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A central part of ARP's Stigma Reduction Program model is to leverage national business councils to bring the corporate and NGO sectors into closer cooperation, empowering activists who have long struggled against stigma and discrimination themselves.

The Consejo Nacional Empresarial sobre SIDA (National Business Council on Aids, or CONAES) already has 22 member companies with almost 150,000 employees directly impacted, who have committed to eradicating stigma in the workplace related to HIV/AIDS. And they need help to do it. The members are some of the largest companies operating in Mexico including Fedex Express Mexico, Procter & Gamble, Ford Motor Company, GE International, and Banamex.

Funded by USAID and working in close partnership with the Futures Group, ARP is halfway through a three-year plan in Mexico to set up the council and make it self-sustaining, working in partnership with a new NGO network called IMPULSO.

ARP's strategy in Mexico is a three-year plan of recruitment, training and consolidation aimed at leaving behind a self-sustaining business council that works closely with a network of non-profit groups to build strong business policies and practices on HIV/AIDS.

Now that the council itself has achieved a critical mass, attention has turned to building and training the IMPULSO network of five NGOs with a long history of working with people living with HIV/AIDS.

Colectivo Sol, Ave de Mexico, La Manta de Mexico, Red Mexicana and La Funda were chosen for their experience, talent and willingness to buy into the idea of working with companies.

They are currently engaged in developing a complex technical assistance curriculum with ARP and Futures Group consultants to build up their skills in workplace policy building, conducting effective needs assessment for corporations, cultivating corporate relationships, building NGO operating capacity and creating a plan to make IMPULSO a viable network for the long term.

Until ARP/Futures Group launched the program, there had been virtually no business involvement in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Mexico. The combination of leveraging ARP's strong ties to multinational corporate leaders and Futures Group's solid record in technical assistance training made it possible to launch CONAES and build it to its first annual conference in a matter of months.

This also gave confidence to Mexico's AIDS activists, many of whom have had difficulties forging ties with Mexican businesses, and some of whom have even experienced job discrimination first hand. The emergence of CONAES has opened an important new avenue for this to change.

"Linking CONAES and IMPULSO together takes advantage of the synergies existing between a network of highly-trained activists, and companies willing to eradicate stigma in the workplace," said Carlos García de León of IMPULSO. "It is a perfect match."

ARP and Futures Group are working to expand the Stigma Reduction Program beyond the model program in Mexico to regional and national programs in ten other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. National AIDS Directors and NGO leaders from throughout the region attended the first annual CONAES conference in Mexico City on June 29, and all of them saw a clear need for the program to come to their countries as well.