Vienna YouthForce 2010 Final Report

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AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce
Final Report to UNFPA

Submitted December 2010
Now Make It Happen!
XVIII International AIDS Conference and

III Youth Pre-Conference
!
14 - 23 July 2010 • Vienna

www.youthaids2010.org
Report prepared by:
Ricardo Baruch Reshma Pattni

Vienna YouthForce Consultant GYCA Program Director
Ricardo@gyca.org Reshma@gyca.org
Vienna YouthForce Report 2010
Acknowledgements
The Vienna YouthForce (VYF) gratefully acknowledges the generous support

provided by the following supporters, member organizations, committees and
individuals active in the AIDS 2010 Youth Programme and VYF:
Supporters:
The work of the AIDS 2010 Youth Programme and VYF was generously supported by
UNFPA
UNAIDS
UNESCO
NORAD
aids2031
International AIDS Society
Member organizations:
The following organizations were members of the VYF: Global Youth Coalition on
HIV/AIDS (GYCA), Advocates for Youth, Community Forum Austria, International
Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA), the World AIDS Campaign,
Youth Coalition on Sexual and Reproductive Rights, YouAct, Y-PEER, CHOICE for youth
and sexuality and Youth R.I.S.E.
Committees and individuals:

The VYF thanks all the youth and youth supporters who participated in AIDS 2010
planning consultations, and are grateful to all the volunteers who assisted with the VYF
activities.
AIDS 2010 Youth Programme staff included:

Elisabeth Rohrmoser, Youth Programme Coordinator; Isabella Wieser, Youth
Programme Assistant and Youth Pavilion on-site Coordinator; and Charlotte
Steenbergen, Youth Pre-Conference Officer Youth Programme.
The VYF would like to acknowledge the following sub-committees that took on a major
part of the organizing in preparation and during the IAC:
Pre-Conference Sub-committee
Ricardo Baruch (Co-chair), Fatma Hacioglu (Co-chair), Mimi Melles, Tina Sojat,
Alexandra Müller, Allen Frimpong, Ana Rizescu, Betiana Caceres, Hugh Stephens, Igor
Mocorro, Salma Zaki and Wiebke Dörfler.
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce +!

XVIII International AIDS Conference
Media & Communications Sub-Committee

Elisabeth Szerencsics (Co-chair), -'#.'/0'! -'12/$! (Co-chair), Alexis Angulo Martinez,
Ibrahim, Jaevion Nelson, Alexandra McAnarney, Will Rockwell and Lisa Rebert.
Youth PavilionSub-committee
Olga Andreeva (Co-chair), Mari-Claire Price (Co-chair), Verena Grünstäudl, Duia Kaisi,
Jennifer Ziegler, Lisa Sánchez, Elisabet Fadul, Ahmed Tammam, Kolawole Oreoluwa,
Anna Susarenco, Dynka Amorim, Shamin Mohamed Jr.
Advocacy Sub-committee
Aram Barra (Co-chair), Nicki Imanguli (Co-chair), Ajay Kumar Uprety, Bernadette
Fischler, Kyla Zanardi, Ojok Eric, Orain Edwards and Ukwo Joy Michael.
Main Conference Sub-committee

Ivens Reis Reyner (Co-chair), Ricardo Baruch (Co-chair), Ankit Saxena, Bernadette
Fischler, Wong Li Leng, Sandra, Selbi Djumayeva, Lima Imram, Azamat Baialinov,
Victoria Valenzuela
In addition to the VYF sub-committees, we would like to also recognize the work of the
following:
Youth Rapporteur Team

Emily Carson (GYCA), Chief Youth Rapporteur and Youth Rapporteurs Owolabi Onikepe
Oluwadamilola, Yogie Wirastra Pamungkas and Roli Mahajan
Website team
Liam O’Doherty, Francisco Pereira and Sena Hussein, TakingITGlobal (Toronto,
Canada); the Information Technology Department of the International AIDS
Conference Secretariat (Geneva, Switzerland)
AIDS 2010 Youth Programme Working Group!

"#$"%&'(): Korey Anthony Chisholm (CPC) Guyana; Liping Mian (LAPC), China
*+,-+(): Ratri Suksma (CPC), Malaysia; Ralf Jürgens (LAPC), Germany; Christiana
Nöstlinger (SPC), Belgium; Olga Andreeva, Uzbekistan; Kasia Eljasik, Austria; Paddy
Masembe, Uganda; Raphaela Rainer, Austria; Syed Rahman, Bangladesh; and Ivens
Reis Reyner, Brazil
Special thanks to: Manuella Donato (GYCA), member of the Leadership and
Accountability Committee; Reshma Pattni, Lindsay Menard-Freeman and Sydney
Hushie, staff of GYCA; and Jennifer Corriero, Executive Director of TakingITGlobal.
Lastly, we would like to thank the AIDS 2010 International Scholarship Programme of
the Conference and their funders; and to the many organizations who sponsored
individual youth to participate at the Youth Pre-Conference and at AIDS 2010.
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce ,!

The Youth Programme was made possible due to the commitment and
creativity of all the participants, volunteers, staff members, participating
venues, sponsors and suppliers that turned the vision into reality.
The sponsors of the Vienna

YouthForce
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce 3!

Table of Contents
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Executive Summary
From July 14-16, the Vienna YouthForce (VYF), with generous support from UNFPA,
hosted a Youth Pre-conference in preparation for the XVIII International AIDS
Conference. The Pre-conference was a success, with approximately 270 young HIV
and AIDS activists from 79 countries participating. Over the three days of the Pre-
conference, more than 75 presenters led 33 90-minute sessions. During these
sessions, participants gained a range of skills such as effective messaging and political
advocacy, and increased their knowledge on topics such as the gendered impact of
HIV, youth rights, and epidemiology. Participants also gained skills in research
methodology, media and communications, as well as updated information on
prevention strategies, harm reduction, and details on treatment. Participants learned
how to advocate to policymakers on issues relevant to young people and how to
deliver the VYF’s advocacy messages at the conference and beyond. Session rooms
were filled with lively dialogue and interactive small group work, and 70% of
participants mentioned that as a result of the Pre-Conference they felt very prepared
for AIDS 2010 (as reported in the Vienna YouthForce Evaluation shared online post-
AIDS 2010).
In addition to the activities at the Pre-Conference, the VYF was extremely active
leading up to and during AIDS 2010. Using a system of five sub-committees (Pre-
Conference, Media & Communications, Youth Pavilion, Advocacy, and Main Conference)
to carry out various aspects of the VYF’s work, the 10 member organizations of the
VYF came together to ensure meaningful involvement of youth at AIDS 2010. A few
highlights of our accomplishments are:
! The participation of nearly 1500 delegates under the age of 26 with at least 15%
of them with a Conference scholarship;
! An effective advocacy campaign using the overarching slogan of “Now Make it
Happen” with a focus on three HR’s: Human Rights, Harm Reductions, and Health
Resources that was taken up by key leaders throughout the conference including
Michel Sidibe, Anthony Lake and Michel Kazatchkine;
! Inclusion of 10 key youth on the AIDS 2010 Youth Programme Working Group
and other important committees such as the Community Program Committee and
the Leadership and Accountability Programme Committee;
! Special Sessions on Youth and several Key Dialogues with Leaders at the main
Conference and also at the Global Village to improve the face to face interaction
with key leaders;
! Many young delegates participating in high-level meetings with ministers,
ambassadors, parliamentarians, funders and key stakeholders before, during and
after the Conference;
! A vibrant Youth Pavilion space and program including a stage for presentations
and panels, networking zone for workshops and dialogues, an art exhibit, and the
stationary Commitments Desk. Additionally, the Youth Pavilion was at a great
location near the entrance to the Global Village which increased foot traffic and
expanded interest in its activities;

! The collection of 340 commitments from 49 countries during AIDS 2010. A

number of these commitments are from high-ranking officials in UN agencies,
funding agencies, and civil society organizations; and
! A strong media and communications strategy including 4 newsletters prior to
AIDS 2010 to keep youth participants updated on plans, a committed youth
rapporteur team producing articles daily during the conference as well as
photography and videos, and successful distribution of press releases.
!
!
!
!

1. Overview - Youth at AIDS 2010

The XV International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Bangkok in 2004 introduced for the first
time a youth specific component in the conference programme, though the XIV AIDS
Conference in Barcelona 2002 had youth participants and side activities for the first
time. In Toronto, at AIDS 2006 the Youth Programme was consolidated and became
one of the most visible and important components of the IAC.
At the IAC in Barcelona only 200 participants were under 30 years of age. In Bangkok
only 450 out of 19,000 conference attendees were youth. In Toronto there were more
than 1,000 participants under 26, more than double the number in Bangkok. In
Mexico, approximately 1,500 participants aged 12-25 years old were registered for the
conference and many more participated in the Global Village. In Vienna, the number of
delegates under the age of 26 was once again close to 1,500.
The Vienna YouthForce was a wide-ranging coalition of non-governmental and

international organizations that promoted and facilitated meaningful youth participation
and youth-adult partnerships to raise the visibility of youth HIV and AIDS issues,
through concrete action, before, during, and after the XVIII International AIDS
Conference. Member organizations of the Vienna YouthForce included Advocates for
Youth, Community Forum Austria, Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA),
International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA), the World AIDS
Campaign, Youth Coalition on Sexual and Reproductive Rights, YouAct, Y-Peer, CHOICE
and Youth R.I.S.E. The YouthForce worked in close partnership with the International
AIDS Society and was supported by UNFPA, UNAIDS, UNESCO and aids2031.
For AIDS 2010, youth participation was envisioned to ensure the meaningful
integration and inclusion of young people throughout all levels of the conference,
including planning and development. The Vienna YouthForce aimed to ensure access
and meaningful participation on panels; in skills building workshops, forums, non-
abstract sessions and abstract sessions; and as moderators, presenters, and
delegates. The Vienna YouthForce also aimed to ensure the visibility of youth
throughout the conference, including the Global Village and the Cultural Activities
Programme.
The youth activities of AIDS 2010 were developed in collaboration with the Youth
Programme of the International AIDS Society and the Vienna YouthForce (VYF), a
coalition of international, regional and local youth organizations that focus on HIV and
AIDS and on youth sexual and reproductive health and rights. We worked together and
organized youth activities and advocacy campaigns prior to and during the conference,
such as the Youth Pre-Conference, the AIDS 2010 youth advocacy campaign and the
Youth-Adult Commitments Desk.

This report aims to describe the planning process for the VYF, share details and
outcomes of key VYF activities, and put forth lessons learnt and recommendations for
improving activities of future editions of the YouthForce.
*The XVIII International AIDS Conference organizers defined youth as 16-26 years old.
Throughout this report when referring to ‘youth’ and ‘young people’, the Conference
definition is used.
2. Objectives of the Vienna YouthForce

At AIDS 2010, the VYF aimed to empower young people, advocate for current critical
issues affecting youth worldwide, and further inform and develop strategies for
effective change. VYF organizers reached out to young people in Eastern Europe and
included regional issues in the spectrum of issues raised at AIDS 2010. In addition, the
VYF worked to focus on young people living with HIV, through targeted outreach to
organizations serving this population. As part of this, the VYF recognized the need to
work before, during, and after each IAC, and is working to follow up and build on the
work achieved at AIDS 2010.
The Youth Pre-Conference has been a key activity of the YouthForce as new
generations of young activists become engaged in the global response to HIV each
year. The space the Pre-Conference provides is important for sharing skills and
updated information. Once again, this year’s Youth Pre-Conference was a central
event for the VYF and in preparing youth to engage meaningfully at AIDS 2010.
The objectives of the Vienna YouthForce were to:
1. Support peer-to-peer capacity-building among young people, in order to provide

them with necessary advocacy skills and technical knowledge, support, and
resources for meaningful participation during the Conference and beyond;
2. Build sustainable youth-adult partnerships and integrate more young people
systematically in a successful response to HIV and AIDS;
3. Ensure access and resources for young people to reach decision-makers with
effective advocacy campaigns to protect the rights of all youth, especially most-at-
risk youth such as young injecting drug users, young sex workers and young
people living with HIV, who are otherwise not regularly reached by HIV
interventions;
4. Ensure consistent, effective, and organized youth participation at the Conference,
including exhibition of HIV and AIDS-related activities that conference youth
attendees have worked on over the two years leading up to the IAC;
5. Demonstrate to conference participants, especially decision-makers and donors,
that youth participation and leadership is effective, and advocate for the creation of
youth-adult partnerships and greater investment in young people’s initiatives;
6. Create and expand an audience of proactive young leaders that can easily access
and make use of UNFPA and other UN partners’ programs, policies, and materials,
especially capacity-building materials and training resources, which will enhance
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce 9:!

the UN system commitment to the full participation of youth, of which youth-led

initiatives are crucial;
7. Assist in strategically positioning UN partners as leading agencies working with and
for youth by bringing widespread international attention to past achievements.
In the following pages, we will describe our efforts to achieve these objectives,
including key successes and recommendations for future work.
3. Structures and Governance

The IAS, the programme committees and the Vienna YouthForce worked together to
design and implement the Youth Programme for AIDS 2010. A brief description of how
they worked together is outlined below:
a) AIDS 2010 Youth Programme Working Group and VYF Main Committee
In October 2009, CPC members were invited to the submit nominations for the
creation of a Youth Programme Working Group (YWG) which would continue the work
of the Youth Advisory Committee that existed for AIDS 2006 and the Youth Programme
Working Group of 2008. Liping and Korey who were already involved in the Vienna
YouthForce took the role of the Co-Chairs of the YWG and from the beginning were the
links between the Programme Committees (LAPC and CPC) and the YouthForce. They
also submitted the nominations from the VYF to the CPC co-chairs. The CPC co-chairs
selected 3 representatives of each of the 3 programme committees (LAPC, SPC and
CPC) plus 7 other members to make up the YWG. The IAS Youth Programme
Coordinator guided the process of inviting and finding local members.
Once the Global Village Working Group was also established, a member from that was
selected to serve on the YWV. This facilitated cross-representation in the other working
groups. The final composition of the YWG is as follows:
! 2 Chairs (from both Community and Leadership & Accountability Programme

Committees),
! 3 Programme committee members (1 each from Leadership & Accountability,
Science, and Community Programme Committees, in addition to Co-Chairs),
! 2 local representatives from organizations working on youth and HIV /AIDS,
! 1 representative from Eastern Europe and Central Asia,
! 1 representative from Latin-America and the Caribbean,
! 1 representative from Africa, and
! 1 representative from the Global Village Working Group.
The YWG was supposed to meet on a regular basis and be complemented by youth
who are involved and dedicated, have very different backgrounds and areas of
expertise, as well as experience on an international level. Unfortunately, half of the
members of the working group were completely inactive during the 9 months of
planning. As a result, the structure had to be adjusted, and a different format was

developed in collaboration with the VYF in order to have a range of voices and more
democratic representation.
This new structure was the “Main Committee” of the VYF where members of the YWG
had a voice but also included representatives of the different organizations that made
up the VYF and the IAS Youth Programme staff. The Main Committee took major
decisions regarding partnerships, funding and overall implementation.
b) VYF Sub-Committees
In order to most effectively divide the work of the VYF, the VYF agreed on creating five
Sub-Committees. These sub-committees each encompassed a more manageable
scope that helped to successfully deliver the activities of the Youth Programme. The
five included: Pre-Conference, Advocacy, Youth Pavilion, Media and Communication,
and the Main Conference Sub-Committee. The Sub-Committees also represented an
excellent opportunity for more youth stakeholders to get involved with the planning
process of the Conference. The co-chairs of each sub-committee were automatically
members of the Main Committee.
c) Youth Programme Volunteers

In April, we communicated with the IAS volunteers department regarding our needs for
volunteer for the Youth Pavilion. We realized that IAS volunteers could not choose to
be assigned to the Youth Pavilion when the online application process was already
launched. Indeed, a lot of people, mostly those who had been involved in the Youth
Programme beforehand, expressed their wish to volunteer in the Youth Pavilion. Since
we wanted to guarantee that these people could volunteer in the Youth Pavilion, we
agreed with the IAS volunteers department to recruit the volunteers for the Youth
Pavilion on our own, collect the application forms and make a group registration by end
of June so that the volunteers department could take on the communication and
administration.
Using this process, we experienced certain challenges that made the work more
complicated and time-intensive than necessary. As a result we developed
recommendations for a better method to use in the future.
First, taking on the volunteer recruitment process was a lot of extra work, especially
since we did not have a data base to coordinate the process and had to keep track of
all changes, cancellations and special considerations/requests. In the future, we
suggest instead to communicate with the IAS Volunteer department prior to
recruitment beginning so that an agreement can be made to include the option “Youth
Pavilion” in the application form. As the YouthForce, we can then cooperate with them
in the selection process a few weeks prior to the conference begins in order to
guarantee that people who are already involved and have knowledge about the Youth
Programme are assigned to the Youth Pavilion. If it is not possible to include this
option in the application system, it is advisable to use the volunteers’ registration
system for the coordination and communication and to only keep a list of people
interested in order to identify them at a later stage.
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce 9+!

