The World Bank recently renewed a Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) $100,000 contract to provide twelve additional months of technical support to the World Bank’s AIDS Campaign Team for Africa (ACTafrica) Private Sector HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project in The Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.

“This grant is yet another statement of confidence in the our HIV/AIDS Program in Africa.” Said CCA President Stephen Hayes.  “Our work in Africa is not well-known, but we have been working in Africa on this issue, especially with the corporate sector for several years now. It is good to know that the World Bank has such confidence in the work led by Victor Barnes director of our HIV/AIDS international team.”

During the first year of the contract, CCA provided country-level technical assistance to the four countries to enhance coordination between National AIDS Commission secretariats and their private sector focal points; develop national business coalitions against HIV/AIDS; and facilitate public-private partnerships with other stakeholders such as international donor agencies, foundations, global NGOs and international corporations.

This work culminated in the HIV/AIDS Private Sector Mobilization Forum for Francophone Africa, which was held in June 2006 in Marrakech, Morocco and organized by The World Bank, CCA the World Economic Forum (WEF), GTZ, ILO, SIDA-ENTREPRISES, the Global Business Coalition (GBC), PharmAccess International and UNAIDS.

The Forum, which built on the success of private sector partnerships in Anglophone Africa, brought together leaders of business coalitions, labor unions, employers federations, national AIDS councils, donor agencies, NGOs and public and private sector policy makers from sixteen African countries.  It provided an opportunity to share experiences, develop action plans for workplace and community programs, learn about implementation support tools, review mechanisms to access funding, and build partnerships to fully engage the power and resources of the private sector in national HIV/AIDS agendas.

In the coming year, CCA will assist these countries to continue to strengthen the private sector’s response to HIV/AIDS in the context of each country’s national HIV/AIDS strategy.

Founded in 1993, the Corporate Council on Africa is the leading American nonprofit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to enhancing trade and investment ties between the United States and the 53 countries in Africa. The CCA HIV/AIDS Initiative is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Ford Foundation, Merck & Co. and The World Bank and seeks to increase U.S. corporate involvement in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. The Initiative assists CCA members in the development and implementation of workplace HIV/AIDS policies and programs through partnerships, and strives to enhance private sector contributions to national agendas on HIV/AIDS.