” to other men concerning the rights of women.

·        To work to suppress ignorance in general and create awareness of the existing rights of women.

·        To promote openness in discussing sexuality in the family.

·        To stop violence against women.

·        To oppose unsafe sexual practices of every kind.

·        To oppose cultural influences which degrade and objectify women.

·        To promote sex education for boys and girls.

·        To make progress in our society by renouncing all advantages over women that the culture gives men – in the spheres of economics, sexuality and decision making – and to work to have other men do the same.

·        To work to eliminate harmful customs that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

·        To raise boys to respect girls and women.

·        To be a good role model in society.

·        To promote the leadership of women in all forums.

·        To share in the responsibility of care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS.

·        To challenge myself to be healthy and respect the health of others.

Commitments of the women

As a woman, I commit myself:

·        To include a gender approach in children’s (boys and girls) education and upbringing in the household, schools and the community.

·        To increase communication on sex with children, partners, family and the community.

·        To build the community’s capacity to support people living with HIV/AIDS.

·        To advocate for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS.

·        To ensure access to clear and correct information on HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), gender and violence.

·        To value women and girls through building solidarity between girls and women, increasing self-esteem of girls and women, while maintaining equal respect for men in society.

·        To be assertive and to take responsibility for myself.

·        To break the silence, and fight against any form of violence against women, including sexual abuse.

·        To increase the economic empowerment of women.

·        To develop and support women in leadership and politics at all levels.

·        To promote the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

·        To recognize gender inequality in every domain.

·        To influence policies on all levels that affect women (eg, policies on HIV/AIDS).

·        To encourage women and girls to take care of their bodies and have access to medical services.

In reviewing the commitments together, both women and men committed themselves to living these commitments, and to having compassion for themselves and each other as they strive to do so.

Plan of action

The central purpose of the two-day conference was to create and launch a new workshop – The Hunger Project’s AIDS and Gender Inequality Workshop – as an integral component of all its grassroots work for the end of hunger across Africa.

The new workshop starts off by providing people with clear, accurate information about HIV/AIDS and how to protect against it. The workshop then confronts the question – why is it that, even with awareness, people engage in sexual behavior that puts them at risk to being infected with HIV. The workshop enables people to examine the age-old gender roles that deny women the power to negotiate sex, and which encourage men to engage in risky sexual practices. Participants then create new definitions of who they will be now – as women and men in the 21st century, and as human beings with full and equal rights. Finally, communities will create their own action programs to transform attitudes and behaviors, and to put in place structures to reinforce behavioral change.

The AIDS and Gender Inequality Workshop will be conducted for the hundreds of villages where The Hunger Project works in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal and Uganda. In addition, The Hunger Project will work in partnership with other organizations – many of which participated in the Kampala meeting – to achieve far greater impact.