PACT Communique

The PACT is BACK!

What is The PACT?

As the global coalition of youth-led and youth-serving organisations working within the sexual reproductive health and rights and HIV movement, The PACT remains important for young people and youth organisations today working on HIV and SRHR. It remains a strong working group of young people who share collective ambitions and priorities to advance the HIV response for all young people. The PACT continues to grow with new members and will build on from the incredible contributions made by previous PACT members. The PACT serves as a reminder of a unified youth movement in the HIV response. It's about not losing the gains and keeping the momentum going.

Recently there was no The PACT activity, what happened?

In 2019, The PACT underwent a transition phase, a reform process that overhauled the governance structure, setting forth a new strategic direction to reflect the needs and aspirations of youth-led and youth-serving HIV networks and organisations across the globe. The reform process started in late in 2019 and has recently been completed. During this reform process areas were identified from its previous governance structure and mandate to broaden the scope of its strategic priorities. While our priorities remain relatively the same, the new leadership team overseeing the PACT is committed to building a global governance space for youth-led and youth-serving organisations working in the HIV response, creating a space for different networks and coalitions to come together and advance the AIDS response for young people. 
A noticeable difference in the PACT's original governance and the current structure would mean that young people have significantly more opportunities to engage in their respective working groups. In the past, PACT only had two positions, the lead and co-lead for each strategic priority. Therefore, only eight positions (excluding executive positions) were available. In retrospect, the competitive process of bidding for only a few roles meant that only a select few could assume leadership roles; thus, in turn, discouraging young people from wanting to engage with the PACT. The change in the governance structure would not only allow greater youth-engagement in the working groups. Still, it would also let the leads and co-leads of each working group to assume more significant leadership roles with more responsibility. 
UNAIDS will continue to support the PACT as a strategic partner; a relationship that has not changed. Alicia Sanchez, the new Youth Programmes Coordinator at UNAIDS and Advisor to the PACT, will continue to advise and provide strategic guidance to PACT members. Despite the fact that UNAIDS does not, and never has had, any decision making authority within the PACT’s governance, UNAIDS has committed to supporting PACT with human resource opportunities and the strengthening of PACTs communications platforms. 
The PACT has also hired a Communications Lead to support with communicating its strategy and work with both its membership and the rest of the world.

What does the new leadership and governance structure look like? 

Executive Roles

​Chair of the PACT 
Vice-Chair of the PACT - Gareth Jones (Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights)
External Communications Lead - Eddy Rudram (Youth LEAD)
Advisor - Alicia Sanchez (UNAIDS)

Working Group Leads and Co-leads

• Advocacy Working Group
  • Lead - Eglė Janušonytė (International Federation of Medical Students Associations)
  • Co-Lead - Itoro Effiong Ekanem (UNAIDS Young Leaders Network West Africa)
  
  Resource Mobilisation and Partnerships Working Group 
  • Lead - Sargis Ghazaryan (YPEER)
  • Co-Lead - Ornella de Vinyle Nzouegou 
  
  Member Engagement Working Group 
  • Lead - Enow Awah Georges Steven (Y+ Global)
  • Co-Lead - Roselin Ulrich Mvate Yemlet,(Humanity First) 
  
  Capacity Building Working Group 
• Lead - Horacio Barreda (Red de Jóvenes Positivos LAC)
• Co-Lead - Jackline Kemigisha (Girls Awake)

So, what’s next? 

The PACT new Steering Committee plans to achieve this following in 2020: 

• Rebranding the PACT for foster greater visibility;
• Develop a communications strategy; 
• Update its membership database;
• Develop and adopt a two-year strategic plan;
• Develop a capacity-building strategy for its constituents;
• Hold virtual town halls for its membership;
• Develop an advocacy calendar;
• Forge new partnerships and mobilise resources for youth-led HIV initiatives; etc

The PACT will be developing its Strategic Plan for 2020 and 2022, which will be shared with its membership. 

The PACT is also active on social media, and you are encouraged to follow the PACT on the following:

Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
For inquiries, you can contact us at: 
Email: contactyouthpact@gmail.com | Website: www.theyouthpact.org