From 2021 to 2025, the Love Alliance united communities of people who use drugs, sex workers, and LGBTIQ+ movements across Africa, amplifying their voices and advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights globally.
The programme demonstrated that when communities lead, change happens. Together, we shifted power, fought harmful laws, and ensured that key populations are at the centre of the HIV response.
Funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Love Alliance brought together national thought leaders GALZ, SANPUD and Sisonke, regional grantmakers UHAI EASHRI, and ISDAO, with the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) and the Netherlands-based administrative lead Aidsfonds.
We have compiled reports, toolkits, and lessons learned from the Love Alliance journey in the Love Alliance Directory of Resources. Discover best practices, advocacy tools, and inspiring stories that will continue to drive progress beyond the programme.
The world is far behind in preventing new HIV infections. In 2019, 1.7 million people were newly infected with the virus, more than three times the global target. Also, the response could be set even further back, by a decade or more, if the COVID-19 pandemic results in severe disruptions to HIV services.
In 2019, people who use drugs, LGBTIQ+ people and sex workers accounted for 62% of new HIV infections worldwide, an increase of 15% compared to 2018. Causes for this increase are stigma and discrimination, together with other social inequalities and exclusion. Despite the urgency and needs, only 2% of current global HIV financing goes to programming for these key populations, and even less goes directly to communities and their organisations. There is an urgent need for securing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all people.
The Love Alliance was founded on the premise that to end AIDS, the groups most affected by the epidemic need to be at the centre of the response. Throughout the programme, we built on existing evidence on the effectiveness of rights-based responses that focus on and meaningfully engage LGBTIQ+ people, sex workers, people who use drugs, with specific attention for people living with HIV, women and young people within these communities.
Across Africa, communities are strengthened to come together and build movements to advocate for change by identifying common issues and tackling them together. Community organisations receive funding and support to fight for their rights and promote access to SRHR. The Love Alliance seeks to significantly reduce HIV infections by influencing policies, raising awareness and organising communities in ten African countries. With a specific focus on people who use drugs, sex workers, LGBTIQ+ people and people living with HIV, we aim to achieve the following goals:
1. Capable, inclusive, influential, and mutually supportive key population movements in unrestricted civic space.
2. An end to sexual, gender-based violence, stigma and discrimination against key populations.
3. Equal access to inclusive, people-centred, accountable, integrated HIV and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services.
Our strategic objectives contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 5 and result areas 4 and 1 of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ SRHR strategy.
The Love Alliance works with participatory grantmaking (PGM) approaches. Want to know more about it? Read on!
Aidsfonds is interested in working together to further strengthen community leadership, increase HIV prevention choices, and improve treatment outcomes and quality of life of people living with or exposed to HIV. We want to talk to anyone who shares our dream and wants to join us on a journey toward a world free of AIDS.
Get in touch!
