The HIV Living Project emerged out of a national consultation process with PLWHA organisations and people living with HIV/AIDS in 2000. Positive people identified that the area of HIV treatments was to be a priority for the organisation and that it was NAPWA’s role to take national leadership in this area. Positive people also pointed out that there were other matters to do with “HIV Living” that sat in a complementary relationship with medical treatment issues. In this process the development of a national HIV Living Project was authorised.

For some, these HIV Living issues were constituted as social policy concerns and it was agreed in the preparation of the NAPWA Strategic Plan 2000-2004 that there would be focused intervention by NAPWA in social welfare, care and support policy development; these social policy concerns may also extend to employment and housing.

Other people identified the importance of HIV health promotion and positive peer education as matters that needed to be shaped by positive people themselves, it was agreed that the national organisation would be more proactive in engaging in these areas and would try to influence HIV sector education work in a way that fostered the interests of positive people. Social research was seen as pivotal, in that the social research material produced was in fact ‘representing’ lives of people living with HIV/AIDS and the findings in social research could have direct effect on policy directions. Developing good qualitative and sympathetic social research to provide insightful views on what is the experience of living with HIV/AIDS was also called for.

Other people contributing to the consultation were suggesting that plwha lives and identities should not just be shaped by the institutional arrangements that currently exist. People with HIV have always been in a process of naming their own realities and when necessary challenging structural arrangements that do not support and affirm that active shaping and naming process. It was suggested during the consultations that positive peoples own sense of agency be supported through national capacity building work and through activities which were supportive of diversity and changing identities in plwha lives.

Without any guarantee of ongoing funding, in 2001 NAPWA employed a HIV Living Policy Analyst (the position was filled by John Rule) to focus attention on the above areas. The activities undertaken are now recognised by the Commonwealth government through annual funding, secured in 2003, and through high profiled work within the HIV Sector.

Key Activity Areas include:

• HIV health promotion and positive peer education
• Developing HIV social research to support positive people
• Welfare, care and support policy development
• Capacity building with plwha groups
• Supporting diversity and identity in plwha lives