Volunteers were compensated with one meal per day and staff badges to access the
Conference. It is important to make sure there are enough incentives for the
volunteers in order to ensure their availability and flexibility with their roles. Lastly,
with respect to Pre-Conference volunteers, given the high profile of the IAS Volunteers
Programme, it was somewhat difficult to attract volunteers for the pre-conference and
the youth reception as these opportunities did not provide the same benefits as
volunteering for the IAC. It is therefore advisable to offer some kind of compensation
to pre-conference volunteers. Furthermore, it is recommended to cooperate with the
IAS Volunteers Programme in order to recruit volunteers for the Youth Pre-Conference
and Youth Reception.
d) Funding
Developing and managing the overall VYF budget was a complex process. There were
two different budget sheets, one administered by the IAS Youth Programme
Coordinator using funds from UNESCO and the IAS budget. This budget was used to
fund the Youth Reception, Youth Pavilion, participants’ support, and part of the staff
time dedicated to the Youth Programme. The second budget was administered by
GYCA and included funds from UNFPA, UNAIDS, NORAD and aids2031. This budget was
used to support the Pre-Conference, the website, a small portion of participants’
support, part of the advocacy materials, and part of the staff time needed to ensure
the success of the VYF activities.
Many of the costs estimated for activities in Vienna were significantly different to what
the VYF paid in the end, despite the estimates provided by local contacts regarding
costs, particularly those for accommodation, catering, materials and transportation.
The VYF had open communication channels for budget-related issues during the entire
planning process with the IAS Youth Programme staff to avoid duplication and as able,
to combine budgets for specific activities such as the scholarships for presenters and
the printing of the advocacy materials.
More information is included in the financial report that will be submitted separately.
4. VYF Activities
a) Youth Pre-Conference
In order to promote and strengthen young delegates’ meaningful participation within
AIDS 2010, the Vienna YouthForce coordinated a three day Pre-Conference, from July
14 to July 16, for approximately 270 young HIV and AIDS activists from 79 countries
who were registered for the 2010 International AIDS Conference in Vienna (AIDS
2010).
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce 9,!

This was the 3rd Youth Pre-

Conference that has been organized
by the YouthForce. The first Pre-
Conference was held at the
University of Toronto in 2006, the
second at the National University of
Mexico (UNAM) in 2008 and this
year, at the Medical University of
Vienna. Advocates for Youth and
GYCA have been the only core
partners of the YouthForce
throughout the years.
The Pre-Conference had two main

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objectives. First, it aimed to provide
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technical information and capacity
9&';+(6!2&/,&!@&A'#B8C6D=<;+=!@C)%'+6!*','!*+88+)6!:'&,!
building on the political, scientific,
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economic and social context of HIV
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and AIDS to young people ages 16 to
26 so they could effectively participate in the XVIII International AIDS Conference.
Second, through information, advocacy, and relationship-building, it aimed to empower
young people to be advocates for youth issues in the response to HIV and AIDS at the
IAC, in their home countries, regions, and internationally.
The Pre-Conference consisted of informative and skills-building workshops around HIV

and AIDS issues, ranging from scientific knowledge to effective political advocacy.
Participants also gained skills in research methodology, media and communications, as
well as updated information on prevention strategies, harm reduction, and details on
treatment. Participants learned how to advocate to policymakers on issues relevant to
young people and how to deliver the YouthForce’s advocacy messages at the
conference and beyond. 70% of the participants reported that as a result of the Pre-
Conference they felt very prepared for the main Conference versus the 4% who shared
that they felt the Pre-Conference didn’t help them prepare for AIDS 2010.
The Pre-Conference also provided a space for young people to network with one
another and share their expertise and experiences in the field of HIV and AIDS. 72%
of participants said they made valuable connections with other youth activists as a
result of the Pre-Conference. Many participants also spoke about how much they
valued spending time with and learning from such an accomplished group of
international young activists and leaders. The following ten sections detail the
structure, planning, and implementation of the 2010 Youth Pre-Conference, including
recommendations for future Pre-Conferences.
i) Selection of Sub-committee Members & Co-chairs

All the activities of the VYF were organized through the various sub-committees. Staff
from two key YouthForce partners, one in Turkey and one in Mexico, served as Co-

Chairs of the Pre-Conference sub-committee. Applications for sub-committee (SC)

members were accepted throughout January, and by the end of the month, the co-
chairs had selected 10 members, nine of whom remained active leading up to the Pre-
Conference. All SC members had experience in organizing HIV-related activities; all of
them were young people under 26; all the continents were represented, with a focus
on Europe. During the six months leading up to the Pre-Conference, subgroups of
people took on the management of specific tasks, such as participant selection,
presenter selection, logistics, and volunteers. In addition to participating in subgroups,
the co-chairs functioned as liaisons and coordinators between the various subgroups.
The Pre-Conference sub-committee was chaired by Fatma Hacioglu (Turkey) and

Ricardo Baruch (Mexico). Subcommittee members were Igor Mocorro (Philippines),
Hugh Stephens (Australia), Wiebke Doerfler (Germany), Salma Zaky (Egypt), Tina
Sojat (Austria), Alex Muller (South Africa), Ana Rizescu (Romania), Betiana Caceres
(Argentina), Mimi Melles (USA) with the support of an IAS staff person, Charlotte
Steenbergen (Austria).
ii) Participants
Approximately 270 young people from 79 different countries participated in the AIDS
2010 Youth Pre-Conference. A list of attendees’ home countries and number of
participants per country can be found in Appendix B. While the overall number of
countries represented was higher than in Mexico, where 66 countries were
represented, the total number of participants was lower than the 315 in attendance in
Mexico. In comparison, 25% of attendees in Mexico were from the host country (85
people total), while the Austrian participation only reached a number of 18 persons in
Vienna. In general, few nations were represented with more than 10 people (e.g.
Mexico, USA, Canada, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Nigeria). Even though the
organizers originally planned to have over 300 participants, a number of prospective
participants had difficulties obtaining visas, especially those from Africa and Asia, and
thus a big number were not able to travel to Austria. 62% of the participants were
female, 38% were male, and none of the participants identified as transgender.
Applicants could indicate in the application form if they belonged to a minority/key
affected population, with PLHIV and MSM as the most chosen categories, for those who
indicated any.
This year, the Youth Pre-Conference was more strongly embedded in the IAS Youth
Programme, so an IAS staff person was the local partner chosen to assist with
organizing the Pre-Conference. In an attempt to ensure high attendance, the IAS staff
person utilized her access to the IAS database to crosscheck if Pre-Conference
applicants were confirmed to attend AIDS 2010. Additionally, she was in direct
communication with the IAS scholarship team. Youth delegates with scholarships were
strongly encouraged to apply for the Pre-Conference because their final attendance
was most likely.
The Pre-Conference participant application was fairly detailed, with additional questions
to determine applicants’ experience and readiness to take advantage of the advocacy

and learning opportunities at the Pre-conference and AIDS 2010. For example,
participants had to answer questions about their views on sexual and reproductive
rights. Approximately 315 participants applied by filling out an application form and an
additional 30-40 were registered through a bulk application, from one of the larger
international organizations such as the WYWCA, WAGGGS, and Enchada Austria.
Not all applications could be accepted as some people confused the Pre-Conference
with AIDS 2010 and other did not realize that successful registration as a delegate for
AIDS 2010 was a requirement to be selected for the Pre-Conference. Only a few
applicants exceeded the age limit. Many of those who submitted after the deadline
were accepted as we were aiming at 300 participants and still had space to
accommodate the late applicants. All communication with participants was through a
specific Youth Pre-Conference email address (vyfpreconf@gmail.com). Successful
applicants received an acceptance letter and had to respond by confirming their
participation and entering their data for accommodation and visa support letters into
an excel sheet for the Pre-Conference organizers.
While the bulk of participants applied and were accepted before the deadline,
additional people were taken on a rolling basis up until the week before the Pre-
Conference. While this is not an ideal situation in terms of organization, it is somewhat
inevitable. In the month leading up to the Pre-Conference, various potential
participants fell through, generally due to lack of funding and problems with visas, and
additional people obtained funding and expressed interest in attending the Pre-
Conference. However, this was only a small number of people since obtaining a
Schengen visa after the beginning of July was close to impossible.
Of the approximately 320 total participants that registered, more than 40 did not
arrive. The local outreach to Austrian participants had very little response, as the topic
of HIV is not an issue of great importance to the local public. Very few people showed
up without having registered or who erroneously believed that they were automatically
registered for the Pre-Conference because of an official role as part of the YouthForce
or because of a scholarship from IAS. Because of the vacancies left by those who did
not show up, we could easily accept the non-registered participants.
iii) Presenters and Sessions

There were a several key changes to this year’s schedule, leading from lessons learned
in Mexico. The period of the conference was extended from two and a half days to
three full days, and an additional day was included where participants were free to
attend different workshops and to visit other pre-conferences.
During the 3 days of the Pre-Conference, over 75 presenters led 33 90-minute

sessions. During sessions, which took place in English-only, participants gained a range
of skills such as effective messaging and policy change, and increased their knowledge
on topics such as the gendered impact of HIV, youth rights, and epidemiology. The full
Pre-Conference programme can be found in Appendix C. Of the presenters who shared
their expertise and experience, the large majority were also youth participants in the

Pre-Conference. Throughout the three days, session rooms were filled with lively
dialogue and interactive small group work.
Some key themes that were highlighted

in discussions included the right to
comprehensive sexuality education and
harm reduction services, the need to
allocate both human and financial
resources to young people, the
importance of respecting the realities of
young people’s lives, and the fact that
young people are an extremely
heterogeneous group, who also make
up parts of other marginalized groups,
including sex workers, drug users,
G&=!K3!>&(/'A'?&;/)!&/!/%+!A8&))(##,)!#.!/%+!*+<'A&8! young people living with HIV, and men
L;'M+()'/=!#.!0'+;;&! who have sex with men. Participants
also highlighted structural factors that
contribute to vulnerability to HIV, such as gender inequality, homophobia, and
violation of their human rights.
All sessions were 90 minutes. Though keeping sessions all the same length simplified
scheduling, having varying lengths of sessions may enhance the schedule for 2012
Youth Pre-Conference. Regardless of the length of sessions, there was agreement that
the length of the days was good and should be maintained. In order to select
sessions, the presenter application form was publicized among relevant networks, list-
serves, and the professional contacts of YouthForce organizers and subcommittee
members. We received approximately 100 applications for sessions, double the
number received for the 2008 Youth Pre-Conference. The applications spanned a
range of topics, and were reviewed, discussed, and rated by a subgroup of the SC.
Once the key topics were determined, we analyzed the group of selected workshops for
gaps and solicited presenters for sessions covering those missing topics.
In the application, potential presenters were asked to identify their session as either a
skills-building or knowledge-based session; however, in practice, this was a fairly fluid
boundary. Several presenters identified their sessions as both, and some presenters
categorized their sessions differently than expected. In 2012, we should revisit how
identify and divide various types of sessions.
In most session blocks, we offered five sessions at once to allow participants to choose
the session that most appealed to them. However, there were a few sessions, such as
HIV basics, Advocating for the Youth Force, and the Main Conference Orientation,
which were deemed important for all participants to attend, and thus a few time blocks
only offered those key sessions.
Overall, participants said that they enjoyed and learned from sessions. Interestingly,
when participants answered questions about sessions they gained the most and least

from, there was a wide range of answers. Several sessions were mentioned repeatedly
in both categories. Some sessions and topics that received a lot of positive feedback
were those on LGBTQ topics, young sex workers, comprehensive sexuality education,
advocacy at the UN, epidemiology and virology. Other sessions that participants said
could have been included were related to fundraising, MDGs and sexual and
reproductive health and rights.
One thing to take into account in 2012 is to ensure a balance between basic and
advanced sessions. The Pre-Conference drew a remarkable range of participants, from
those who were new to HIV and AIDS to those who had worked in the field for years.
This was a strength in terms of networking and knowledge sharing; however, some
attendees found sessions to be too basic, particularly those on peer education and
condom promotion.
Building in ways for participants to be able to network more formally would also
strengthen future Pre-Conferences. 72% of the participants commented that they had
formed important connections with other young people, but wished there had been
more for them to share their experiences on specific areas of work in a structured way.
Presenters were not financially compensated for their presentations. However since
most of them were participants as well, many received free accommodation and living
allowance. Presenters who only came for one session got free drinks and snacks.
iv) Home-groups
In order to secure an efficient process for receiving feedback during the Pre-
Conference, all participants were assigned to a home-group. The participants were split
up into groups of approximately 12 persons and were informed at registration which
group they belonged to. Home-group meetings were scheduled for the end of each day
which caused confusion on the first day, because people mistook the language group
meeting and regional meeting (discussed in the next section) for the home-group
meeting.
Each home-group had a home-group leader, a person that was known to organizers or
recommended by a SC member. The home-group leader was contacted before the
Pre-Conference and asked to fill the position. Home-group leaders were briefed in a
meeting before the Pre-Conference began, and met with the Pre-Conference organizers
after each home-group meeting to share feedback and practical advice, especially
regarding time-sensitive issues. Hot topics were discussed and solution strategies
found so that organizers could react quickly and solve issues. Issues and changes
made based on the feedback were addressed in the plenary every morning. Home-
group leaders received guidelines to help them facilitate the sessions and guide
discussion. At the end of each session, the hoe-group leaders completed a feedback
form and returned it to the organizers.
The home-group structure should be continued for the Youth Pre-Conference in 2012
as 93% of the participants reported that the liked the home-groups.

v) Language Groups
Due to limited funding and capacity, the
Pre-Conference did not have simultaneous
translation. In order to make up for this,
we organized language groups where people
could share the knowledge gained during
the various sessions that day in their own
language. Because of the great range of
languages present at the Pre-Conference
this was the most feasible option, and we
set up meetings for 7 different languages
(English, German, Russian, Arabic, Serbo-
Croatian and Spanish). G&=!N3!@#,+$B(#C?)!&/!/%+!+;<!#.!/%+!<&=O!
We left the format of the language sessions open and flexible to participants’
preferences. In the end, we found that facilitation and the outline of the sessions
should have been made clearer and people leading the sessions should have been
prepared and supported more. Additionally, there were a lot of native English speakers
who did not need or use the language sessions. With a clear outline and guidance for
these sessions, valid knowledge exchange can take place, but to be effective, they
should be better incorporated into the 2012 programme.
vi) Logistics Before the Pre-Conference

The IAS youth program staff, as well as local SC members, did a tremendous amount
of work on the logistics for the Pre-Conference. For additional information on this,
please see their report, available at www.aids2010.org (November 2010).
Funding from UNFPA and UNAIDS covered accommodations for participants and
presenters, for the four nights of the conference (July 13th to July 17th). While Pre-
Conference organizers for Mexico in 2008 booked at hotels, the Youth Programme
Team of AIDS 2010 booked a youth hostel where participants could easily extend their
stay for the period of AIDS 2010 as well. The majority of the participants were booked
into one hostel, only participants who had booked their own accommodation stayed at
other locations.
Unfortunately, Vienna was hit by an extraordinary heat wave during the Pre-
Conference, and the hostel was unwilling to unlock the windows in the participants’
rooms of participants which caused discomfort and a lot of complaints. Furthermore
the employees at the reception desk of the hostel were badly prepared, and perhaps ill
equipped to handle the large group. This caused the participants a lot of confusion and
frustration. When choosing the accommodations, which was done by the IAS staff, the
objective was to provide free accommodation to as many people as possible, so the
standard of the accommodation was lower then some participants expected.
The hostel was approximately 15 minutes away from the Pre-Conference venue.
Organizers provided participants with very detailed directions for using public

transportation to travel between the hostel and the Medical University. Information
was sent to all participants prior to the conference and given as a print out at
registration at the hostel. Providing these details informational materials worked quite
well, though the ideal situation would be to have the accommodations and the venue
within walking distance of one another.
The Medical University of Vienna was centrally located and ideally set up for our
purposes. It had an auditorium with capacity for 500, another large room with
capacity for 300, three smaller rooms with the capacity for 90 people, three rooms
with capacities for 30 people and one with a capacity for 50 people. An extra room was
used an office for Pre-Conference organizers and as storage. Two of the smaller rooms
were used as meeting rooms for the home-groups leaders. The auditorium was mainly
used for very prominent sessions and the daily plenaries, but was also occasionally
employed by groups for additional activities. The main hallway area was very wide and
central and thus was well suited for registration. Additional tables were set up for
participants and presenters to share their organizations’ materials as well. An
accessible area in the middle of the hallways was set up with table to distribute lunch
packages and snacks. Chairs could be moved around and there were also seating
options on the balcony for smokers. The session rooms were well equipped in terms of
technical support and materials, and speakers could print out their presentations at the
office. One disadvantage was that several of the session rooms had no windows and
thus there was no natural daylight.
The Medical University was generous in supporting the Pre-Conference by charging a

very low fee for use of the space and by providing supplies for flipcharts and white
boards. We anticipated our needs and had extras available in the office. These extra
materials were ordered by the IAS Youth Programme, and leftover were taken to AIDS
2010.
Food for participants was covered in a variety of ways. Breakfast was provided by the
hostel and was included in the price of lodging. A caterer provided lunch packages that
were handed out by the helpers of the Pre-Conference. There was a constant supply of
fresh fruit, water and soft drinks throughout the day, and people could help
themselves to coffee. The lunch package included a sandwich with vegetarian option
and with turkey. Turkey was the safest option for non-vegetarians that suited
participants of the various religious groups. The YouthForce provided participants with
a living allowance of 50 EUR to cover the costs of dinner for two nights and the
exchange day. The money was handed out to participants at the registration where
records were kept of how much each person received. Participants were also asked to
contribute a small amount of money to the Pre-Conference and the sum was deducted
from the Living Allowance. We also pointed out that tap water was potable and tried to
minimize the amount of waste.
Participants booked their own flights, and were asked to tell us their travel dates so
accommodation could be booked accordingly. Participants were not picked up at the
airport this year but had to find their own way to the city using public transportation.
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce +:!

