Regional Representation – USSA Elections:

The full list of candidates standing for election for the 2009 USSA Executive Committee along with their bios and pictures will be available on our website next week: www.ussa-unaids.org

With approximately 1,000 staff worldwide, we particularly want to ensure that we have representation from all of the UNAIDS regions if at all possible, so please take this into account when considering who to vote for this year.

The elections will take place from 7 to 21 April. All dues paying members of the can vote in the elections – if you are unsure if you can vote, just contact our office and Cinzia or Tanya will be more than happy to bring you up to date ( (UNAIDSStaffAssociation@unaids.org) UNAIDSStaffAssociation (at) unaids (dot) org). If you are not a dues paying member, please do fill out our membership form available on the website and send it to the Staff Association. You will be glad you did! Every new member increases our mandate and our solidarity!:

Your Staff Association is happy to present its Annual Report of Activities for 2008 and we invite you to browse through the full Report which is available on our website:

 http://www.ussa-unaids.org/cms/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=34&Itemid=85

So what exactly have we done for you lately? Of course, we would like you to read the report, it’s not very long, but here are some highlights:

• We were actively involved in developing the new Mobility and Rotation Policy and continue to serve our members by monitoring the implementation of the Policy
• We advocated for the development of a policy on Diversity – which was adopted by the SMT in early 2009. We hope that this is the first step in addressing the issues of rights and benefits for same sex and domestic partnerships which was also highlighted by staff in Latin America in their petition to the EXD last year.
• We continued to advocate for equity in contractual status for all staff serving UNAIDS – irrespective of whether their contract is administered by WHO or UNDP. We are aware that this continues to cause concern for our colleagues in the field and this issue will be a priority for us again in 2009.
• We advocated for and assisted in the development of the UNAIDS Work-Life Balance Policy. We will continue to work closely with the Administration on promoting awareness of the policy and ensuring consistent application for staff.

We strongly encourage your feedback on the report either via the blog or email. We are here to help you and can only continue to do this if you let us know if we are on track in addressing issues of concern to you.