MAITRI ANNUAL REPORT July 2005 to March 31, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS • • • • • • • • •
INTRODUCTION FOREWORD ADVISORY COUNCIL AND MEMBERS VISION MISSION MAITRI’S OBJECTIVES ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN SINCE INCEPTIONS FUTURE PLANS AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
INTRODUCTION Maitri –A national initiative launched in July 2005 is committed to women and children affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. Maitri seeks to empower them through education, training, counseling care and support to cope with psychological and economic fallout of HIV/AIDS particularly in North East India. Maitri is committed to improve the quality of life of those affected, infected with HIV/AIDS through vocational training for self –reliance with dignity, respect and compassion. Maitri enlists the support of the mass media to help build consensus and convert the passion and ideals of a small but powerful core of concerned individual into tangible actions by government and public in India.
ADVISORY COUNCIL AND MEMBERS MEMBERS Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Bhopinder Singh Winnie Singh Sonal Singh Wadhwa Sanjay Sharma Col. S.K. Mehta Dr Joe Thomas Dr Bobby John Rohit Wadhwa Dr S.I. Ahmed Bijoy A Sangma Tahnee Singh Kathy Wilson Dr. Donna M Guenther, MD Kunal Shah
DESIGNATIONS Maitri Founder and President Maitri Founder and Chairperson Chief Executive Officer Director – North East Director – Maitrigram Advisor Technical Advisor Resource Mobilization Advisor Communications Advisor Advocacy Advisor Strategy Advisor International Strategy Advisor International Fund Raising Advisor Documentation Advisor International Public Relations
VISION To reduce the spread of HIV & AIDS and help those affected and infected live with dignity.
MISSION To empower those affected and infected with HIV/AIDS, especially women and children, through ADVOCACY, AWARENESS, and CAPACITY BUILDING.
OBJECTIVES Maitri is endeavoring to address the causes and consequences of HIV/AIDS with a focus on uniformed personnel, women and children, ex-serviceman, aspirants to the uniformed services and has a geographical focus on the North East Region. A major concern area for Maitri are the extremely high-risk group of personnel from the Para Military forces and other uniformed services, and their immediate family members. Maitri works with like-minded organizations and individuals in India and overseas to achieve its objectives. Maitri’s objectives are: • To develops powerful messaging on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. • To ensure that those affected and infected with HIV live with dignity. • To mitigating the impact of stigma and discrimination against those living with virus. • To address the causes and consequences of AIDS with a focus on uniformed personnel, women and children.
ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN Pre-Inception Activities: • April 2005: Five day awareness-building Seminar and Film Festival on HIV/AIDS held in Shillong, Meghalaya. Key resource persons included UNODC Regional Representative, Gary Lewis, Indian matinee idols Shilpa Shetty, Sanjay Suri, Purab Kohli, Deepti Naval. Reached out to approximately 25,000 persons (including PLWHA from uniformed services and civil society) spread over 5 days. • July 2005: Maitri was registered and launched operations by Lt. Gen. Bhopinder Singh and Mrs. Winnie Singh in Shillong, Meghalaya. Post-Inception Activities • September 2005: International Conclave: 'Combat HIV/AIDS - A Uniformed Intervention' with heads of security forces and defense establishments held in Shillong,Meghalaya. Hon'ble President of India, Dr. APJ Kalam, was the keynote speaker, with National Commission for Woman Chair Girja Vyas, NACO, UNAIDS and other NGOs as partners; Approximately 300 delegates from India and abroad including Thailand and the United States, participated. • October 2005: Organization of wives and families of enlisted personnel of Assam Rifles - a premier para-military force with focused operations in India’s North East region - into a care and support group; reached approximately 500 affected and infected families. • November 2005: Maitri organizes the first PGA Tournament. The first Golf Tournament, worldwide to be dedicated to HIV/AIDS, in Shillong.Meghalaya. Professional Golfers commit and pledge support and spontaneously donate 10% of their winnings to the Cause. 120 professional and amateur golfers participated in the tournament. • December 2005: Setting up of the first Drop in Center in Shillong; for uniformed personnel and their families living with the HIV/AIDS Virus, but also accessible to the community at large.