Participants received a very detailed “Welcome Guide” with visitor’s information on the
city and the conference prior to traveling. There was no need to have volunteers at the
airport, and the route from the train to the hostel was direct. Additionally, Vienna is a
reasonably small and safe city with accessible and user-friendly public transportation,
especially in comparison to Mexico City. We received very few complaints related to
travel.
It was extremely helpful to have an IAS

staff person who could assess which Pre-
Conference applicants were in fact
registered for the IAC. Applicants’ names
were crosschecked with the IAS office
database, and contacted for clarification as
needed. Some participants were registered
in bulk applications by their organization,
which made this confirmation process more
difficult. Eventually, any questions were
resolved with the help of a continuous flow
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of communication between the IAS
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scholarship and registration departments.
The “Save the Date” for the Pre-Conference that was shared among networks specified
clearly that all participants must apply for Pre-Conference, and while registration for
the IAC is a necessary pre-condition, those who wish to participate must apply
specifically to the Pre-Conference. Though most people understood this, there were a
number of cases of people who did not. Putting even more emphasis on this should
help clarify any misunderstanding as well as the sharing of lists between the above-
mentioned departments and an even closer collaboration with staff in those
departments.
This communication should take place earlier in the process, and in a more consistent
way, as it helped clear up doubts on both ends. This was especially important when it
came to travel arrangements coordinated by the scholarship department.
vii) Logistics During the Pre-Conference

On the day before the conference we set up a registration point at the youth hostel
that worked from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. Welcome Guides, the supplement for restaurants
and the detailed directions to the venue were provided in hard copy when people
registered.
Registration consisted of locating the participant’s name on our list, sharing necessary
information with them including their home-group assignment, giving them their badge
and their living allowances, and having them sign officially for their living allowance.
On the first day shifts were split up between GYCA staff and the IAS Youth Programme
staff. This worked well and all the persons working at the registration desks received
information sheets on the procedure in the days before arriving in Vienna. In order to
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce +9!

secure extra assistance for the duration of the Pre-Conference, 8 helpers and 1 intern
were recruited and received a small financial compensation for their work. The IAS
staff member was in charge of briefing the helpers and instructing them on their roles
during set up, the general assistance needed during the Pre-Conference, and wrap up
activities. The helpers were split up into three teams, one in charge of catering, one in
charge of the registration desk and one for helping out in the session rooms with
technical support and office supplies. They were familiar with Vienna and were
available generally for any kind of assistance (e.g. one participant had to go to the
hospital). Naturally, the complexity of the Pre-Conference, its connection to AIDS
2010, and further content-related issues could not be explained completely in one
short training session. SC members and the two co-chairs were introduced and made
themselves available for any questions related to the Pre-Conference and its
programme. Additionally, one volunteer was from the IAS and many other people were
happy to contribute from various organizations that are partners of the YouthForce.
One SC member served as the volunteer coordinator. She developed a list of tasks
based on the needs expressed by the rest of the SC and liaised with volunteers.
Volunteers came from a variety of sources. A number of young people had contacted
the IAS. Additionally, personal contacts of the YouthForce staff and local SC members
were recruited to volunteer. While volunteers were generally reliable, there were some
difficulties, because not everyone was able to attend the volunteer training held the
day before the Pre-Conference. In retrospect, we should have held an additional
training for Vienna YouthForce staff during the first day of the Pre-Conference in order
to avoid confusion. Also, the volunteer coordinator had other responsibilities and was
not always around to act as the liaison. In future years, the volunteer coordinator
should not take on other responsibilities during the Pre-Conference. In addition, it
would be helpful to have as many volunteers who speak other main languages as
possible. Volunteers assisted with registration, with creating and posting signs to
identify session rooms, with guiding participants into sessions and keeping time, in
presenting gifts of recognition to presenters, and in keeping things generally organized
and clean.
Each day two SC members were in charge of the opening and closing sessions. This
was mostly used for delivering logistical announcements and coordination. It worked
well to rotate this responsibility, rather than to have SC co-chairs take it on throughout
the entire Pre-Conference. SC members took on other tasks as they arose, but defining
these roles prior to the start of the Pre-Conference would have made tasks flow more
smoothly.
This year, the Pre-Conference organizer aimed to include closer cooperation with other
pre-conferences. To facilitate this, the Youth Pre-Conference had an open day (Friday,
16 July) for all delegates to attend the sessions of the Youth Pre-Conference.
Additionally, Saturday, 17 July was kept free so that Youth delegates could participate
in activities outside of the Youth Pre-Conference. Because of good networking with
other organizers of pre-conferences, we secured 10 spaces at the AIDS and Children
symposium, 20 spaces at the MSM Global Forum and 10 spaces at the Multi-faith Pre-
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce ++!

conference for participants from the Youth Pre-Conference. People from other pre-
conference were also invited to attend ours over the previous three days. In addition,
on 17 July, many people were already registered for other pre-conference activities
and had the opportunity to sign up for additional activities (i.e. workshops and one
session about the Global Fund) that were organized by the Pre-Conference and the
AIDS 2010 Youth Programme. 38% of the delegates attended other events. While this
number was lower than we hoped, it was a useful exercise and should be repeated,
potentially in a more formalized way, in 2012.
viii) Accommodations
In December, we started searching for youth hostels for the Youth Pre-Conference, as
well as for award recipients during the IAC. In January, we reserved 400 beds in a
relatively low budget youth hostel from 13-24 July (Pre-Conference and main
conference) with one night costing between 17.50 and 22.50 EUR, including breakfast.
We paid the deposit from the IAS budget with the assumption that a very small part of
the whole booking would actually be paid by the IAS Youth Programme. The plan was
to have 300-350 beds for the Youth Pre-Conference paid out of the Pre-Conference
budget. Youth delegates would have the option to extend their stay at the hostel on
their own. We anticipated needing approximately 50 beds for award recipients and
some extra beds which we could pass on to organizations and other colleagues who
would be looking for cheap accommodation at a later stage since the accommodation
offered by Congrex (the conference management partner of the IAC) was quite
expensive. We estimated our required budget for accommodations for the Pre-
Conference would be approximately 33,000 USD for the 300-350 beds at a rate of
17.50-22.50 EUR per night for the 4 nights of the Pre-Conference.
Over time, we realized that we would not need the total number of beds and reduced
the number to about 270 beds. Furthermore, we agreed with the IAS Scholarship
Department that scholarship recipients who took part in the Youth Pre-Conference
would stay in that hostel during the main conference as well so that they didn’t have to
move. Fortunately, the hostel was very cooperative and flexible with regards to
reservation numbers so that we could adjust the number of reserved beds to our
actual needs until 2 weeks before the conference without paying cancellation fees.
The final number of beds that we required from 13-17 July for Youth Pre-Conference
participants was 194 (approximately 18,600 USD). From 17-24 July, we supported 43
award recipients, from the IAS Youth Programme budget, nearly all of whom had
participated in the Pre-Conference (approximately 7,500 USD). Additionally, The IAS
Scholarship Department hosted: The International Scholarship Department hosted 41
scholarship recipients 17-24 July in the hostel, half of whom took part in the pre-
conference. Many pre-conference participants prolonged their stay in the hostel and a
few other organizations made group bookings in the hostel. In the end, between 250-
300 beds were actually used by IAC participants for the duration of the conference.
Overall, the process of organizing accommodations was a lot of administrative work.

Bookings changed constantly since the application process for the Pre-Conference was
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce +,!

closed end of May, and we didn’t have the final travel dates from a lot of people until
mid of June. Also a lot of awards were allocated quite late so it was hard to tell how
many beds we actually needed and whose stay we would cover only during the Pre-
Conference and who we would be supporting beyond. We used three different lists:
one list for people we covered only during the pre-conference, one list for people we
covered during pre- and main conferences, and one list for people we covered only
during the main conference. We had to keep track of all the changes in terms of travel
dates, cancellations, last minute awards and last minute pre-conference applications.
Since dates and number of bookings changed almost daily, we sent booking lists on a
weekly basis to the hostel, marking the changes in the lists.
We encouraged people to prolong their stay in the hostel prior early by contacting the
hostel directly. Our intention was for hostel management to have an idea of how many
people would be staying after the Pre-Conference so that they could open up extra
spaces to others during the IAC. This meant that we sent a lot of e-mails reminding
people, providing contact information, etc.
The whole process required good coordination within the Youth Programme team and
with the IAS Scholarship Department in order to keep track of pre-conference
participants that also received awards or International Scholarships. This was the first
time the Youth Programme reserved accommodation for Youth Programme participants
apart from Congrex. Thus, in the beginning the idea to increase the number of
participants choosing a cheap option and therefore making accommodations more
affordable both to the Youth Programme budget and the participants themselves was
not easy to communicate. Lastly, we had anticipated far more participants would be
able to travel to Vienna and would need accommodations than was the final reality.
For 2012, we will want to take into account the likelihood that percentage of youth
delegates will not get their US visa. This must be balanced by the numbered of those
who will find out about a scholarship or award late in the process. Ultimately, being
flexible is necessary in coordinating this process.
ix) Youth Reception – “Dance the Ribbon”

The reception, held at the end of the Youth Pre-Conference and at the start of AIDS
2010, is part of the YouthForce strategy to highlight the need for youth leadership in
the International AIDS agenda, as well as to celebrate growing youth participation in
International AIDS Conferences over the years.
The reception took place on 16 July 2010, which was the last day of the Youth Pre-
Conference and two days before the official conference opening. On the day before the
conference opening the Life Ball took place, the biggest AIDS Charity event in Vienna.
(www.lifeball.org). The Life Ball is usually held in May and was postponed to 17 July to
link it to the IAC this year. In order to avoid competition the Youth Reception was
moved to one day earlier.
One of the main objectives this year’s event was to draw the attention of young people
from the region to raise local awareness of the Youth Programme at AIDS 2010 and

the important of youth and HIV and

AIDS issues. With an excellent line-up
of local and regional bands, we
achieved high attendance of locals and
the interest of some local media
representatives. Building up to the
conference we were constantly
challenged by the impression that
young people in Austria were not
interested in HIV and AIDS related
projects, or in the IAC generally. Thus
Q%+!&;;#C;A+,+;/!#.!/%+!@H0!1#C;B!:+&<+()!2C;<! the plan was to make the Youth
B(&;/++)!<C(';B!/%+!1#C/%!9+A+?/'#;O! Programme visible through a welcome
party in one of the best known clubs in
the Vienna city center. This concept proved to be successful, young people, as well as
media were interested and we sold around 300 tickets.
Working in collaboration with the HIV Young Leaders Fund, we used the gathering as a
venue to announce their inaugural round of grantees. A few were in attendance and
were overjoyed to receive the news. We also were honoured to have Michel Sidibe
make a speech in the early part of the program, expressing his commitment to youth
issues.
The Youth Reception aimed to:

• Celebrate the increase of IAC youth attendance at conferences since 2002 and
the increasing of youth participation in the preparation process;
• Showcase young people’s involvement and contributions to the HIV and AIDS
field;
• Hold governments and agencies accountable for commitments to youth through
media exposure;
• Raise global awareness of youth involvement in HIV and AIDS initiatives
through media exposure; and
• Raise the local awareness of the Youth Programme at AIDS 2010.
Through an evening of celebration, key note speakers, and entertainment (with a brass
band in the yard, three bands on stage and a DJ), the Youth Reception set the tone for
a positive and youth-friendly 2010 International AIDS Conference.
Some of the major successes of the Youth Reception were:

• Over 600 people attended, out of whom young people were the majority;
• 4 local bands, 3 of them well-known in the region performed at the event
• Michel Sidibe, Director of UNAIDS giving a strong key-note speech promoting
our key slogan “Now make it happen!”;
• Good media coverage through advisories before the event and local media
participation in the event;
• Great volunteer and security support during the evening of the reception;

• Good cooperation with the venue, very patient staff to deal with delays of
speakers and bands, good sound check and usage of space in the venue
including the yard and back stage rooms; and
• An event that ran smoothly, with great coordination amongst staff, volunteers,
performers, and others.
x) Challenges and Recommendations

Overall, the Vienna YouthForce Pre-Conference was a great success. However, we
encountered challenges that could be avoided in the future, and identified areas of
strength that should be continued. The recommendations below will help to strengthen
the 2012 Youth Pre-Conference.
VYF members faced a number of challenges over the course of planning and
implementing the Pre-Conference. Below are some recommendations for improving
the process in the future:
• Simplify the participant application and develop a web-based registration
system if possible;
• Disseminate the information about the Pre-Conference as widely as possible,
perhaps including some non-traditional networks, in order to reach a range of
youth;
• Maintain one extremely organized and comprehensive version of the participant
database;
• Clarify on all materials that registration for the IAC is necessary in order to
register for the Pre-Conference, but that registration for the IAC does not serve
to register a participant for the Pre-Conference, and vice versa. Maintain
ongoing communication with the IAS on which participants are in fact registered
for the YouthForce Pre-Conference;
• As many young people receive funding for the IAC at the last minute, it is worth
considering reserving some spaces to be filled the month leading up to the
conference;
• Eliminate the division between skills and knowledge-based sessions;
• Include more sessions on scientific topics by reaching out to young researchers,
and plan for both basic and advanced science sessions;
• Include sessions on more specific topics and sessions targeted at a more
experienced audience;
• As much as possible, prioritize sessions that are interactive and allow all
participants to share their expertise. Reach out to experienced contacts to invite
them to present;
• Create time and mechanisms for semi-structured discussion sessions during the
Pre-Conference;
• Book housing as far in advance as possible;
• Use a caterer with whom you have experience to ensure high-quality food and
be sure there is adequate drinking water;
• Staff and volunteers doing registration should be extremely organized and
should have access to electronic and printed versions of the participant
database; and

• Make a plan of how best to log evaluation data (especially from presenters and
home-group leaders) and simplify evaluation forms so as to collect only the
most important information, in the most accessible format (consider multiple
answer questions).
Some of the successful tactics to repeat in the future are:

