We want to do more than “help the poor victims”. We want to empower people with AIDS to renounce their status as passive victims and we want to bridge the gap between “us” and “them” that is so widespread. People with AIDS should not be judged or stigmatized, but rather have their place in the community just like everybody else.

Focus of our work

Our anti-AIDS programme concentrates primarily on six points: Education and training for church workers, ecumenical learning, theological work, combating poverty, public advocacy for the rights of people with HIV/AIDS, and fundraising. The main activities are:

• Education and training for church staff in Asia on communication and the management of AIDS projects, in particular with young people
• Church exchanges, so that churches can learn from one another about good programmes and establish similar programmes at their own churches
• Providing antiretroviral drugs
• Workshops and training sessions on questions of practical theology (for example sermon and liturgy workshops) and theological reflection
• Actively including people living with HIV/AIDS in church programmes
• Promoting church HIV/AIDS prevention programmes for young people
• Programmes to combat poverty

In the race against the spread of HIV/AIDS, churches need to work with one another and have much to learn from one another. We support an exchange of experiences between our member churches in Germany, Africa, and Asia.