Cosponsors and their expanded response through civil society

As already mentioned, the experience of the Cosponsors in their work with individual NGOs and coalitions of NGOs provides a basis for the development of UNAIDS own work in this area. UNAIDS is in a position to create opportunities for bringing together NGO liaison sections and HIV/AIDS specialists within cosponsoring and other UN agencies. Such collaboration will also further implement the involvement of civil society throughout the UN system.

The involvement of civil society will also be increased by:

· doing ongoing work with Cosponsors to analyse their partnerships with civil society through NGO liaison staff and the office of the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service. Cosponsors’ experience of work with civil society provides models of good practice which can be shared between agencies (including UNAIDS) in developing their response to HIV/AIDS

· enabling the experience of some of the Cosponsors working on HIV/AIDS - for example UNDP’s work in awareness training and capacity development - to be used as a model of best practice for other organizations, and also possibly for implementation within UNAIDS itself

· building on existing experiences to provide technical assistance to Cosponsors and their NGO partners in HIV/AIDS training. UNAIDS own experience of awareness training, for personal and professional purposes, can provide the basis for both Cosponsors and other organizations carrying out staff training. UNAIDS, with the collaboration of the Cosponsors, aims to facilitate training throughout the UN system.