• Invest time and energy in creating good working relationships among SC
members and a clear division of labor. When SC members have clear and
specific tasks, they are much more likely to stay engaged;
• Within the subcommittee, it is useful to break into subgroups that are each
responsible for specific segments of the work;
• Use centralized email accounts for communication with participants that enable
multiple people to respond to inquiries;
• On the participant application, include a section where participants can indicate
which topics they would like to see covered during the Pre-Conference;
• Select presenters who are youth. Ideally, many presenters should also be
participants, and vice versa;
• Do not schedule sessions during lunch, as an important part of the Pre-
Conference is the connections built between participants during the lunch hour
and breaks; and
• Include an “action” element in the Pre-Conference, where participants can take
hands-on action.
78% of the participants thought the Conference was good or excellent versus 20% who
thought it was an average event and 2% who didn’t like the Youth Pre-Conference.
In general, participants, presenters, and organizers judged the Vienna YouthForce Pre-
Conference a resounding success. Though there were areas for improvement, the Pre-
Conference built on the strengths of the Mexico YouthForce’s Pre-Conference to
encompass more sessions, more participants and new topics. In their evaluations,
participants reported high levels of learning and spoke of how they felt more prepared
for the International AIDS Conference. Again and again, they mentioned the important
connections they had made with other young activists. These bonds, and the
importance they gave to learning with and from empowered young people from all
over the world are key to building a strong movement of youth united against HIV and
AIDS.
b) Main Conference Activities

In every IAC, the participation of young delegates, speakers and poster presenters has
increased but it can be difficult to measure this. However, AIDS 2010 had impressive
participation of young people in panels and skills-building workshops. Thanks to the
advocacy efforts of the VYF, young people were also included in the opening ceremony
(Rachel Arinii, GYCA’s Regional Focal Point for Asia and the Pacific), several special
sessions and symposia sessions and the rapporteur session. In addition, many
activities were planned by the Youth Programme and the YouthForce in order to
highlight youth issues in AIDS 2010. In the following sections, we will share

information about these key activities organized as part of AIDS 2010 and feedback on
how to improve the process for AIDS 2012.
i) Youth Pocketbook: Navigating the AIDS Conference

The revision, shortening and updating of the Youth Pocketbook Guide was one of the
sub-committee’s main undertakings. The Guide was further shortened (versus the
AIDS 2008 version) to make it handier for youth participants. The pocketbook also
included the AIDS 2010 youth roadmap which is the list of activities focused on youth
throughout the week of the Conference. The Youth Programme provided the design
and printing of the pocketbook. This year, we produced only an English version of the
pocketbook.
The Youth Pocketbook Guide was successfully completed and distributed both online
and at the conference (at the Youth Pavilion welcome desk). It can be found here:
http://youthaids2010.tigweb.org/files/Booklet-En-2010.pdf
Our recommendations for streamlining the task of revising the Youth Pocketbook are
included below:
• This is a task that needs to be started as
early as possible by the next
YouthForce. Revisions of the pocketbook
will take several months to finalize. In
addition, due to time constraints,
delegates were able to access it online
only about a week before the
conference. By starting this process as
early as possible, we aim to have it
available online earlier for youth
Q%+!8+&<!=#C/%!&??#(/+C(6!7,'8=!"&()#;6!&/!
delegates.
/%+!9&??#(/+C()F!D+))'#;!#;!/%+!.';&8!<&=!#.!
• It is recommended that pocketbooks be
4HGD!NRKRO!
available during the Youth Pre-
Conference so delegates can review the pocketbook and tips for organizing
agenda previous to the conference. To facilitate this, it’s important that
organizers are clear on the desired deadline ahead of time with those tasked
with revising the Pocketbook and with the printers.
• The Pocketbook should be shared with the conference communications office
before it is finalized to ensure the conference information is correct and up to
date.
ii) Special Youth Session

The CCC decided that one of the Special Sessions should deal with “Youth.” Petra Bayr,
LAPC Co-Chair and CCC member was the point person for the session and from the
beginning involved the Youth Programme Coordinator and some YWG members in the
process of designing the session. As the initial topic was broad, the process of
designing and confirming the content was not easy and the concept changed several
times.

A small group within the YWG was set up to organize the session but also the VYF gave
input to the session. Finally, we merged all the different suggestions in one concept
note at the PAP meeting (during breaks) that took place right before the CCC meeting
in March. The Youth Programme Coordinator was the person responsible from the
secretariat to coordinate the session. The session was supported by the LAPC with an
extra budget of 2,000 Euros for a theatre workshop and a giveaway for participants.
The core team for the session was the LAPC co-chair, one local YWG member and the
Youth Programme Coordinator who met several times in Vienna to set up the
discussion process. Besides the content and the logistic schedule we planned to have a
theatre workshop with a professional theatre teacher at the Youth Pre-Conference to
prepare some sketches and interactive moments for the session. Unfortunately, this
workshop didn’t take place as not enough people showed up despite the many
registrations. Most likely, the main reason was time management during the Pre-
Conference as participants were overwhelmed by the Programme. The workshop was
scheduled to take place on Saturday, 17 July at 11.00, the day after the Pre-
Conference ended. This was the same day that many other pre-conferences took place
and additional workshops were scheduled.
The final title of the session was: “Youth Speak Out on Sustainable Response to
HIV/AIDS” with the following short description:
“This special session will discuss challenges for youth organizations dealing with
HIV/AIDS. Sustainable funding and accountability of young people, youth
leadership and participation as well as human rights related issues will be
discussed. The session aims to discuss and increase the impact of youth work
and youth participation in the HIV/AIDS response. Monitoring and evaluation
and securing funds for advocacy activities and campaigns will be addressed as
well as the involvement of young people, especially of YPLHIV, young drug
users and other most at risk groups. This interactive session will include lively
discussion among all delegates, especially young people.”
The Speakers were:

Caitlin Chandler, HIV Young Leaders Fund, Former Youth Coordinator of aids2031,
GYCA, USA: “Sustainable Funding: Innovative Mechanisms of Funding for Youth
Programmes”
Chantale Kallas, Youth R.I.S.E, Lebanon: “Human Rights, Stigma of young people
living with HIV, most at risk youth, especially young drug users”
Remmy Shawa, UNAIDS Young Fellow, Zambia: “Youth Leadership and Participation:
youth activism & volunteering in youth organizations”
Sydney Hushie, Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Ghana: “Accountability of Youth

Organizations”

Facilitator: Karina Neuhofer, Jugend eine Welt and Catholic Youth Austria, Austria
We deem the special session on youth a success in general. Many young people
attended the session, but not as many adults came as we had hoped. Overall
attendance could have been higher as well. The speakers were great and gave detailed
and inspiring statements while being mindful of time constraints. The facilitator did a
very good job and we had many people participating in the discussion. As a special
giveaway we produced click clack bracelets in orange and yellow with the slogan
“Involve young people! Now make it happen!” which were very popular.
Recommendations:
The VYF’s recommendations for
improving this process for the future
are:
• Be more specific with the topics
discussed in the NADS. Young
people represented on the LAPC
and CPC should discuss in
advance with the VYF and the
YWG which topics to propose for
sessions. It would be much more
effective to involve more young
speakers in different plenaries Q%+!)?+A'&8!=#C/%!)+))'#;!S'/%!D=<;+=!@C)%'+6!"&'/8';!
and sessions instead of having it "%&;<8+(6!9+,,=!D%&S&6!&;<!"%&;/&88+!T&88&)!&)!
all in one special session where )?+&U+()O!
only young people speak.
• In general it would be good to coordinate one or two NADS with the local Youth
Programme Team, as this ensures the influence of the YWG and the YouthForce
on the content of the NADS.
• The process of setting up a session was interesting, but time consuming. Tasks
that had to be done in the office include facilitating the process to set up
content and structure, facilitating the process of finding speakers, sending
invitations to speakers and facilitator, following up with speakers, briefing
speakers and facilitator onsite, following up with logistics, and producing extras
like giveaways.
• We had a very good questionnaire for the speakers to help them prepare their
statements. It also clarified the main points of their presentations for the
facilitator which helped guide the discussion with the audience during the
session.
• Be careful to not plan too many activities at the same time. People will be tired
the day after the Pre-Conference ends and may have a lot of extra meetings.
This is not an effective time to schedule additional workshops.
• Unfortunately the special session coincided with the Pavilion Talks II, as the day
of the special session changed several times and we did not have much time to
discuss the schedule of the Youth Pavilion activities.
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce ,:!

• The briefing of the speakers was conducted onsite one by one and went very
well. The speakers were very professional and came out of the YouthForce.
iii) Dialogues with Key Leaders

A task force within the Main Conference Sub-Committee developed the concept for the
“Dialogues with Key Leaders”. This discussion workshop was designed as lobby talks
and a networking opportunity for young people with VIPs, decision makers and key
people, such as directors of regional NGOs, representatives of UN agencies, and people
in charge of dealing with young people within their organizations.
First the committee designed 13 sessions according to topics, including proposals for
3-5 speakers for each session. After the first enthusiasm this initiative lacked
coordination of the co-chairs. Finally, the agreement was that the Youth Programme
Coordinator would propose time for meetings, draft the invitations and send them out.
Generally the interest was good and several times people wrote back they really liked
to meet young people to get to know their opinions and goals for their organizations.
Concluding the invitation process we couldn’t keep the sessions according to a theme,
but invited several discussants at the same time. We conducted one preparation
meeting at the Pre-Conference where the moderators signed up and took responsibility
for one of the sessions.
The final list for the Meetings with key leaders was as follows:
• Mark Richmond, UNESCO Global Coordinator for HIV and AIDS. Director,
Division for the Coordination of UN Priorities in Education
• Mary Guinn Delaney, HIV specialist of UNESCO regional office in Latin America.
• ;')1< ='>1?, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General
• Dr. Gill Greer, Executive Director of IPPF
• Luiz Lures, Executive UNAIDS office.
• Mr. Robert Carr, Director of Global Policy, ICASO.
We decided quite late that the Dialogues with Key Leaders were going to take place in
the YPLHIV and Networking space in the Youth Pavilion. This was a good idea in terms
of involving people and a bad idea because of the noise both from Youth Pavilion and
Global Village main stage that hindered discussions. The participation was variable;
some of the talks were visited well by about 15 – 20 people, some by 5 – 10. It was
possible for young people to sign up as participants during the Pre-Conference and at
the Youth Pavilion information desk. Overall the idea was to limit the meetings to small
groups in order to enable the participants to really get into a conversation with the key
leaders.
Recommendations
We recommend keeping the Dialogues with Key Leaders for AIDS 2012. Though the
initial concept was elaborate and could not be fully implemented, by re-working the
concept and planning only 3-5 meetings (one per day) this activity can be very
effective. Also, to improve the process in 2012:
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce ,9!

• Start the invitation process early as speakers also have to plan their schedule and
will probably make changes several times;
• The Dialogues could have been better advertised. If the schedule is ready in time
you can include them in the newsletter, post them on Facebook, and make use of
the other spaces to broadly disseminate the information;
• Find a quiet room for the discussions to ensure the quality of the event.
iv) Youth Rapporteur Team

A call for a chief youth rapporteur and 3 assistant Rapporteurs was drafted and sent
out by the Youth Programme office. This was the official IAS call and the IAS terms of
references for Rapporteurs. About 35 applications were received and excellent
candidates were identified. The IAS conducted one teleconference and two onsite
meetings for Rapporteurs at AIDS 2010.
The Chief Youth Rapporteur, Emily Carson, GYCA’s North America Regional Focal Point,
was very pro-active and did a good job leading the strong support team. The
rapporteur team distributed amongst themselves sessions they wanted to cover and
afterwards, combined their reports together. This team worked very independently. To
incorporate the work of the youth rapporteurs, we had a rapporteur give an overview
of main conference sessions before each Pavilion Talk. Unfortunately the Rapporteurs
did not cover the Youth Pavilion sessions themselves. Additionally, in the rapporteur
session the lead rapporteur concentrated more on youth demands and the VYF
advocacy campaign than on the youth sessions at AIDS 2010.
Recommendations
Suggestions for improving the Rapporteur program include:
• Taking into account the logistical aspects for rapporteur participation, such as
funding support to attend the conference;
• Ensuring that Rapporteurs also cover Youth Pavilion sessions; and
• Making certain that youth sessions are the main topic of the speech by the lead
rapporteur during the rapporteur session at the end of the IAC.
c) Advocacy Efforts
The Youth Programme of the International AIDS Conference is not only about making it
possible for young delegates to attend the event. It is also about the results of the
advocacy activities during the Conference, such as the activities related to
comprehensive sexuality education, decriminalization of the use of drugs, improvement
of the dialogue between governments and civil society, among others.
Many young delegates participated in high-level meetings with ministers,

ambassadors, parliamentarians, funders and key stakeholders before, during and after
the Conference. Even though the results of those meetings and sessions are hard to
measure, there is no doubt that the energy and strength of several youth participants
were very important to generate dialogue for the improvement of the global response
to HIV.
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce ,+!

The advocacy campaign of the Vienna YouthForce was created in order to highlight and
promote HIV and AIDS issues related to young people at the International AIDS
Conference in Vienna. The campaign aimed to empower young delegates to advocate
for the needs and meaningful inclusion of young people. This same task was
undertaken successfully at the AIDS 2008 and AIDS 2006 and the experiences and
recommendations of the Mexican team were instrumental in these efforts’ continued
success.
The core objectives of the advocacy campaign !"#$%&%'(%)*+,%-(%.#/01-%&%2/33%

were: 450#*6%-"#%/$45/0*-/($%&%'(-%70(8%
1) To design and implement advocacy (-"#0%9(1$'%*+-/:/4-;%*$6%&%2/33%
messages and a campaign strategy designed 0#/$7(0+#%*8($'%89%+(33#*'1#4%-"#%
by young people for the XVIII International /85(0-*$+#%(7%-"#%*6:(+*+9%2(0,%*-%
AIDS Conference in Vienna. -"#%3(+*3%3#:#3<%%
2) To prepare young people prior to the %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%=+-/:/4-%70(8%>#)*$($%
conference to participate meaningfully and to %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%?@%9#*04%(36%
advocate effectively to their decision makers.
3) To create broad messages for our key
topics so many people can identify with these messages.
4) To create catchy slogans and materials for these key messages in order to spread
them widely.
The core activities of the advocacy Sub-Committee, established in January 2010 were:
• A campaign to encourage organizations to sponsor young leaders to
participate in the conference (“Take Two to Vienna”);
• An e-consultation to identify key advocacy issues and discuss strategies
for the advocacy campaign;
• The creation of advocacy messages and materials based on the e-
consultation’s findings;
• The creation of informative factsheets for both youth participants and
conference delegates; and
• A Youth-Adult Commitment Desk to encourage adult delegates to
commit to issues affecting young people and to strengthen youth-adult
partnerships and involvement.
i) E-consultation for the VYF Advocacy Campaign

An e-consultation was conducted to collect information from young activists and young
people in general about the most significant goals, needs, and challenges they see in
their daily lives and their work in the field of HIV/AIDS. There is still progress to be
made in the effectiveness of the e-consultation based on the number of people reached
and the variety of opinions expressed, but a number of young people responded with
their opinions.
The consultation contained 60 different questions regarding availability, accessibility

and resource development that were filled by 312 respondents from over 80 countries
around the world and with an average age of 26 years. This is almost three times as
AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce ,,!

many participants as in the consultation for 2008. The increased participation can be
attributed to the larger networks and to the technical facilities used. The e-consultation
was implemented through a Google survey form this time. We recommend using this in
the future as, once developed, the form does not need much facilitation. We are able
to share the link easily and widely.
In developing and facilitating the e-consultation, the VYF hoped to gain a wide scope of
opinions and ideas from young people around the world, with particular attention on
young people from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The VYF recruited participants for
the e-consultation through the dissemination of information through email list serves,
YouthForce partners’ websites, friends, colleagues, and other sources. Participants
included leaders who are active in their communities delivering HIV and AIDS services,
educating their peers, advocating for treatment access, developing innovative
campaigns using media, drama, music and art, and more.
The e-consultation was conducted in English. The consultation took place over 5
weeks. During the first week, the e-consultation focused on Health Resources,
identifying the current needs of youth in the HIV pandemic, the status of youth
involvement in the participants’ home countries, and explored what governments could
do to prevent the spread of HIV. During the second week, Harm Reduction was the
focus and the third week dealt with Human Rights. Finally, the fourth week asked for
favorite images and colors for logo, post cards and the website.
The full e-consultation final report is available at:

http://youthaids2010.tigweb.org/action/files/Report_of_messages_2010.pdf!
Recommendations
• Revise the questions that have been used in previous e-consultations. You will
need to draft more specific questions and adjust them based on the responses
from the weeks before. Without doing this, the e-consultation could turn into a
broad, theoretical gathering of information about youth and HIV, rather than a
focused brainstorm on which issues to prioritize during the conference and
which strategies are most effective.
• Technically the e-consultation was led through a Google survey form this time.
This is recommended for the future.
• Upon the conclusion of the e-consultation, the participants of the e-consultation
should be asked if the process had been an effective means to develop
advocacy messages and if they felt that their opinions had been heard and
taken into account. This could lend even greater credibility to the YouthForce
process of message development. Additionally, suggestions for improving the
e-consultation process can be gathered at this time.
ii) VYF Advocacy Campaign: Messages and Materials

