Feature story

Ahead of PCB, UNAIDS launches handbook on governance

19 June 2009

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Credit: UNAIDS

Ahead of the 24th meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) which opens on 22 June 2009, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS has published the UNAIDS Governance Handbook.

The Handbook is collection of key documents pertaining to the governance of UNAIDS including the founding ECOSOC resolutions, Memoranda of Understanding between the Secretariat and Cosponsoring organizations, and key Political Declarations related to HIV.

The Handbook will prove to be an invaluable reference tool for a wide audience in and around our Board meeting as it gathers together key documents on the governance of UNAIDS in one portable booklet.

Helen Frary, UNAIDS Chief Board and UN Relations.

It is intended as a portable reference tool for a wide audience including member states, Cosponsors, PCB non-governmental organizations as well as UNAIDS staff members.

The Handbook includes descriptions of bodies such as the Committee of Cosponsoring Organizations with guiding principles for UNAIDS Cosponsors. It also details non-governmental civil society participation in Programme Coordinating Board. Under Frequently Asked Questions, it explains the membership and composition of the PCB and its decision making process among other things.

“The Handbook will prove to be an invaluable reference tool for a wide audience in and around our Board meeting as it gathers together key documents on the governance of UNAIDS in one portable booklet,” said Helen Frary, UNAIDS Chief Board and UN Relations.

UNAIDS was established through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) resolution 1994/24 of 26 July 1994 to “undertake a joint and co-sponsored United Nations programme on HIV/AIDS, on the basis of co-ownership, collaborative planning and execution, and an equitable sharing of responsibility” with six UN-system cosponsoring organizations: UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, WHO, UNESCO and the World Bank. This group was joined by UNODC in 1999, ILO in 2001, WFP in 2003 and UNHCR in 2003.

The 24th meeting of the PCB will run in Geneva until 24 June.