In its fight against HIV/AIDS, the private sector has set up coalitions in a large number of countries to pool and share their resources and coordinate their actions. Such coalitions have existed for several years in English-speaking African countries, for ex. in Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana, Uganda, Kenya…In 2006, new coalitions were created: in Mali, Morocco. Côte d’Ivoire.
Current situation of business coalitions against AIDS in Africa*
There are at present about twenty properly structured coalitions, mainly in English-speaking Africa. (The country papers provide detailed information on the private sector response to AIDS in Africa).
They have different funding systems, even though they all depend on international financing to a certain extent :
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Most coalitions function on a membership basis, even if they depend on international funding, and have no intention of departing from this system.
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A few coalitions try not to rely on international funding and are moving towards an independent and sustainable funding system through the provision of services.
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A few coalitions, which depend entirely on international donors, do not claim membership fees. For ex. in Botswana, Swaziland and Rwanda.
Through their activities, coalitions fulfil several objectives
The major objective of most coalitions is to coordinate private sector response to HIV/AIDS. They act as a framework structure, which enables them to share their knowledge and their “best practices”, and facilitates networking among the members themselves and with external service providers.
A few coalitions have started to provide services to the communities and to the private sector, for example, Uganda is providing care and treatment to 4000 patients thanks to a staff of 40.
Most coalitions are facing a twofold challenge: how to maintain a sustainable funding system and reach out to the small and medium enterprises.
• Sustainable funding
– Donor funding is generally provided on a short term basis (<1 year) and is based on a project instead of being recurrent. A rate of membership fees as low as 20% in some countries.
– Membership fees that barely cover the operational costs in most countries, let alone service and project related costs.
• Getting the commitment of the whole private sector, particularly of the SMEs and of the informal sector
– They employ more people in Africa than do the multinational companies
– They tend not to acknowledge the importance of AIDS as a major problem or they do not have the necessary resources or knowledge to develop appropriate programmes
– They tend not to have the same resources as the multinational companies and need additional support
Still, they often have working arrangements with the formal sector (service providers, suppliers).
In spite of their difficulties, they constitute the only opportunity for the setting up of a proper structure and for obtaining resources dedicated to this issue in order to support companies in developing HIV/AIDS programmes.
* According to a presentation of the World Economic Forum at the Seminar on the mobilisation of the private sector in French-speaking Africa - Marrakech - June 2006