The main purpose of the e-consultation was to provide information for key messages
to be voiced by the VYF. The messages appeared widely throughout the conference on
t-shirts, posters, postcards, banners as well as on the website, in press conferences,

and in speakers’ remarks during sessions and presentations. The advocacy Sub-
Committee distilled the outcomes from the e-consultation into key messages that were
converted in the “3 HRs” Campaign. In practice, this became the “Now make it
happen!” campaign as this proved to be a catchy slogan that high level speakers at
many different occasions at and before AIDS 2010 used. The messages appeared on
the YouthForce advocacy materials displayed in the Global Village, at the Youth Pre-
Conference, and were used for local outreach and online outreach before and during
the Conference.
A graphic designer from Advocates for Youth designed the following 3 Posters. The text
was drafted by the Advocates for Youth team and the Advocacy Sub-Committee Co-
Chairs.
We only had the messages available in English. Because the key messages were
decided on very late, we could not have in depth feedback from everyone on the VYF
coordination list.
Generally people liked them a lot, and “Now make it happen!” became a widely used
slogan at AIDS 2010. It was used by Brigitte Schmied, Local Co-Chair of AIDS 2010 at
the opening of the Youth Pre-Conference, by Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of
UNAIDS at the Youth Reception and at the Opening Ceremony of the IAC, by the Youth
Speaker Rachel Arinii at the Opening Ceremony, and by several people speaking in the
Youth Pavilion during the week of the conference. Internally, some of the YouthForce
organizations criticized the messaging as it was very broad and didn’t address the
needs of certain vulnerable groups of young people such as sex workers.
The VYF and the AIDS 2010 Communications Department, that had a budget for local
outreach, jointly funded the advocacy materials. The IAS funded the printing of posters
and postcards and part of the design costs. UNFPA funded the design of the logo and
the posters – the designs were made by TIG (logo and website) and Advocates for
Youth (poster, T-shirts, free card that was used as bag insert).
The following advocacy materials were produced:

Youth Pavilion:
• 3 large banners with the VYF messages above the Youth Pavilion (1,2m x 3,5m)
• 2 banners next to the stage, one with the AIDS 2010 and one with the VYF logo
• Signage of the Youth Pavilion (6 printed logos on the walls of the Pavilion, 3 VYF
and 3 AIDS 2010 logos)
• One banner that served as the background of the Commitment Desk with the
VYF Logo and all the member organization’s logos on it, saying “Make your
Commitment to Youth”
IAS Communications:
• Printing of 1,500 Posters (500 of each HR) with a printer in Slovakia, who did all
the local outreach materials for the local office.
• Printing of 20,000 free cards with the “Human Rights” graphic used as a bag
insert. On the back site this free card featured the highlights of the Youth
Programme.
For the Pre-Conference:

• One large Banner saying “Youth @ AIDS 2010” with the VYF Logo (3m x 1m)
• One Banner with all the sponsor’s logos (100 cm x 120 cm)
• 3 smaller Banner with VYF messages (1,80 cm x 50 cm)
• 2 roll ups, one with the AIDS 2010 and the VYF Logo and one with the VYF logo
only, including website, Facebook and Twitter information.
• 800 VYF T-Shirts in orange (male and female cut)
• 500 Human Rights Post Cards with the background text about the Youth
Programme (as we did for the bag inserts) additionally for local outreach
Lastly, the official AIDS 2010 fact sheet served as a main outreach document
throughout the year as it was developed in October 2009. We had one Youth
Programme fact sheet used for the IAS media kits with both logos (VYF and AIDS
2010) that was developed in April 2010 and also served as a first info document in
print and online.
Challenges and Recommendations

Below we share some of the specific challenges in the work of the advocacy campaign
and recommendations for improving the process for 2012.
• A decision-making process for the creation of the materials must be determined
before the design process begins. The designing of materials needs to happen
along a reasonable timeline. The designers must provide the first round of
proofs no later than 4 months prior to the conference to allow for adequate time
for feedback. The designers must be part the regular sub-committee
communication in order to understand that multiple people will be involved in
giving feedback in a collaborative process, that the issues and images depicted

are contentious and may require several revisions, and to check every proof for
typos and errors.
• Early proofs also allow for early price quotations from printers, allowing
budgeting the financial resources effectively. Printers can only give reliable
quotations when they have the proofs in hand.
• Over all we recommend having one basic leaflet or flyer about the Youth
Programme ready quite early for local outreach. We could have distributed info
materials about the Youth Programme at many occasions, ideally from
December on.
• The YouthForce should decide early who will be in charge of designing the logo,
the posters, t-shirts, and other materials.
• In relation to the above points, it is necessary to have a clear timeline that both
the designers and the advocacy Sub-Committee and Youth Programme team
adhere to. Almost all of our visibility materials were produced very late because
the design and decision-making process took too long.
• The designer for the project must have some background or understanding of
HIV/AIDS issues, or at the least poverty and gender issues. For many of the
reasons discussed above, it would be ideal to recruit a designer outside of the
YouthForce coordinating organizations to avoid tensions among partners.
• The Youth Programme office should be in direct contact with the printer to
execute the printing of the materials. Organizers must be able to review
physical proofs before the final print. It is essential to carefully review physical
proofs to avoid typos, errors, and misprints.
• Postcards: We printed postcards with a different design (sponsored by OSI) and
designed by Espolea (VYF organization) beforehand. Indeed, it would have
actually been better not to print a different set of visibility materials but to print
postcards with the design of the common VYF posters for local outreach in
terms of continuity of visuals and visibility of the YP. At a very late point of time
we decided to print the Human Rights postcard also for distributing it in Vienna.
• Posters: We had too many posters for our purposes in Vienna. Due to the fact
that we got our printed materials very late, we could not distribute many
throughout the city.
• We cooperated with a local company for outreach like distribution of free cards
and posters. This worked very well, but we could have distributed many more
materials through their contact channels if we had them on time.
iii) Advocacy Sub-Committee Work

In the preparation process, the two co-chairs were very active and had good contact
with the office team, but the team was not involved in all preparation steps. During
the Pre-Conference, one plenary session was dedicated to the VYF Advocacy messages,
their background and the talking points in order to make everybody aware of how to
communicate the VYF messages.
There was another session at the Pre-Conference on how to organize an advocacy

campaign. The session gave an overview of how the messages were developed and
gave participants skills and practice on how to advocate on behalf of the messages to

decision makers. It covered how individuals can personalize messages and advocacy
strategies for the main conference including elevator pitches, forming concise
messages and requests, tactics for clear communication and body language, and the
importance of giving and receiving contact information when interacting with decision
makers. It also gave participants an opportunity to brainstorm advocacy strategies
with their peers and collaborate for the main conference and future initiatives.
From the beginning of the Pre-Conference the Advocacy Sub-Committee worked

together very well and set up a mobile commitment desk team (see the next section).
The youth journalists and advocacy team had a joint preparation meeting in order to
coordinate efforts when contacting high-level delegates in order to get a commitment
to youth, to push the VYF advocacy messages, and to get interviews. They organized
daily meeting points with the Youth Journalists team as these two teams had very
similar goals.
Recommendations
The VYF suggestions for 2012 include:
• Facilitating greater identification of VYF members and young people with the
VYF messages. Preparation at the Pre-Conference and any kind of team-building
activities are highly recommended. Informing participants on the process for
message development is key, and creating a session that encourages
participants to feel a part of the YouthForce would help with this as well;
• Ensuring that the sessions are interactive and that participants are able to ask
questions and share comments on the advocacy campaign;
• The joint journalists and the mobile Commitment Desk team brought significant
results (articles, number of commitments, presence at sessions, press-
conferences and at the Commitment Desk). They were also a great motivation
to mobilize people to use the space in the Pavilion and generally at AIDS 2010
for advocacy. In 2012, a similar partnership between these two teams is
encouraged.
iv) Youth-Adult Commitment Desk

The VYF decided to replicate the Youth-adult
Commitment Desk from Toronto and Mexico,
as it was a highly successful and visible part
of past YouthForces. Again it was one of the
highlights of the Youth Programme and a
crucial advocacy tool. The Commitment Desk
served as a space to build effective youth-
adult partnerships as well as the space for
adults to make serious commitments to be
champions for youth. During AIDS 2010, 340
commitments were signed from 49 countries.
The commitment process was developed by *'A%+8!T&V&/A%U';+6!7J+AC/'M+!G'(+A/#(!#.!/%+!
members of the VYF, the Youth Programme W8#-&8!2C;<!M')'/';B!/%+!1#C/%$4<C8/)!
staff and TakingITGlobal and is described in "#,,'/,+;/)!G+)U!

the following paragraphs.
The VYF Advocacy Sub-Committee set up a commitment desk team to urge everyone
they met (especially speakers after their sessions and decision-makers) to go to the
Youth-Adult Commitment Desk in the Global Village and make a commitment to youth.
Very quickly, the word spread and many young delegates, youth-led organizations and
youth allies promoted the Commitment Desk, encouraging people to commit to youth.
Additionally, the very committed mobile commitment desk team was crucial. Armed
with flip cams, this team approached people again and again. They made
appointments with them at the Commitment Desk or recorded the commitments
wherever the opportunity presented itself. That way, the commitment desk took a
more proactive approach in receiving youth specific commitments and provided the
opportunity of a video record of many commitments being made.
At the stationary desk, the person making a commitment was asked to provide his/her
name, organization, contact data, the commitment and ideally, a timeline for when this
commitment should be fulfilled. People could make their commitments either in front of
a video camera or tell the volunteers at the desk who would type the commitments
directly in the commitment section on the website. Some people also wanted to type
the commitments by themselves.
On the AIDS 2010 youth website all videos were uploaded and made available to the
public in order to increase accountability of those making commitments. Memorable
commitments or commitments made by world leaders were shown on the screen
behind the Commitment Desk which was an invaluable strategy for inviting more
commitments to be made. Furthermore, the screen was also a good tool to promote
activities inside the Youth Pavilion, screen the website, tweets, different videos
recorded during the conference and more.
Ideally, in the year following the conference, people who have made commitments will
be contacted via e-mail by a young person to inquire about the progress they have
made with regard to their commitment. They will be asked to fill out a brief report form
on their progress. We are confirming which VYF organizations will conduct this year’s
follow-up process. Indeed, the commitments are a huge resource as a base for
advocacy and could be used for campaigns and other lobby activities.
Two TIG representatives who had the technical know-how to upload and screen the
commitments mainly ran the commitment desk. The VYF advocacy sub-committee
was responsible for the strategic part and creation of the process which was largely
based on the previous conference. The main change was the mobile commitment desk
team. Between 5-10 advocates equipped with flip cams were bustling about the
conference venue in order to record commitments when- and wherever they were
made. Additionally, the Commitment Desk was staffed by one IAS and one WAGGGS
volunteer who helped delegates, VIP guests and general public to fill out all of the
information in the online form, uploaded videos and was permanently present.

The Commitment Desk was an enormously popular space for people and media
throughout the conference. It ran smoothly with the support of many committed
people, and it was a remarkable resource to demand accountability during the
conference in a concrete and transparent way that can be followed up on in the future.
The Commitment Desk was located at a very central space at the entrance of the
Youth Pavilion. This had the effect of drawing many people, even those just walking
by, to make a commitment. Because of the extensive promotion and work by a
number of staff of the Youth Programme as well as YouthForce members, the desk
received a large number of visitors.
Recommendations
• It is highly recommended to continue having a commitment desk. We hope the
2012 YouthForce will take advantage of this concept and have a Commitment
Desks at the IAC.
• All youth at the conference should be encouraged to use the Commitment Desk
as a way to insist upon direct, tangible action during the conference.
• Make sure the technical equipment and internet is working properly on a 24/7
basis.
• Make sure to have a screen at the commitment desk! The screen at the
entrance is highly valuable not only for screening commitments but also other
conference highlights, videos of Youth Pavilion sessions and activities and
making different announcements! Like this, many visitors were attracted to the
Youth Pavilion and it was also a nice tool for presenters to watch their own
performance afterwards.
• Publicize commitments in the daily conference newspaper and in the daily
conference news releases and press conferences if possible.
• Placing the Commitment Desk at a central spot - at the entrance of the Youth
Pavilion- is highly recommendable!
• Make sure you always have at least two volunteers taking care of the space and
updating the information on the website.
• In this case, working together with TIG who had also designed and programmed
the website was a huge advantage. They knew the technical processes for
uploading and screening the commitments and the two onsite representatives
were extremely dedicated and supportive.
• It is advisable to make a detailed briefing on technical processes with a larger
number of people, including staff, volunteers, and mobile commitment desk
teams. During AIDS 2010, many people were able to use the different tools
such as the website, YouTube channel etc. and contributed to the success of the
commitment desk.
v) “Take Two To Vienna” Campaign

Following up on the success of the “Take Two to Toronto” and the “Take Two to
Mexico” campaign implemented by the Toronto YouthForce and the Mexico YouthForce,
which successfully inspired organizations and individuals to sponsor 118 young people
from 36 organizations to attend AIDS 2008, the VYF created a concise letter to
increase youth sponsorship for AIDS 2010.

The two-page letter explained the importance of the conference to young leaders, the
benefits of increasing youth participation, the costs and processes to sponsor a young
person, and information on how to make contact with a young person in need of
sponsorship. The letter was used both by the VYF and by youth participants
themselves as a fundraising tool to solicit full and partial scholarships.
Unfortunately for AIDS 2010 the Take Two Campaign was not very successful. We sent
the letter to participants who needed financial support and some individuals
successfully used it for their own fundraising for the conference. Indeed, we sent the
letter to the contact list of possible funders from the Mexico team that included a lot of
organizations that already funded their own delegations anyway. We were unable to
draw new funders through Take Two.
The Take Two letter was drafted by the Main Conference Sub-Committee, but could be
a strong advocacy tool in terms of increasing the access to the IAC for young people.
Involving the Advocacy Sub-Committee could increase the effectiveness of this
campaign. For 2012, it is recommended to have a local person who coordinates “Take
Two” and sponsorship for young people from the region in the appropriate language.
Also, as much as possible, the 2012 YouthForce should reach out to new organizations
and funders to engage as partners.
d) Youth Pavilion
The AIDS 2010 Youth
Pavilion, located in the
Global Village, was the main
access point for youth into
the IAC. The Global Village,
including the Youth Pavilion,
was open to the general
public at no cost as well as
conference delegates. The
Youth Pavilion was
envisioned to be a dynamic
exhibition, presentation and
lounge area in the Global
Village to showcase young
people’s work on HIV and
AIDS issues. It was the Q%+!1#C/%!>&M'8'#;!&/!4HGD!NRKR!
main networking space for
young people; a youth-focused space for meetings of different youth teams, groups
and organizations; an available area for workshops and skills-building sessions cultural
events, forums, and the Youth Pavilion Talks; and a space to highlight and showcase
youth achievements. It also served to facilitate networking opportunities with youth
and adults in dialogue and continue the momentum of the Youth Pre-Conference.

