UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

Chapter 9249UN Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan withUNAIDS staff,Geneva, 2005.UNAIDSIndeed, since its creation in 1996, several international development agencies have referredto UNAIDS as an example for UN reform as a whole. On 30 October 1997, almost two yearsafter the Joint Programme was born, then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan made a speechin which he called UNAIDS “an experiment in interagency coordination” 12 . He also said,“I expect the UNAIDS experience to show us how to reap the full benefits of a genuinelycollective effort which will be greater than the sum of its parts. We cannot afford to fail. Theissue addressed by the programme is too crucial, the experiment it represents in interagencycoordination too important” 13 .In a recent interview for this book, Annan said he was proud of “the creation of UNAIDS,pulling together the various parts of the UN and getting them to make a major contributionwhich hopefully is much larger than the sum of its parts”. He also said that “working cooperativelythe way we did was also a message for the governments themselves that they alsoneed to work with the various ministries, with civil society, [and] community organizations. Ithink that was an innovation that has worked well”.The UNAIDS Secretariat and Cosponsors have worked to achieve more coherence. The newJoint UN Teams on AIDS, established in 2007, should achieve this at country level, thoughit may be a slow process in some countries. Another important initiative for improving AIDScoordination among donors is the Global Task Team. Now there is a country-level commonsystem and indicators for monitoring and evaluation. Globally, there is increasing coherencein policy, budget setting and advocacy. These experiences of UNAIDS are informing the nextstages of the UN reform process.12UNAIDS (1997). Press Release, Secretary-General Appeals to United Nations Agencies for CoordinatedResponse in Fight against HIV/AIDS’, 30 October. Geneva, UNAIDS.13Ibid.