Featured Projects

Avahan: India AIDS Initiative - Essential Advocacy

Avahan is a $200 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to prevent the spread of HIV in India. Working with a team of international and in-country partners, the initiative focuses prevention efforts in the six highly-affected states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tamil Nadu, as well as along the nation's highways.

Experience indicates that prevention programs will fail unless they promote meaningful involvement of vulnerable populations and civil society organizations, an enabling policy environment, and reduced stigma and discrimination. Recognizing this, Constella Futures designs and implements aspects of the India AIDS Initiative related to “Essential Advocacy.”

Essential Advocacy Project components involve combating HIV-related stigma and discrimination, fostering an enabling environment by galvanizing political and community leaders, and building capacity of local counterparts to use financial, technical, and other resources effectively. As a result, the government of India and key civil society and private-sector partners will be better able to understand the impact of the epidemic and enact responsive policy and program measures.

The performance period for this project is 2005–2008.