The exhibits and sessions demonstrated that it is necessary to involve young people in
working towards solutions in the global HIV response. In addition, to serve as a youth
advocacy hub, the Youth Pavilion provided space for presentations, art and media
exhibits, meetings, dialogues, and workshops. It featured a room for YPLHIV and
young delegates to connect, mobilize and network. The Pavilion also had a station to
document commitments, an office for staff and youth journalists, an interactive
message wall, a placard making station for the Human Rights March and other
advocacy purposes, and an information desk.
Throughout the conference, daily sessions were available within the Youth Pavilion to
assist young delegates with their participation in the conference and to acquire new
skills and knowledge for their work on HIV/AIDS.
As the Youth Pavilion was the most important space at the conference for young
people to get together, both the YWG and the VYF was called to actively participate in
the Youth Pavilion planning and development process. Utilizing the VYF structure of
Sub-Committees, a Youth Pavilion Sub-Committee was established. This Sub-
Committee closely worked together with the IAS Youth Programme team, the Youth
Programme Working Group and other Sub-Committees and was called to develop new
ideas for the Youth Pavilion as well as to give feedback on its standard elements.
The Youth Pavilion planning process, due to its complexity, involved many people. The
Programme Activities Team (especially the Youth Programme staff), different
departments within the IAS (mainly logistics and IT), the Youth Programme Working
Group, the YP Sub-Committee and the rest of the VYF were the most involved
organizers of the Youth Pavilion. Planning included a complete list of the many
different activities that oscillated from practical decisions on size or location to
negotiations on content. The next few paragraphs describe some of the activities that
were developed as a result of the planning process for the Youth Pavilion at AIDS
2010:
i) Registration and Information Desk

The Registration and Information Desk was one of the first things people saw when
arriving to the Youth Pavilion. Volunteers staffed it at all times throughout the
conference. It served as the main check-in point for the Youth Pavilion speakers and
activity participants, and as information desk for visitors.
Speakers and activity participants were asked to come to the YP registration desk one
day prior to their session or activity in order to sign in. The registration desk
volunteers were responsible for handing out the final session or activity description,
sharing the consent form with presenter as necessary, liaising with presenters and
technical staff in order to upload their presentation materials and discuss the stage
set-up, and clarifying any remaining questions regarding the sessions and activities.
Furthermore, there was a sign-up sheet for the “Dialogues with Key-Leaders” and for
the informal meetings in the YPLHIV and networking room. Information and advocacy

materials and shelves where VYF member organizations and others could put their
materials were also a part of the desk. At the information desk we also handed out VYF
and MTV T-Shirts, DVDs and CDs provided by some organizations, stationary for the
message walls, and materials for the placard making station.
ii) Exhibitions and Interactive Wall Space

At the @$%&$'((/! "AB1C1B1/<! @0'2212&! DPAP) meeting, two exhibitions were selected to be
displayed in the Youth Pavilion. Applicants were asked to indicate in the application
how much space they require and the YWG allocated the exhibitions on the Youth
Pavilion walls accordingly. The selected organizations were responsible for the content
of these two exhibitions as well as physically hanging them up and supervising them,
with the support of the Youth Programme team as necessary.
Additionally, the VYF organized the “Vienna YouthForce Wall of Fame Contest,” an
initiative that sought to showcase youth-led organizations’ work and contributions to
the global response to HIV/AIDS. Youth organizations were asked to send in
photographs with unique scenes of young people in action that capture either the
essence of the organization’s work, its main programme/event, or the qualities that
make their job special and necessary. The Youth Pavilion sub-committee selected 19
photographs that were displayed with an explanatory paragraph about the scene and
the organization’s work. The interactive “comments’ wall” provided an opportunity for
Youth Pavilion visitors to leave their unique contribution to the Youth Pavilion by
painting, drawing, writing or sticking messages, impressions, or feedback.
One day prior to the Youth

Pavilion opening we organized
a small decoration committee,
mainly made up of Youth
Pavilion sub-committee
members, to set up the
space. Besides setting up the
above-described walls, we
hung up banners, posters and
red ribbons. Furthermore we
set up a table with stationary
and materials that could be
used for decoration purposes,
the message wall or placard
making throughout the week.
4!)/&..!,++/';B!&/!/%+!1#C/%!>&M'8'#;!
The organizers of the Human
Rights March provided the
Youth Pavilion with further stationary and poster material so that young people could
make their placards for the Human Rights March.

The placard station was very well attended in the hours prior to the Human Rights
March. The photo and art exhibition inside the pavilion ran smoothly even though it did
not attract as much attention as we hoped it would.
iii) YPLHIV and Networking Space

The YPLHIV and networking space was =4%*%9(1$'%0#4#*0+"#0%&%2/33%50#5*0#%
located in one of the rooms of the Youth $#2%50(A#+-4%-"*-%&%2/33%+($$#+-%2/-"%
Pavilion. It was a comfortable, spacious and 9(1-"%*0(1$6%-"#%2(036%B2"(%&%8#-%
conveniently located space with couches, *-%-"#%C($7#0#$+#D%-(%/850(:#%-"#%
leather chairs, tables, plants, and wall /85*+-<%%
decorations (red ribbons and one wall %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%=+-/:/4-%70(8%.0*E/3%%
covered with the three HR posters). It was %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%?F%9#*04%(36%
used for informal meetings, networking and
relaxing. It had several Plexiglas walls so
people could have a look from outside and a broad, open entrance that made it a
welcoming space. Furthermore, we put a table with stationary in order to make
placards for the Human Rights March on Tuesday and for other occasions.
We collaborated with GNP+ in the creation of the YPLHIV and networking space. The
YPLHIV and networking room was reserved for 90 minutes per day for the exclusive
use of YPLHIV. The original intention by GNP+ was to invite speakers and hold specific
skills-building workshops during these time slots. As time went on, the plans were
reduced with the 90-minute slots instead being scheduled to offer a safe space for
informal meetings and discussions. Unfortunately, as these time slots were not very
well attended by YPLHIV, GNP+ ended up conducting small discussion circles while
other Youth Pavilion visitors and working groups shared the space.
We also hosted the Dialogues with Key Leaders in the YPLHIV and networking room.
The Main Conference Sub-Committee developed these sessions. We decided only a few
weeks before the conference that these meetings with high-level decision makers
should take place in the Youth Pavilion. On one hand, this was a good decision because
it was a central spot and offered the possibility for young people to get involved
spontaneously without signing up days before. On the other hand, we had a problem
with sound during the meetings that was quite annoying for the discussants. Noise
from other Global village activities, especially presentations on the Main Stage, carried
over to the YPLHIV and Networking zone making it hard to hear the discussion at
times. Lastly, the youth journalists held daily meetings in this room, and others were
able to book the room for specific networking meetings as requested.
iv) Office
The office was a closed space reserved for staff members, volunteers, presenters,
youth journalists and VYF members that needed a workspace or a printer for specific
Youth Programme tasks. There were four laptops with LAN connection and a printer, as
well as storage for stationary and material to be distributed throughout the week.
Since the number of computers was very limited and a lot of people (staff, volunteers,
some VYF members) left their bags in the office, we tried not to have the place
unattended. Access was limited to people who had to use the office for fulfilling vital

Youth Programme tasks. Wi-Fi was available so there was not a need to offer public
workstations as had been available in past Youth Pavilions.
v) Youth Pavilion Stage

We had a stage (3x6m) in the Youth Pavilion for a range of presentations. It included
up to 3 tables and 6 chairs, a round table (used as a lectern), a screen, sound, and
lighting, all of which could be adjusted based on the needs of each activity. We ordered
two laptops for the technician desk and a preview monitor as well as a remote control
in order to run presentations from the stage. Furthermore, we had wireless
microphones for the stage and the audience, hands-free microphones for theatre
performances, and corded microphones for panel discussions. This allowed a flexible
stage set-up.
The presentation space had approximately 90 seats and two entrances (main and
emergency). Behind the stage there was a dress room with storage space for water
and back-up materials. In general terms, the presentation space was very successful
and well attended. It is difficult to give a general assessment of when the Pavilion was
better attended and when not as attendance depended on the different session topics
and implementing organization. As a result, there were times when it was crowded,
and sessions that were less attended throughout the week.
The programme took place according to the set schedule, and we had no major
problems with activities that ran over time significantly or started too late. We
scheduled 30 minutes breaks between the activities, so it was not a problem if an
activity started or ended a little late. Indeed, two cultural activities didn’t show up at
all (without prior notice), and we spontaneously had to organize back-up activities.
Although announced in emails, many session and activity presenters did not check in
the day prior to their activity. Therefore, it was at times not clear if people actually
arrived at the venue and were prepared for their activity. Also, the noise from the
Global Village Main Stage, which was located close to the Youth Pavilion entrance,
posed a problem and interfered with Youth Pavilion sessions at times.
The logistical requirements for the stage were challenging, especially when we did not
have much information from the activity organizers about their AV requirements. We
needed to consider that the stage set-up had to be as flexible and serve for a variety
of different activities, from panels to cultural activities like theatre or music
performances.
vi) Youth Pavilion Talks

In addition to the programme activities selected at the PAP meeting, we left time slots
open for activities organized by the VYF, especially the Youth Pavilion Sub-Committee.
In the end, most of the planning was actually done by the Youth Programme team. We
designed the Pavilion Talks as a space to meet plenary speakers and decision makers
in person. The Pavilion Talks aimed to enhance cooperation between young people and
scientists, activists and other high-level stakeholders. These sessions were designed

and moderated by young people and provided space for questions and discussion. A
youth rapporteur presented highlights from the previous day and gave a brief
summary of the morning plenary session. We came up with a brief session outline that
was intentionally kept open and flexible to create a space where young people could
engage with the speakers on stage. The general outline was:
1. Welcome and Introduction by Moderators (5 min)
2. Rapporteur present highlights from the previous day and give a brief summary
of the morning plenary session (10 min)
3. Speakers give a short presentation to young people about their activist
background, plenary input or main theme (20 min)
4. 1 Question from the moderators and/or rapporteur and short answers (5 min)
5. Questions from the audience + answers (35 min)
6. Encouraging statement from speakers to young people (5 min)
7. Summary by moderators (5 min)
We collaborated with the Global Village sessions’ supervisor who invited the plenary
speakers to the Meet the Plenary Sessions in the GV Session Room 1. IN choosing
which speakers to invite, the Youth Pavilion Sub-Committee was also encouraged to
come up with ideas for speakers. The bulk of work was done in the office; ideas for
speakers were collected from the Youth-Pavilion Sub-Committee and the Main
Conference Sub-Committee as they had come up with a list of VIPs to invite for the
Dialogues with Key Leaders. In the beginning we tried to group the speakers according
to themes and give each of the talks a specific topic. Unfortunately this concept didn’t
work because of the limited schedules of the invited speakers. We compromised by
having the speakers choose which day they would participate in the Youth Pavilion
Talks.
The session chairs were briefed in detail at the Pre-Conference. The chairs and most of
the speakers did a great job and the discussions were very interesting. Even though
we did not have a main topic for each of the Talks, the chairs guided the discussion
well, finding common themes and integrating the statements of the audience. Mostly
the discussion was about youth involvement and youth participation, incorporating
personal and professional experiences of the speakers.
Below is a list of the moderators and speakers for the three Talks:
Pavilion Talks I, Tue 14:00-15:30h

Chairs: Lisa Sanchez and Shamin Mohamed Jr.
Speakers:
! Sigrun Mogedal, Norway
! Faika El-Nagashi, LEFÖ, GV Working Group, Austria
! Jennifer Corriero, TIG, Canada (was invited, but was unable to attend)
! Philippe Andrianakis, Austrian Activist
Pavilion Talks II, Wed, 14:00 – 15:30

Chairs: Olga Andreeva and Kolawole Oreoluwa
Speakers:
! Yves Souteyrand, Switzerland
! James Hakim, Zimbabwe (was
invited, but did not attend)
! Pablo Torres Aguilera, Mexico
Pavilion Talks III, Thu, 14:00 – 15:30

Chairs: Liping Mian and Verena
Grünstäudl
Speakers:
! Meena Seshu, India
! Sophie Dilmitis, Switzerland
! Anette Trettebergstuen,
Norway 4!)+))'#;!#(B&;'V+<!-=!H>>2!&/!/%+!1#C/%!>&M'8'#;!
! Rachel Arinii, Indonesia GYCA
vii) Challenges and Recommendations

Below is a brief outline of some of the challenges faced by the VYF and
recommendations for 2012.
• Keep in mind that that there are many people involved directly or indirectly in
the planning process. Therefore, we strongly recommend you (as onsite staff)
to get involved with the organizations, the community and the YouthForce
members as they have the experience you will need when making important
decisions.
• The Youth Programme Assistant’s role is vital in coordinating different ideas and
incorporating the viewpoints and perspectives of young people into the Youth
Pavilion implementation and coordinating the different teams involved (e.g.
YWG, YP Sub-Committee) as well as the onsite programme.
• It was crucial that some of the YP Sub-Committee members were also members
of the YWG and therefore were able to share ideas and information between the
different groups. The SC provided very helpful information on the topics young
people wanted to see covered, was involved in the design of the Opening
Ceremony and Pavilion Talks as well as on the decoration of the Pavilion and
the function and purpose of each room within it and came up with creative
ideas such as a YP song, flash mobs, message wall, Wall of Fame etc.
5. Media and Communications

The Media and Communications Sub-Committee was one of the five committees
formed by the Vienna YouthForce. The Sub-Committee’s work was conducted between
late January 2010 and July 2010. It was the Sub-Committee that had the most Skype
meetings, almost every month. Both Co-Chairs were German speakers. You can follow
conversations and look up the documents of the Media and Communications Sub-
Committee at http://groups.tigweb.org/MediaComm.

a) Youth AIDS 2010 - Newsletter

The YWG and the VYF proposed to send out a monthly newsletter with information on
the preparation activities of the Youth Programme. A total of five newsletters were
shared in the months leading up to the conference, published in four languages each
(English, Russian, German, and Spanish).
The main objectives of the newsletter were to:

• Spread youth-specific information about the ongoing preparation process for
AIDS 2010 to young people and youth groups;
• Provide information to people who are not directly involved in the organization
of the Youth Programme;
• Involve people in the preparation of different activities of the Youth
Programme;
• Motivate young people to come to the conference and make them familiar with
the topic of HIV/AIDS and the existing networks; and
• Build up sustainable youth networks looking beyond participation at AIDS 2010.
The Youth Programme team collected information, reminded contributors of deadlines

and emailed the newsletter to listservs and relevant networks. The content was
submitted by the YWG together with the Vienna Youth Force and the Youth Programme
team. The target audience was individuals organized in youth NGOs at international,
regional and national level, interested young people, mainly between 16-26 and
networks of the YWG and VYF members.
The newsletter was sent out from the local office using the
youthprogramme@aids2010.org address. The YWG and VYF co-signed the
newsletter as authors. We inserted the AIDS2010 Logo on the newsletter and included
the email address for questions and requests. The newsletter can be found on the
AIDS 2010 website at: http://www.aids2010.org/Default.aspx?pageId=178.

