Shaun Robinson (NZAF), Bruce Kilmister (Body Positive) and Scott Johnston (Body Positive chair) at the signing. Stressed relations between the NZ AIDS Foundation and HIV-positive peer support groups may be a thing of the past following tonight's signing of a document underscoring what is proposed to be a more collaborative relationship. In recent years the Foundation's areas of work and expertise was increasingly overlapped by the facilities and services provided by groups such as the primarily-gay men's advocacy and peer support service Body Positive and its much smaller sister organisations Positive Women and INA. The overlaps, along with sometimes differing perspectives and what was often felt to be a high-handed approach by the Foundation's previous management team, created barriers and tensions which had flared at times into outright hostility. The simple Memorandum Of Understanding signed this evening by the NZAF and Body Positive, while not legally binding and short on specifics, commits each organisation to sharing information on human rights and policy issues, working together on regional and national HIV and AIDS planning and policy and promoting each others' "mission and services." The NZAF has agreed to recognise and support Body Positive and the other peer support and advocacy groups as the country's "organised representatives and voice of people living with HIV." It will also promote Body Positive's "communication material" to its own members and clients. For its part Body Positive will "fully support" the NZAF's policy of promoting condoms and lube as "the essential means to prevent the spread of HIV" and "promote the services of the NZAF and other HIV prevention educators to its own clients. And it will promote the NZAF's prevention and communication material to its clients. The Memorandum became effective the moment the document was signed by representatives of each organisation this evening. Acknowledging that the NZAF's dealings with others involved in the HIV/AIDS area had been less than ideal in recent years, its Executive Director Shaun Robinson observed at the signing that "the issues we deal with here are too big for us to be squabbling." Body Positive's Bruce Kilmister noted that "collaboration can only benefit both organisations' objectives." Kilmister also commented that while the Memorandum had taken several years to come to fruition it had received more momentum following the appointment of Robinson to head the NZAF just over a year ago. You can discuss this New Zealand gay community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 25th May 2012 - 8:17pm