Advocacy>>

Advocacy with the leadership - Business community is one of the main areas of focus for IBT. IBT utilizes all major CII fora to carry out this work. One of these include the Partnership Summit, which is an important international business events in the country and aims to further partnerships, to build ideologies based on shared dreams and visions that bind societies together in our knowledge driven world.

Apart from this few other fora include:

Round Table for Indian and US Parliamentarians: Jan 2004, Hosting of CSIS HIV/AIDS task force delegation: Jan 2004, Participation in XV International AIDS Conference, Bangkok: July 2004, India Economic Summit 2004 (also in 2002, 2003), Participation in the Indian Engineering and Technology Fair: Feb 2005, National Regional Board Meetings: 2005 & 2006, 'India at Risk' a session on HIV/AIDS during India Economic Summit: 2006, Partcipation in Pravasi Bhartiya Divas: 2006 and HIV/AIDS sensitisation sessions held at CII every year.

World AIDS Day programmes

CII observes the World AIDS Day every year and has conducted a range of programmes all across the country.

2006

  • To commemorate International AIDS Day, CII co-produced a play "Dear Diary" on 1st and 2nd December 2006 at India Habitat Center New Delhi. A Garam Chai production, the play talked about relationships between members of a middle class family as they struggle to accept the virus as part of thier everyday life. It was based on random pages from diary of a 25 year old girl who was infected with HIV/AIDS.

  • CII Northern Region celebrated World Aids Day with release of 'Endevour', a newsletter on CSR best practices, with its second edition based on HIV/AIDS. Mr R Seshasayee, the then President CII, released the newsletter in Chandigarh. The issue conveyed the existing scenario, some case studies on corporate initiatives and greater involvement of corporate in combating the growing epidemic.

  • Apart from that there was Launch of HIV/AIDS Helpline - toll free No.1800 180 2008 (from BSNL / MTNL phones only) and 0172 2662172 (from all other service lines). The salient feature of this help line is its round the clock i.e. 24x7 availability and four languages options i.e in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English. This Helpline is one point information source to facilitate industrial workforce in particular, and community at large to get access to HIV/AIDS related information.

  • In Jamshedpur, a 'Walk for AIDS Awareness' was organised by the Young Indians Chapter of CII on the occasion of World AIDS Day. Children from various schools carried placards with slogans and messages on HIV/AIDS. An overwhelming response was also seen from the local Corporate Houses including Telcon, Tata Cummins, Tata Power, ISWP, Tata Steel and many industries in Adityapur.

  • As a part of HIV-AIDS awareness programme by CII - DSCL - LVS, DCM Sriram group, Jhagadia, unit celebrated World AIDS day on 1st December 2006 by wearing red ribbon.

  • CII Gujarat with Bharuch Enviro Infrastructure Ltd, Ankleshwar and Lok Vikas Sanstha, Surat started HIV-AIDS awareness programme from 1st December 2006 at Ankleshwar GIDC. More than 250 workers were covered in the month of December 2006.

  • CII Southern Region conducted Awareness Generation Campaign at schools, colleges and malls on 28 - 30 November 2006 in Chennai. This awareness generation programmes preceded the World AIDS Day cultural programme for schools and colleges.

  • Students and the corporate in Chennai took a Candle Light Pledge. Around 400 colleges and corporate were present in the auditorium.

  • CII Trichy Zone organised Trichy Mini Marathon on 3 December 2006 to commemorate the World AIDS Day & World Disability Day.

2005

  • On 30 November a workshop was organised with the industrial workers at Chandigarh. The focus of the programme was to reach out to the industrial work force.

  • CII Southern Region organised a World AIDS Day Campaign on 3 December 2005 in Chennai. Objective of the programme was to raise the awareness about the vulnerability of youth and children on HIV/AIDS. A Candle Light Pledge was taken by 400 students and executives from companies.

  • CII Kolkata organised a Red Brigade Campaign, which comprised a Live Outside Broadcast show; Pre recorded bytes of CEOs aired through the day on Power FM. A Press Conference featuring Special Secretary, Health & Family Welfare & Project Director, WB State AIDS Prevention & Control Society was also organised.

  • A "Walk for AIDS" was flagged-off in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. Over 500 people including eminent citizens, corporates, NGOs and school children participated. The students carried placards with messages on AIDS awareness as they walked along the stretch of 4 kms.

  • The CII Chhattisgarh Health Care Initiative was launched with an awareness programme for HIV/AIDS. It was held at the premises of Beekay Engg Corporation and was attended by over 500 workers from Beekay and other neighboring industries.

  • A sensitisation programme was held in Bharuch with the top management, middle level and lower level staff of DCM Sriram Group.

2004

  • AIDS Awareness Run: 1 Dec 2004, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi.

    The event was organized in partnership with Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, NACO, UNAIDS and various NGO and Corporate partners.

    7000 Participants in the run included students, military and paramilitary forces, MPs, International agencies, Positive people, Community organisations etc.