• December 2005: Maitri facilitates the visit of UNAIDS International Director Dr. Peter Piot, Regional Director, Prassada Rao and Country Co-ordinator Mr. Denis Broun to Shillong where they were provided with an opportunity to interact with uniformed personnel and their wives living with HIV/AIDS. • January 2006: US-based medic and professional photographer Dr. Donna M. Guenther, founder of Art for AIDS in San Francisco, does a photo essay on the invitation of Maitri on the MSM community, PLWHA and women’s empowerment in Shillong. • January 2006: MASSES, an eco friendly recycle paper plant project executed on a turnkey basis for empowerment and self-reliance of women's community living with the Virus, comissioned at Laitkor, Shillong. The self sustaining vocational training institute employed and trained HIV/AIDS affected and infected women in paper making with a buyback deal with the state governments of Meghalaya and Manipur. • February 2006: Initiative to bring wives welfare bodies of state police and Central para-military forces in India on a common platform to build awareness and to tackle stigma and discrimination issue while also facilitating the formation of care and support groups among the wives collectives. • February 2006: B+, a two day program in Shillong for more than 175 HIV positive, serving personnel of Assam Rifles with the support of INP+ to empower them with knowledge and information to deal with stigma and discrimination. • March 2006: Omaxe-Maitri Golf Tournament for HIV/AIDS Awareness held at New Delhi. Targeted towards celebrities, bureaucrats, policy makers, opinion makers, and decision makers. A field of 200 players included Kapil Dev, Indian Army Chief Gen. J.J. Singh, Supreme Court Justice Vikramaditya Sen etc and corporates, bureaucrats and diplomats. • March 2006: Maitri goes online with its website www.maitri.org.in formally launched by Union Minister Shri Oscar Fernandes. • April 2006: Music concert held in Shillong; dedicated to the Cause of HIV/AIDS by the star of the TV reality show "Voice of India" (like American Idol), Debojit Saha with an audience of 20,000. Debojit Saha, his wife Bandana and co-singer Keka Ghosal sign up as members of Maitri with a commitment to act as ambassadors for AIDS awareness.
• May 2006: Bob Dylan's birthday celebrations (celebrated in Shillong since 1972) for the first time dedicated to HIV/AIDS awareness. The event figured on the International "Cult" Calendar and attracted audiences from around the world. Activities revolved around the slogan "Shillong (a promise) Unbroken - Spread The Word Not The Virus." All major international and national TV channels, radio stations, print and electronic media (76 media organizations in all) attended and covered the show. • May 2006: UNAIDS commissions a study on Maitri's model for Uniformed Intervention for adoption as a "Best Practice" norm for worldwide replication. • June 2006: A 2-day program of Train-the-Trainer held in Shillong; Organized with INP+ President K.K. Abraham and ANP+ President Jahnabi Goswami providing key inputs in tandem with the Commonwealth Young Ambassador programme and BBC Worldwide. • July 2006: Drop in Centers for demobilized soldiers set up in the North Eastern cities of Imphal and Dimapur with the active collaboration of stakeholders and care and support groups in both these centers. • December 2006: World AIDS Day commemorated in Shillong with the following events: o An International AIDS Anthem album "Count on Me" for AIDS awareness amongst the youth sung by school children from Shillong and released by the Governor of Meghalaya M.M. Jacob. o A bike rally using a dog-whistle strategy of "condom usage" read together with "helmet usage and safety" with a field of 250 participants. Rally flagged by the-then Air Offier Commanding, Eastern Air Command, and current Indian Air Force chief, F.H. Major. o A signature campaign for taking a "Pledge of Accountability" got over 50,000 signatures covering youth, labor unions, professionals and service personnel. The pledge is taken and administered by the Governor of Meghalaya, Mr M M Jacob.Recieved institutional support from partners that included Rotary Club, Freemasons International, NEIGRAHMS, and UNODC.Estimated reach: 50,000 people worldwide
• December 2006: First Maitri Invitational Golf Tournament,for HIV/AIDS Awareness held at New Delhi. Participants included politicians, bureaucrats, corporates and diplomats. Field of 130 professional and amateur players. • March 2007: National Consultation on Universal Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support for Women and Children in partnership with NACO, UNAIDS, UNODC, ActionAid India and other members of the civil society. The conference had 28 speakers and 186 delegates from across India.
FUTURE PLANS In 2006, Maitri expanded its operations to New Delhi. In 2007, Maitri will expand its activities to parts of North India including the state of Uttar Pradesh. Some of the major activities and projects planned for the year include a women’s empowerment center, a children’s informal education and life skills project in slum areas of New Delhi. Maitri will also initiate: Project Jagriti : Intervention with school children Project Rakshak: Intervention with uniformed personnel and their families respectively.