The Business Response to HIV/AIDS: Impact and lesson learned

better the conditions and social attitudes that lead to the spread of the virus and, in many parts of the
world, have led the campaign to draw public attention to HIV/AIDS issues in the community and
the workplace. Their resources are predominantly skills based, although they are often an excellent
conduit for information and can be better informed and networked than business on the issue of
HIV/AIDS.
Beyond their lobbying and advocacy, NGOs and CBOs that have partnered businesses in the
response to HIV/AIDS have invariably played an advisory, service provision or independent
monitoring and evaluation role. These range from providing specialised knowledge of the disease in
the development of HIV/AIDS policies and programmes, to implementing projects, assisting access
to local communities and advising on the needs of, and representing people living with HIV/AIDS.
4. ORGANISATION
The structure of partnerships in response to HIV/AIDS is as varied as the aims and objectives that
exist in reaction to this global issue. Partnerships are by nature evolutionary, making them
appropriate and flexible mechanisms to respond to an epidemic that proliferates in the manner of
HIV, and which requires a fluid response as opposed to standard models. As a consequence, there is a
tendency for partnerships to be rather informal, based around particular activities or guiding
principles rather than through the creation of legally structured organisations. The current preference
is to engage with existing organisations rather than to replicate structures, forming temporary
cooperation agreements or signing up to public statements. For example, the Corporate Leadership
Statement on the Global Business Council on HIV&AIDS has up until now been the mechanism for
engaging businesses as members to undertake advocacy work. Other partnerships may be based on
contractual agreements, where an organisation is paid to fulfil a particular task, for example an NGO
providing guidance on the formulation of a company's HIV/AIDS policy and programmes.
Partnerships evolve to match the needs of the particular objectives and so there is no one successful
mechanism. As partnerships develop they tend to become either more formalised, such as companies
paying a membership fee to business coalitions, for example the Thailand Business Coalition on
HIV/AIDS and the Hungarian Business Leaders Forum. Alternatively, the partnership ends having
completed the set activities, or momentum is lost due to a lack of leadership or conflicting objectives.
What is essential is a clarification of responsibilities of individual partners and to ensure some degree
of participation in the decision-making process. This requires clear communication of decisions,
action points and benchmarks, particularly as many partnerships involve different sectors and thus
differing working methodologies.
5. OUTCOMES
Business culture is performance driven. Unless companies can see clear, measurable impacts from the
inputs of resources they contribute, they will be reluctant to be involved in the work on HIV/AIDS.
Most corporate initiatives on HIV/AIDS must have clear goals and performance indicators for
success, to help ensure that companies optimise their resources. Areas of mutual benefit to both
business and society will inevitably receive most corporate attention.
The closer the threat of HIV/AIDS is to the commercial interests that lie at the heart of business, the
more identifiable the business benefits of intervention will be. In contrast, the more company activity
moves away from stakeholder-related responses to pure philanthropy, the clarity of measurable
business benefits will decline, particularly if a company is practising its philanthropy in a low-key way
and not as a public relations exercise. In some philanthropic activity, the benefit to core business
operations may well be low, while the benefit to society is substantial. That situation does not
automatically disqualify an initiative from private sector support. Some managers are motivated to
make a contribution precisely because a small amount of effort on their part can achieve significant

social benefit. Their involvement is made even easier if they can use non-financial resources that are
not a direct charge to the financial bottom line.

THE BUSINESS RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS: Impact and lessons learned

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