The newsletter was our strongest outreach tool until the website was live in the end of
May. The newsletter served to communicate internally and externally the scope of
Youth Programme and its functions and networks. The texts created for the newsletter
were useful for the website, for other mailings and for Youth Programme descriptions.
The first newsletter took the team a long time. Incorporating the feedback from the
IAS communications team, completing the translations, and finalizing the discussion
about the branding, were all time consuming tasks. As we agreed the newsletter would
be an official Youth Programme document with the IAS logo, it had to be approved by
IAS communications. The newsletter was sent out from the office and we had the
overview of all the addresses.
Translations take a lot of time and future YouthForces should think carefully about
which languages are crucial. For example, we are not sure if many people read the
Spanish version. A YouthForce member did the design of the newsletter. It was great

and we got a lot of positive feedback regarding colors and pictures, and on the content
of course. It is recommended to look internally within the VYF for these skills in 2012
as well.
It took time to grow the newsletter listserv. It was easier to obtain subscribers once
the website was live. Prior to that, we had to address people from existing listserves of
VYF member organizations. It is recommended to have the website ready as early as
possible to make the outreach more efficient, consistent and easier. The biggest part
of the workload was done in the IAS office. Some YWG and VYF members helped to
write articles but all final edits took place in the office. Finally, most of the German
translation was done by Austrian YouthForce members and in the office.
b) Youth Spokespeople
There were two official IAS spokespeople for the Youth Programme selected from the
YWG members: Liping Mian and Olga Andreeva. Their bios were included in the IAS
press kits distributed at official AIDS 2010 press conferences.
Additionally Vienna YouthForce selected 11 youth spokespeople. We discussed the

selection process on the VYF list. Some organizations wanted to suggest spokespeople
directly whereas the initial idea of the media & communications SC was to have an
open application process. In the end it was a mixture of both, which unfortunately
wasn’t very transparent. Liping and Olga were added to this list and their bios were
distributed together with the YouthForce spokespeople.
The list of selected youth spokespeople included:

Joe Hammoud, Yogie Wirastra Pamungkas, Thierry Schaffhauser, Pablo Torres
Aguilera, Aram Barra, Anita Krug, Shamin Mohammed, Korey Anthony Chisholm,
Raphaela Rainer , Olga Andreeva, Liping Mian
Training
We had one short briefing session at the Pre-Conference where we figured out core
topics for each of the spokespeople and discussed the key points of the advocacy
messages. After this briefing some of the spokespeople wanted to have a more intense
media training including training on interview situations with cameras and microphones
involved. We organized a training for the day after the Pre-Conference with a local
media agency. Six of the spokespeople attended the training and afterward expressed
how useful it was for them. The spokesperson team met twice with members of the
Media and Communications Sub-Committee to go over the details of the press
conferences.
Interviews
The selected spokespeople were the focal points for the youth-related media at AIDS
2010. They were responsible for highlighting youth issues and the key messages of
the Vienna YouthForce at the conference. It was stressed that all spokespeople must
be comfortable with the principles and values of the YouthForce and the advocacy
messages that had been developed for AIDS 2010 and were not acting as
representatives of their own organizations.
We had a few requests from media people, especially from Austrian newspapers and
radio stations directly before the Pre-Conference. They asked specifically for people to
talk about the situation of young people and HIV/AIDS in Austria and in Eastern Europe
and Central Asia. For these situations, we had to look outside the spokespeople list and
looked for other young representatives from this region. The requests were for
spokespeople with different skills or qualities than those of our spokespeople. Thus
some of the spokespeople actually never got the chance to give an interview.
We had very good media coverage during the conference. Twice the Youth Programme
was mentioned in the daily newspaper “Heute”, articles were published in other
newspapers, and we were present on national radio programs. Unfortunately we didn’t
have a system for collecting the publications so do not have a comprehensive report of
all media mentions.
Recommendations
• We should have had one focal point for the team of spokespeople. We set up a
meeting point in the Youth Pavilion each day, but it didn’t work very well
without a key person to take over the coordination of the team. It is
recommended to identify this coordinator for 2012.
• The training for spokespeople was useful and necessary, but it is important to
consider that people do have a very tight agenda already and may not be able
to attend. This should be planned as early as possible, with a short, efficient
agenda.
• Please be strategic about the selection of spokespeople. It would be enough to
have 5-7 spokespeople who are skilled at speaking about key topics and
messages and are comfortable giving interviews. It is advisable that you or the
colleagues from other Youth organizations know these people in advance of
them taking up the role.
• Consider the requests from local and international journalists. In our case the
selection of spokespeople didn’t fit the needs of the local press, so we had to
spontaneously selected additional spokespeople.
• In 2012, it is recommended to have a talking points document that is
elaborated on by the advocacy sub-committee. This should be ready weeks in
advance so the spokespeople team has time to review it and prepare prior to
the conference.
• Share the spokespeople list with the coordinators of the media center so they
can pass it on directly to interested journalists.
• Consider contracting a clipping service or enlist local committee members to
collect newspaper articles so the YouthForce has an overview of what was
published.
c) Press Releases and Kits

There was one press release created by the YouthForce and the Youth Programme
Office Team. There was a second press release created by the Youth Journalists. The

focus of the release that was sent out broadly was to generate press interest for the
Vienna YouthForce and the “Now make it happen!” Campaign.
The material for the press kits was produced by the Media and Communications Sub-
Committee. The following fact sheets were produced:
• Youth Programme Fact Sheet
• About the Vienna YouthForce
• Factsheet about Young People and HIV, especially in Eastern Europe
• Key Messages of the Vienna YouthForce
• Biographies the Youth Spokespeople
Unfortunately, the Press Kits were not prepared on time for key events such as the
Youth Pavilion Opening. One reason for the delay was the process of translating. For
the future, it is important to note that it would be better to move forward without all
translated materials rather than have no press kits at all.
Recommendations
• Develop a strong plan for sending the press releases. In our case, the
responsibility for press releases changed several times and many people of the
VYF gave feedback so in the end it became a very long process.
• Collect the press contacts transparently, keeping a master list of all, so you do
not forget to send the release to any contacts.
• Ask UN agencies and partner organizations to forward the press release. In our
case UNFPA, UNAIDS and UNESCO helped with sending out the first press
release. Also, make sure to publish it on the website.
• Have the press kits ready on time. You have all the year to prepare the material
– start early.
• Have the press kits in English, at least and check your resources before
planning translations into other languages.
d) Press Conferences
We secured two time slots in the media center for VYF press conferences. At AIDS 2010
there were two Vienna YouthForce press conferences. The first was held on the first day of
the conference and the second was held on the penultimate day. The media and
communications committee submitted the third-party press conference forms to the IAS
by May 2010. By that point the title of the press conferences and spokespeople for each
had been identified, but changed again afterwards.
Unfortunately, the YouthForce Press Conferences were not well attended. At each press
conference there were about 3-5 external journalists in addition to the Youth Journalists
Team. They were interested and produced a video and some extra interviews with the
panellists, but still it felt like we could have had more interest. This situation also occurred
because we sent out the media advisory late each time. We could have done a better job
announcing the press conferences.
First Press Conference: Vienna YouthForce

The Vienna YouthForce promotes the “Now make it happen” Campaign
Vienna YouthForce Spokespeople: Olga Andreeva – Uzbekistan, Shamin Mohammed Jr. –

Canada, Joe Hammoud – Lebanon, Murtaza Majeed – Afghanistan, Raphaela Rainer –
Austria
Description: At the beginning of 2010 the Advocacy Sub-Committee of the Vienna

YouthForce conducted a global e-consultation to address the key policy areas for AIDS
2010. Young people from 80 countries all over the world pointed out the following key
priority areas: Human Rights, Health Resources and Harm Reduction. Imagine a world
that protects human rights instead of punishing those who are most at risk! Create a
world where health resources are available to everyone! Realize a world where there are
harm reduction programmes instead of hate, stigma and discrimination!
Second Press Conference: Vienna YouthForce and UNAIDS

“Young people make it happen – UNAIDS report shows the crucial role of young people in
HIV and AIDS prevention programmes”
Vienna YouthForce Spokespeople: Kuena Diaho – Lesotho, Yvonne Akoth – the Girl scouts
Kenya, Remmy Shawa – Zambia, Thierry Schaffauser – France
UNAIDS representatives: Dr. Peter Ghys, Chief of Epidemiology and Analysis Division
UNAIDS has made empowering young people to protect themselves from HIV a priority
area. It calls on countries to implement a comprehensive set of programmes that put
young people's leadership at the centre of national responses, provides rights-based
sexual and reproductive health education and services, and empowers young people to
prevent sexual and other transmission of HIV infection among their peers. This can be
achieved by ensuring access to HIV testing and prevention efforts with and for young
people in the context of sexuality education and by ensuring enabling legal environments,
education and employment opportunities to reduce vulnerability to HIV. Young people
have shown that they can be change agents in the prevention revolution.
Recommendations
Our suggestions for improving the press conferences in 2012 are included below.
• The planning of the press conferences needs to be done ideally one or two
months in advance of the conference. In one of the press conferences we
worked together with UNAIDS. The decision to conduct the press conference
together with UNAIDS was done based on the experience of past YouthForces
where press conferences were not well attended.
• In our case the focal points and the line of communication for press conferences
were not clear. For 2012, it is recommended to be more concise about
responsibilities. There should be one or two focal points briefing the
spokespeople.
• Have a briefing with the spokespeople and the focal point one day before the
press conference.

• Try to arrange a short training in one of the press conference rooms in the
media center. We were lucky and the room was free, so the spokespeople felt
more comfortable at the actual press conference.
• Make sure to arrange backup speakers in case one of the spokespeople does
not show up.
• Do not count on too many questions of journalists. Instead plan to speak longer
on the panel and have statements prepared.
• Ensure that youth journalists are present to write about the press conference.
• Send out a media advisory at least one day before the press conference and
distribute it in hard copy in the media center and info points of Youth Pavilion
and Global Village.
!
6. VYF Promotion
One of the main responsibilities of the media and communications committee was the
promotion of the Vienna YouthForce. A variety of communication channels were used
in order to expand the reach of the YouthForce.
a) Youth AIDS 2010 website

URL: www.youthaids2010.org
In May 2010, the official youth website for AIDS 2010 was launched. This website was
one of the main communication sources for individuals interested in the activities of
the VYF. The Youth Programme office team was responsible to develop and implement
content and the layout of the website together with TIG.
In the future we should aim to have the website ready much earlier. We got a lot of
positive feedback on the website as soon as it was live. There were additional ways we
could have used it for outreach and communication throughout the preparation
process. The website was a very important tool for the VYF in order to share
documents, the YouthForce´s history and opportunities for young delegates. The
website can still be used as a tool to spread info about the Youth Programme and to
reach out to young delegates after the conference. It would be ideal to identify one
organization in charge of further updates and following up on the content.
Recommendations
Some of our recommnedations for 2012 are:
• Consider the partnership with TIG, making sure to clarify expectations on both
sides and resource considerations (including timelines for work and payment).
If you do so integrate them more fully in the VYF at an early stage to ease
communication.
• In terms of continuity of the design, quality and knowledge of the content and
Youth Programme Activities, it is recommended to work with TIG in 2012..
• It is also recommended to engage TIG in the process of collecting and uploading
commitments. This is a core component of the Youth Programme which went
very well and was spearheaded by TIG at the conference.

• The deadline for going live was delayed several times. The website was live one
month before the conference which was much later than preferred.
• We recommend using the structure of the 2010 website and the basic features
for 2012.
• It is ideal to update the pictures on the website and not only on the Flickr page
throughout the conference. If possible, this should be done in 2012.
b) Social Media
The VYF utilized a number of social media platforms in planning, organizing, and
publicizing our work and presence at AIDS 2010.
Facebook
At the beginning of 2010, a Facebook Page was created by IAS to boost awareness of
the work of the Youth Programme and the Global Village. The goal of the Facebook
page was to directly communicate with the Youth Programme “fans.” One of the main
benefits of creating this page was having the ability to send direct, daily or weekly
updates to all members about recent news. It was important not to start our own
Facebook page before the official AIDS 2010 Facebook page was established. It was
created in January. In addition to the Youth Programme page that was edited and filled
by the Youth Programme team, the Media & Communications SC founded a Vienna
YouthForce Facebook page. Both pages were active in the months leading up to and
during the conference.!!
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/aids2010youth?ref=ts
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Vienna-Youth-
Force/118916211468731?ref=ts
Flickr and Picasa

The VYF created a group on Flickr, the world’s most popular photo-sharing site, and
utilized Picasa, another photo-sharing site to highlight activities during the Pre-
Conference and AIDS 2010. There were three main goals for this group when it was
created. These were to create an online space where delegates could share their event
photos, have a space for the photos taken by the youth journalist team, and have
pictures available for future use of the YouthForce. The Flickr page fed directly to the
Youth Website, where viewers could see all pictures once posted. Over 550 pictures
were posted on this account.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/youthforce/
http://picasaweb.google.com/cassiepaige3/AIDS2010InWien
Twitter
Members of the VYF frequently used Twitter to share information and updates
throughout AIDS 2010. While there was not an overall strategy, everybody promoted
his or her favorite sessions, speeches and events. .BB#*EEBF1BB/$GA%(ECH)+:9:
YouTube Channel
A YouTube Channel was set up to upload videos of the journalists. The VYF also used
it to upload commitments made during AIDS 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/user/viennayouthforce#p/u/109/DQm_Paacl6s
Below are our recommendations regarding social for the next YouthForce:
• It is recommended that early on the chairs of the Media and Communications
Sub-Committee and the Youth Programme staff set up a meeting with the IAS
media department to determine the scope of their media and communications
activities needs. It may also be useful to set up a Memorandum of
Understanding with them, as that will establish guidelines from the start. For
AIDS 2010, we did not have an MoU but involved the Communications
Department in the discussion about the Logo, the Website, the Newsletter, and
the Youth Programme Facebook page.
• For a successful Media and Communications Sub-Committee it is vital to count
on at least one person who speaks the other official language at the conference
and knows local media sources. We recommend that one of the Co-Chairs be
based in the conference city and works closely together with the Youth
Programme Team and local communications staff.
• For documentation of media interest, it is suggested that a media database is
created so individuals can easily see what interviews have been conducted,
what articles have been written, and who the sources are. For AIDS 2010 we
didn’t have such a database, thus we were not able to follow all the
publications.
• Link the social media pages better to each other e.g. post Flickr links on
Facebook, cross post messages on Facebook and twitter, have a better
overview what is posted where. Developing a strategy for this with key
responsibilities assigned to specific people would be helpful.
• Use the social media more often during the conference. At AIDS 2010, Twitter
was used most often with other platforms lacking in activity at times.
• The Youth Journalists Team took many videos. This was enabled partially by the
good equipment available this year. YouTube as a platform is highly
recommended.
c) Youth Journalist Team

The Youth Journalist team was made up of nine individuals and was coordinated by
Alexis Angulo of the Media and Communications Sub-Committee. This team was
responsible for producing media-related content for the Youth AIDS 2010 website
throughout the youth Pre-Conference and the IAC.
Youth Journalist Team Members included: Tyrone Hall, Aida Darzhanova, Rachel-Ann
Charles, Aysel Asgarova, Veronica Ifeoma Ugwu, Ukwo Joy Michael, Angie Yan Yi Lai,
Merete Tschokert, and Alexis Angulo. Liam O´Doherty (TIG staff member) was
registered as a Youth Journalist as well and was in charge of the Commitment Desk.
Selection Process
A call for Youth Journalists was first developed in March 2010 and was promoted via
the VYF list serve, and the VYF newsletter. The Journalists were selected by the Media
Co-Chairs and the Youth Programme office team. Youth journalists had to confirm that

they were attending AIDS 2010 as the VYF could not guarantee funding for individuals.
In the end, we had to discuss funding with many of the journalists because most of
them needed some level of support. All of the 11 journalists received a free media
registration paid for by IAS communications, and we provided free accommodation in
the youth hostel for the team. Three of the journalists received flights. In 2012, it
should be further stressed that journalists should already have confirmation that they
are attending the conference and have their costs covered by other means.
Trainings
The Youth Journalists Team had one
online training conducted by Alexis
Angulo and Raphaela Rainer, the Co-
Chairs of the Media and
Communications Sub-Committee. This
training was mainly used to clarify roles
and terminology, but also to give
technical advice regarding website,
social media and some writing tips.
At the Youth Pre-Conference, the

Journalists team and the advocacy team
Q%+!"(#S;!>(';A+))!#.!X#(S&=!&/!/%+!E?+;';B!
"+(+,#;=!.#(!/%+!1#C/%!>&M'8'#;O! developed a great strategy to work
together by filtering key topics that
would be covered by a group of people. The Journalists team and some of the
advocacy people who formed the mobile commitments desk team worked together
effectively throughout AIDS 2010. They met each day at 10:30 in the Youth Pavilion
to review plans for the day.
Equipment
All of the journalists had cell phones to keep in touch during the conference.
TakingITGlobal brought 6 mobile phones to lend to those without a phone in Vienna.
Aram Barra, Co-Chair of the Advocacy Sub-Committee successfully fundraised money
for 8 pocket cameras from Open Society Institute. These cameras were distributed to
the Youth Journalists and the Mobile Commitment Desk team to film commitments,
sessions and Youth Programme Activities.
Key results and Recommendations

Some of the main outcomes and articles include:
• Over 550 photos taken by the youth journalist team that are available on the
VYF website, on Picasa, and on Facebook.
http://picasaweb.google.com/cassiepaige3/AIDS2010InWien
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/youthforce/
• Approximately 120 videos were uploaded to the YouTube Channel, the majority
of which are people making a commitment:
http://www.youtube.com/user/viennayouthforce#p/u/109/DQm_Paacl6s

• Over 20 blog entries were written by the Youth Journalist team (on
www.youthaids2010.org) prior to and during AIDS 2010.
• Three editions of an onsite newsletter were produced and published on the
youth website and distributed in hard copy near the Youth Pavilion (available for
viewing on the VYF website and Facebook).
• Twice the Youth Journalists produced blog entries for the official AIDS 2010
Conference blog.
The VYF recommendations for the Youth Journalist program for 2012 include:
• A lot of people applied that had not secured their funds for attending AIDS
2010. Thus the selection process became more complicated as we had to look
for additional budget. Be concise with the call for journalists stressing there are
no additional funds for flights of journalists. We made some exceptions in the
end, as described above but it lengthened the process significantly.
• It is advisable to meet with the team well before the conference for an online
training. At this training, expectations should be determined including what
each youth journalist hopes to accomplish and what kind of media they are
most interested in producing (i.e. will they focus on writing full-length articles
or shorter blogs? Will they focus primarily on video, or photography?). Also,
ensure that youth journalists are familiar with how to upload media to the youth
website and have the access necessary. This will enable them to begin
uploading content in anticipation of the pre-conference or as soon as the pre-
conference begins.
• Make sure the website will display youth journalist content prominently. Having
the blog and the Flickr feed where entries and pictures directly appear on the
Youth Website is recommended.
• Identify key events and people to cover in advance. It is good to have the
coordinator of the youth journalist team in contact with the Youth Pre-
Conference, Youth Pavilion, and Youth Reception chairs. It’s important to make
sure that information on the events and notable visitors is shared with the
youth journalists to ensure that someone is assigned to cover them.
• It was useful to have media registrations for the Youth Journalists so they could
visit the media center and use the technical equipment available there.
• If possible, identify major media outlets to pick up the articles written by the
youth journalists. This would provide great exposure for the YouthForce.
• It was very useful to have writers, photographers, and videographers on the
team this year. It helped create a more diverse and dynamic website.
• It is recommended that the Journalists work independently. It worked very well
that they met every day in the Youth Pavilion and some of them used the office
space in the Youth Pavilion for writing.
7. Scholarships
The AIDS 2010 Youth Programme had a budget of $55,000 USD for participant
support. This was used to cover flight, accommodation and/or registration of Youth

