ACT Alliance

ACT has committed itself to putting gender and HIV awareness into all its humanitarian work. It seeks to promote gender equality as a common value.  Putting gender considerations into all its work, or gender mainstreaming, is a method to achieve gender equality.

It sets a standard for ACT members to help one another overcome bias and injustice to ensure equal access to assistance for all, be they girls or boys, women or men, old or young. It further commits ACT to five key principles for gender mainstreaming and gender-sensitive programming in humanitarian work, namely:

• Promoting a balance of men and women in staff and representation
• Adhering to ACT's code of conduct on sexual exploitation, abuse of power and corruption
• Using gender-sensitive programming tools for needs assessments, planning, implementation and evaluation
• Promoting capacity development in the humanitarian standards and frameworks and gender sensitive programming
• Promoting protection from gender–based violence in emergency responses.

When disasters hit or a conflict erupts, emergency responses often fail to pay enough attention to the different needs, capacities and contributions of women and men, girls and boys. Ignoring these has serious implications for the protection and survival of people caught up in humanitarian crisis.

Gender concerns need to be addressed specifically as women and men are affected differently. Women and men have often different concerns, experiences and solutions to issues. Exposure to risk, violence and lack of protection have other implications for women and girls than for men and boys. People living with HIV may be particularly vulnerable during an emergency and need specific support and assistance. Equally, the effects of poverty, as well as abuse and inequalities increase vulnerability to acquiring HIV or developing HIV-related diseases.

ACT is committed to creating a work environment of zero-tolerance to sexual and gender-based violence. In 2009, it established a gender advisory group to promote and facilitate gender-sensitive responses to humanitarian and development assistance, ensuring gender is adequately built into all programmes.

ACT also supports the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance's HIV and AIDS campaign “Live the Promise”. Link http://www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/hivaids/ which holds individuals, religious leaders, faith organizations, governments and intergovernmental organizations accountable for the commitments they have made and advocates for more effort to respond to HIV and AIDS.

ACT's HIV and AIDS campaign is based on the knowledge that all churches are living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. People who live with HIV and die with AIDS are our friends and family, our teachers and neighbors, our pastors and priests. The pandemic continues to be measured in alarming statistics around the globe, and churches and people of faith everywhere must take up their pastoral and prophetic role to overcome stigma and discrimination, to care for body and spirit, and to advocate for universal treatment and effective forms of prevention.

Links to:

·       ACT Gender Policy Principles, April 2008

·       ACT Code of Conduct on sexual exploitation, abuse of power and corruption for staff members of the ACT International Alliance, December 2002 (currently under revision)

·       Guidelines for compliance and complaints mechanisms – in support of implementation of the Code of Conduct on sexual exploitation, abuse of power and corruption for staff members of the act international alliance. The guidelines focus on what ACT members should do to plan and prepare for potential problems of sexual exploitation, abuse of power and corruption. It further highlights the need for effective complaints mechanisms to ensure that ACT members respond appropriately to allegations.

·       ACT Policy on HIV in Humanitarian Emergency Assistance Programmes, April 2008

·       ACT Tools for Mainstreaming HIV in Emergency and Humanitarian Work, revised 2010