  • "Walk for Life" is an annual event for CII/ IBT.

    On 1 Dec 2004, CII (SR) & IBT conducted a Walk at different locations in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka with participation from Businesses and community organizations. On the occasion, companies took a pledge to initiate an AIDS workplace policy in their companies.

"Sourcing Innovations in India's Response to HIV/AIDS": A Roundtable with the IT and Financial Services Industry

Looking for a new medium to respond to HIV/AIDS, CII together with The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC) brought the CEO's and senior executives from IT and the financial service industry to a common platform.

The aim was to discuss and find innovative ways and tools to build capacity in local communities to work towards programmes for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, President, The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS was the key speaker at the session. He applauded the government's initiatives on HIV/AIDS at the same time urged the government and the industry not to be complacent and gear up there efforts. He said that the private sector has to support the government in its efforts. Ambassador Holbrooke mentioned that GBC is planning to set up an office in India.

Ms. Sujatha Rao, Director Director General, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) urged the private sector to have workplace policy on HIV/AIDS. Congratulating CII for its effort in setting up the ART Centre in Wari, Karnataka, she appealed the others to replicate such endeavours.

Dr. Shubhashis Gangopadhyay, Director, India Development Foundation (IDF) presented a demonstration of the Health Smart Card developed by IDF and Score Information Technologies ltd to demonstrate application of IT to find solution to HIV/AIDS related treatment issues...the CEOs and senior executives present at the session.

ZMQ, a Delhi-based gaming and e-learning software company talked about four mobile games which they have recently launched with the name, Freedom HIV/AIDS, on nine million devices of Reliance Infocomm with the support of the Delhi State AIDS Control Society.

i Energizer, an US based company with call centre operations in Noida, shared its experience of an in-house survey to understand the vulnerability of its employees to STI and HIV/AIDS. The survey showed that one third of the sexually active employees are engaged in unsafe sex and 11% of the respondents have over 5 sexual partners. i Energizer announced that it is joining forces with GBC to develop strategies to protect its employees through knowledge, safe sex practices and community leadership.

Many more examples from the financial service sector were presented in the meeting.

National Conferences to sensitise and mobilise Business Sector

  • The Indian Business Trust for HIV/AIDS (IBT) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised a series of 7 National Conferences in 2005 to spur and mobilise the business sector to speed up its response to the issue of HIV/AIDS. The conferences were in partnership with National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

  • The conferences were held in:

    New Delhi 26 May 2005
    Chennai 22 July 2005
    Kolkata 18 August 2005.
    Bangalore 20 September 2005
    Pondycherry 21 October 2005
    Hyderabad 11 November 2005
    Surat 14 November 2005.

  • The business agenda of the conference covered.

    Is Business Leadership Geared For The Aids Challenge?
    1. Is the business leadership ready to take on the challenge of AIDS?
    2. Is the likely impact as bad as it sounds?
    3. Whose business is it?
    Scaling Up Of Access To Care And Treatment Through Public Private Partnerships
    1. What kind of programmes, partnerships & funding is in place to reach the 3 by 5 goal?
    2. What are the Challenges faced for delivery of care & treatment?
    3. What needs to be done to expand the Treatment center network in the corporate sector?
    4. Does a real opportunity exist for public private partnerships in AIDS prevention, care & treatment?

  • The speakers at the conferences included: President Bill Clinton, Former President of the USA, Dr David C. Mulford, US Ambassador to India; Ms Sheba Rukikaire, Executive Director, Orphanage in Uganda (a NGO); Dr S.Y. Quraishi, Former Special Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and Director General NACO; Dr Michel Lavollay, Senior Adviser Private Sector (Operations, External Relations) Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB & Malaria; Mr Robert O. Blake, Jr. Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of the United States of America; Lt. Gen. (Retd.) M M Lakhera, Lieutenant Governor, Union Territory of Pondicherry; Dr Amrajit Singh, Secretary Health, Government of Gujarat, Surya Kanta Mishra, State Minister for Health and Family Welfare, West Bengal; Mr. K. Rosaiah, Hon'ble Minister for Health, Government of Andhra Pradesh and many others.

  • The participants at these conferences included senior managers from industry, NGO Sector, Government representatives, medical fraternity, academia and various other stakeholders.

Accelerating the Business Response to AIDS: An International Conclave:

  • In October 2003, CII and its partner the Global Business Coalition on AIDS (GBC), organised an International Conclave on Accelerating the Business Response to AIDS, in New Delhi.

  • A strategic simulation on the AIDS Epidemic, building a case scenario for effective public private partnerships, was played out by participants from national and International business, Government, International agencies and donor organisations, NGO's and other civil society groups

    An event of this kind was the first of its kind globally and served to highlight the urgent need of concerted action, against limited resources and diverse interests.

Address at the UN General Assembly Special Session

  • In September 2003, CII was invited to the special session of the UN General Assembly and Mr. Tarun Das, Director General, CII spoke on behalf of the business community.

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