Programme Activity participants, youth speakers, rapporteurs or journalists. The Global

Village and Youth Programme together had 250 free conference registrations to give to
Programme Activity participants (each of these cost $22 USD for production). The
Youth Programme team coordinated the award process for Programme Activity
participants that took place in the Youth Pavilion. The support of other young
participants in Programme Activities (sessions, cultural activities, booths and
networking zones) throughout the Global Village was handled by the Global Village
team but paid for by the Youth Programme budget.
In addition to young participants in Programme Activities, the Youth Programme

handled the recruitment and award process for youth journalists and rapporteurs (see
also chapter about Media and Communications). With regards to young speakers,
different IAS Programme team members responsible for the respective session
approached the Youth Programme team to support young speakers from the Youth
Programme budget. The coordination process was partly handled by the Youth
Programme team and partly by the respective IAS programme team member. The
Global Village and Youth Pavilion participants’ award allocation, notification,
participants’ registration, flight booking, and other logistics were handled in a unified
process, and the two budgets were more or less combined. Because of this, it is
difficult to give precise numbers on how many young people have been supported only
by the Youth Programme award budget. Indeed, we can confirm that the $55,000 USD
was definitely used for the support of young
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89%*6:(+*+9;%)#/$'%8(0#%/$7(08#6%
All in all, the Youth Programme supported
2/-"%0#3#:*$-%6*-*%/$+316/$'%-"#%/$7(%
around 80 young participants out of which the
70(8%-"#%GH=&IJ%K1-3((,%0#5(0-<%%
Youth Programme team handled the process
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for about 50 youth delegates. The following
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are our estimates on the award levels:
• Around 25 young participants received
a full award (registration, accommodation
and travel);
• Around 30 young participants received a partial award (accommodation or
travel, mostly including free registration); and
• Around 25 young participants received a free registration and if a visa was
required, travel insurance.
Besides programme activity participants, these numbers include approximately 10

young speakers, the four Youth rapporteurs (all of whom received registration and
accommodation, two of them received travel as well) and 11 Youth Journalists (all of
whom received a media registration, three received a full award and four
accommodation or travel). The Youth Pavilion awards were not officially announced or
allocated through an application process but awarded on an individual basis. Thus,
although not based on a transparent applications process, we tried to be as fair and
transparent as possible and managed to accommodate all requests.


• All in all, it was challenging to find out who actually needed financial support in
order to make it to Vienna and who had other financial sources. At first, we
offered awards to Programme Activities participants who had been refused a
scholarship. A second basis of decision-making was if people directly asked for
financial support. It is also helpful to have more information about the
organizations that people represent in order to find out if funding is required or
not.
• Indeed, it is important not to distribute the whole budget in the beginning of
the process since a lot of people approached us quite late with their need for
funding when they found out that other applications were refused or simply
when they realized that they needed to make their travel arrangements.
Furthermore, the selection of youth journalists and rapporteurs was made at a
late stage so we could no calculate how many people would need support from
these groups. Lastly, requests from other IAS programme team colleagues to
support young speakers dropped in every now and then. As much as possible,
this process needs to be flexible and able to respond to requests as they are
received.
• First of all, we awarded free registrations and accommodation since we had
enough beds reserved (we only supported accommodation in the hostel booked
by the Youth Programme). Since flights were quite expensive, we generally
asked people to find other sources of funding and encouraged them to use the
Take Two Campaign before we offered to book the flight. The award allocation
process was made on a case by case basis. As a result, we managed to support
all programme activity participants who required the support.
• A specific challenge in the award and follow-up logistics process were the
various databases we were working with (Back Office, Planner) that were not
synchronized and did not provide complete information about all programme
activity participants (e.g. you could see that someone applied for a scholarship
but not if it was awarded; if not submitted, there was no information about the
activities people were involved in; if registered as a group, people were not at
all in the back office, etc). As a result, we ended up with a number of different
Excel files that had to be updated and it was challenging to share the
information within the team. For 2012, it would be very helpful to have one
common database that incorporates all the information, or if necessary, one for
programme activities and one for award administration.
8. Monitoring And Evaluation

This year, a stronger monitoring and evaluation strategy was put in place in order to
ensure that things ran according to plan and that youth participants are really
benefiting from the activities and strategies implemented by the VYF. Based on the
report from 2008, the VYF tried to improve the quality of information from evaluations
that we had from past years and also to give feedback to all the participants and
presenters as opposed to the organizers only.

For the Pre-Conference, we evaluated sessions and general aspects through the home-
groups that have been mentioned on the Pre-Conference section. Home-group leaders
completed a form after each day based on the feedback they received in their home-
group meeting. Through this we were able to get respond to immediate issues as
necessary and to gather information on what sessions were most appreciated and
which were not as helpful. Presenters shared an evaluation form at the end of each
session in order to have the logistics and presenter experience evaluated as well.
An online survey (using www.SurveyMonkey.com) was sent to the Pre-Conference

participants and other youth delegates who did not attend the Pre-Conference in order
to capture their perceptions of the different activities organized by the VYF. More than
half of the participants responded to the survey and most of the statistical information
presented throughout the report was extracted from its results.
During the Conference, the team had 2 meetings to evaluate our work. The first took
place on 17 July and was focused on the Pre-Conference. The second took place on 24
July and was focusing on the main Conference. All the recommendations from those
two meetings have been incorporated in the report. Due to the lack of time and
resources, this kind of evaluation meeting has not taken place in-person before, and
these discussions took place online. The face-to-face meetings were very helpful and
more efficient than attempting to conduct it all virtually.
Each day, some of the co-chairs of the sub-committees had meetings to debrief and
plan for the following days. In general most of the roles and responsibilities of the VYF
members were clear weeks in advance so the meeting helped to see if everything was
running smoothly. Many of the sub-committees, particularly the communications and
advocacy ones had regular meetings as well since their work was ongoing and
particularly heavy during the Conference.
The platform that was used for the communications of all the Vienna Youth Force sub-
committees was TakingITGlobal (TIG). TIG allows saving of all the documents and
discussions that take place over the internet so in the future, the organizers of future
YouthForces will be able to access that information, in the same way we had access to
the information from AIDS 2008 and 2006. It is also important to mention that the
websites of the youth program from the last two IACs are still available on-line for
general reference.
The evaluation allowed us to make a very positive balance in every single activity we
planned. The following statistics provide some of the key responses and trends
gathered from the survey:
General
95% of the participants thought that they made connections at AIDS 2010 that will
improve their work when they return to their countries. This is very good news

because apart from knowledge sharing, connecting with other key players in the field is
one of the main things the VYF encourages.
85% of the participants think that they gained skills that will help them or their
organizations. Furthermore, 96% think that they will do a better job on advocacy as a
result of the Pre-Conference and Conference because they are better connected or
because they are more informed.
Regular sessions were the type of activity that most participants participated in at the
main Conference followed by satellite sessions and skills building workshops. 71% of
the participants attended at least 2 plenaries.
Advocacy
87% of the participants thought that the Advocacy messages were very relevant for
young people’s needs and 85% were able to use the messages as part of their work
during AIDS 2010. Some of the comments of those who did not think they were
relevant were related to the lack of specificities for most-at-risk young people or lack
of regional focus.
90% of the participants thought the T-shirts and posters were very successful tools for
visibility. The designs created by Advocates for Youth and TakingITGlobal were largely
accepted.
Youth Pavilion
25% of the participants did not attend any session at the Youth Pavilion during the
Conference. 44% attended 1 or 2 sessions, 18% attended 3 to 5 and 9% attended
more than 5. This is a good sign because it shows that youth participants were able to
balance their time between the main Conference sessions and the Global Village
activities.
80% of youth participants used the Youth Pavilion to meet other delegates and 45%
used it to chill out. Sessions related to harm reduction at the Youth Pavilion were the
best according to the majority of participants. This was followed by communication-
related sessions.
71% of the participants felt the Pavilion was a wonderful space overall. The Youth and
the Women’s networking zone were the most successful spaces at the Global Village
for young delegates.
Communications
69% of the people thought the website was useful or very useful. Comments from the
30% who thought it was not so good stated that the lower rating was because it was
complicated to navigate or that the information was all in English.
79% of the participants used Facebook as a dissemination tool during AIDS 2010. On
the other hand only 28% used Twitter, and 21% used YouTube to share information
during the Conference.

55% of the participants read the Youth Newsletters and 69% followed the VYF on
social media. Most of the readers of the Youth Newsletter were not able to attend the
Conference and therefore the total number of participants who read them was
relatively low.
Total #
Youth age # Youth % Youth
Awarded IAS Comments
range Scholarships Scholarships
Scholarships
AIDS 2010 875 16-26 168 19.2% Minimum age 16.
AIDS 2008 810 18-25 142 17.5% Minimum age 18.
AIDS 2006 872 18-25 58 6.7% Minimum age 18.
Conclusion
The evolution of the YouthForce is an example of how youth movements working on
HIV issues and SRHR issues from around the world are evolving. The International
AIDS Conferences have become a reference for other events about how youth should
be mainstreamed as a cross cutting issue. The Conference itself has broadened its
focus in order to include many community components with youth as the most
integrated and visible.
As you have seen in this report, there were many successes in the various components
of the VYF. Still, there is much to be done in order to achieve meaningful youth
participation at the Conference and, particularly, on ensuring that youth are benefited
from more and better programs around the world to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS
and to promote the human rights of young people living with HIV.
The Pre-Conference and the reception were safe spaces where young delegates were
able to share and learn among themselves. The Global Village and specifically the
Youth Pavilion were important meeting points for informal activities and
intergenerational dialogues. The main Conference is not an adults-only space anymore,
with more workshops, satellites and sessions dedicated or led by young people than
ever before. In general, the balance was very positive for all the partners and we hope
that our supporters agree as well.
In the future, the relevance of the different activities will be re-evaluated to ensure
that activities organized and supported by the YouthForce are meeting the needs of
youth delegates and capturing the voice of youth who were not able to attend. The
membership of the YouthForce may also change as it happens every two years in order
to have new energy and ideas, but the commitment will remain the same. We hope the
experiences described in this report, both successes and challenges will be taken into
account by future organizers of the YouthForce, and additionally, we hope the

recommendations that can found throughout the report are integrated for 2012 and
beyond.
There are still many challenges but we are confident that the collaborative work of
many youth organizations around the world will ensure that each edition of the
International AIDS Conferences and other regional AIDS events have a strong youth
component. This will continue making a difference on the participants’ lives and their
communities as they bring back and implement what they have learned. Many youth-
led organizations are committed to further strengthen the YouthForce in the future.
Washington D.C. 2012 will be a different story, but with the experience that we have
and the cohesion that we developed we are certain that youth will be high on the
agenda once again.
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Appendix A:
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For an overview of the AIDS 2010 Youth Programme, we recommend to read and
watch the following articles, videos and websites:
A video about Youth Spokespeople:

http://marksking.com/my-fabulous-disease/aids2010-day-two-the-wisdom-of-youth/
The youth rapporteur’s speech at AIDS 2010:

http://www.aids2010.org/Default.aspx?pageId=212
The most important sessions of AIDS 2010 as webcast on the Kaiser Family Foundation
site: http://globalhealth.kff.org/AIDS2010.aspx#July23
A video about the Human Rights march:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7v6nGze5sU
For video coverage of activities of the Vienna YouthForce, visit the YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/viennayouthforce#p
The Youth Programme website: www.youthaids2010.org
A report on the UNAIDS page about the Youth Reception:

http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/Resources/FeatureStories/archive/2010/2
0100717_Vienna_YoungPeople.asp
Another source for pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.at/cassiepaige3/AIDS2010InWien#

Appendix B:
5(+&U<#S;!#.!A#C;/('+)!#.!1#C/%!>(+$"#;.+(+;A+!?&(/'A'?&;/)!YXC,-+(!#.!?&(/'A'?&;/)6!A#C;/(=Z!!
1 Afghanistan 1 Guniée- Bissau 1 Republic of Moldova

1 Algeria 1 Guyana 3 Romania
1 Armenia 5 India 10 Russia
3 Australia 5 Indonesia 1 Sao Tomé
18 Austria 1 Italy 1 Slovakia
3 Azerbaijan 4 Jamaica 2 South Africa
1 Barbados 1 Jordania 1 Surinam
1 Belarus 2 Kazakhstan 1 Sweden
1 Bolivia 3 Kenya 10 Switzerland
3 Bosnia 1 Kingdom of Lesotho 1 Tajikistan
6 Brazil 1 Kyrgyzstan 1 Tanzania
1 Bulgaria 1 Latvia 1 Thailand
2 Cameroon 9 Lebanon 1 Trinidad & Tobago
10 Canada 3 Macedonia 4 Tunisia
2 China 1 Malawi 1 Turkey
1 Comoros 10 Mexico 10 Uganda
1 Costa Rica 1 Myanmar 17 United Kingdom
1 Croatia 3 Nepal 5 Ukraine
5 Dominican Republic 8 Netherlands 1 Uruguay
2 Egypt 1 New Zealand 15 USA
1 El Salvador 10 Nigeria 2 Uzbekistan
2 Ethiopia 5 Norway 2 Venezuela
3 France 2 Pakistan 2 Vietnam
2 Gambia 1 Panama 1 Zambia
3 Germany 1 Peru 1 Zimbabwe
2 Ghana 3 Philippines
1 Grenada 3 Republic of Korea

Appendix C:
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AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce

Final Report to UNFPA

Now Make It Happen!

XVIII International AIDS Conference and

14 - 23 July 2010 • Vienna

Report prepared by:

Ricardo Baruch Reshma Pattni

The Vienna YouthForce (VYF) gratefully acknowledges the generous support

Committees and individuals:

AIDS 2010 Youth Programme staff included:

AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce +!

Media & Communications Sub-Committee

Main Conference Sub-committee

Youth Rapporteur Team

AIDS 2010 Youth Programme Working Group!

AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce ,!

The sponsors of the Vienna

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AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce 5!

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! The collection of 340 commitments from 49 countries during AIDS 2010. A

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1. Overview - Youth at AIDS 2010

The Vienna YouthForce was a wide-ranging coalition of non-governmental and

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2. Objectives of the Vienna YouthForce

1. Support peer-to-peer capacity-building among young people, in order to provide

AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce 9:!

the UN system commitment to the full participation of youth, of which youth-led

3. Structures and Governance

! 2 Chairs (from both Community and Leadership & Accountability Programme

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c) Youth Programme Volunteers

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AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce 9,!

This was the 3rd Youth Pre-

The Pre-Conference had two main

The Pre-Conference consisted of informative and skills-building workshops around HIV

i) Selection of Sub-committee Members & Co-chairs

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Chairs of the Pre-Conference sub-committee. Applications for sub-committee (SC)

The Pre-Conference sub-committee was chaired by Fatma Hacioglu (Turkey) and

AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce 94!

iii) Presenters and Sessions

During the 3 days of the Pre-Conference, over 75 presenters led 33 90-minute

AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce 95!

Some key themes that were highlighted

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AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce 97!

vi) Logistics Before the Pre-Conference

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The Medical University was generous in supporting the Pre-Conference by charging a

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It was extremely helpful to have an IAS

vii) Logistics During the Pre-Conference

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Overall, the process of organizing accommodations was a lot of administrative work.

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ix) Youth Reception – “Dance the Ribbon”

AIDS 2010 – Vienna YouthForce +3!

the important of youth and HIV and