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The Future of Partnerships
Partnership Compacts
To build on the success the American people’s partnerships have achieved to date and reflect the paradigm shift to an ethic of mutual partnership, the USG is working with host countries to develop Partnership Compacts: agreements that engage governments, civil society, and the private sector to address the issues of HIV/AIDS. The goal of Compacts is to advance the progress and leadership of host nations in the fight against HIV/AIDS, with a view toward enhancing country ownership of their programs.
Country ownership is the heartbeat of effective development, and Partnership Compacts will be tailored to local circumstances and will foster accountability. In addition to outlining responsibilities and commitments made by both partners, they will set forth an expected progression over time of USG support and host country investment and policy change.
Above all, Partnership Compacts will place a premium on measurable and sustainable results. They will promote deeper integration of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment into health care and public health networks, and seek to promote sustainability by ensuring that HIV/AIDS programs build capacity and benefit health care overall. Through Compacts, PEPFAR will strengthen its support for a comprehensive approach to the epidemic that engages multiple sectors - not just government to government, but people to people, including NGOs, FBOs and CBOs, and the private sector.
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Thus PEPFAR will continue to be part of this new era of development that champions friendship and respect, mutual understanding and accountability - and trusts in the people on the ground to do the work.
The people of severely affected nations have accomplished much in their fight against HIV/AIDS, and the American people are extraordinarily privileged to partner with them in this work. As President Bush remarked of Africa in a comment equally applicable to other regions, “Africa’s most valuable resource is not its soil or its diamonds, but…the talent and the creativity of its people.” PEPFAR partnerships are compelled by this creativity. They are based on a profound belief in the dignity and worth of every human life - and the logical corollary that everyone deserves a chance; that seemingly ordinary people will do extraordinary things with a little support.
The world now knows, from 5 years of partnership, that communities can take ownership of their futures by combating HIV/AIDS one person at a time. We know that PLWHA have much to contribute by standing up to be counted with courage and strength. We know that all people, regardless of economic means, care about and rightly have pride in themselves, their families, their communities, and their nations. And we know their deep commitment because we have seen, as one community health worker put it, that they “do it out of love.”
America will continue to support their work - and to join them in celebrating life.
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