"The goal is not brick-and-mortar — that is the strategy.  The goal is to bring to heel what Nelson Mandela has rightly called the 'greatest plague in human history,' and to do it within the coming few years."        

-- ZAMBIA FIRST mission statement

 

The brutality of HIV/AIDS in Africa is well-documented.  It has struck women and children disproportionately, removing first the community’s caregivers and then its future workforce.  Families, businesses and entire communities have been devastated.  Cultures are being eradicated; economies lie in ruin.  In Zambia, the leading cause of worker absenteeism is “attendance at funerals.” 

 

To ransom their future, these nations need an innovative, immediate response to HIV/AIDS — and yet the dominant strategy so far has been a slow-moving "development model.”  While that approach has its legitimate place in foreign aid work, it is not well suited to respond to the AIDS emergency. It requires years of investment in building capacity (through education, social reform, economic stimulation and international financial support) until the nation “develops” to self-sufficiency.   It is a ponderous, incremental approach with uncertain outcomes -- not a model that can take on a crisis like AIDS.

 

CIDRZ came to the battle against HIV/AIDS armed with a learning model — an approach that values knowledge, results, adaptation, speed and sustainability.  It starts with research and immediately applies what research teaches.  As a consequence, the speed at which CIDRZ has identified, tested and enrolled adults and children in effective therapies has been stunning — the speed of learning, not the speed of “development.”

 

The medical knowledge now exists to overtake the virus — but the development model cannot succeed because it is too slow in applying that knowledge. The nimble CIDRZ model can take AIDS medicine to scale against the virus. 

 

Stage 1 of the ZAMBIA FIRST campaign adopts an ambitious goal: bringing the HIV/AIDS virus to heel, first, in Zambia.  Stage 2 then will engage partners beyond Zambia’s borders to advance the same goal across sub-Saharan Africa.

 

PHASE 1: All CIDRZ under one roof

 

Goal: Increase speed and efficiency of research, care and learning to manage HIV/AIDS, first, in Zambia.

 

Target: 2008

 

The initial phase of development will bring all of CIDRZ together in an efficient, collaborative space enhancing effectiveness and creating the platform for bringing to scale the CIDRZ model of fighting AIDS.

We hope to build on land currently adjacent to and owned by the University of Zambia.  Public transportation, important to CIDRZ staff and clients, is available at this site.  The location itself joins two critical communities: the University, which has been a historic partner for CIDRZ; and Kalingalinga, a high-density Lusaka neighborhood with a very high burden of HIV disease.  The design of our facilities will be “campus like,” blending with the design of the University’s campus and the surrounding community.  We will develop a new access route onto the “CIDRZ campus” which will provide ready access between Kalingalinga neighborhood and CIDRZ staff.

 

The campus blueprint will be drawn to foster synergies between the research and service delivery arms of CIDRZ – for example, people serving the program to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) will be housed with those working in PMTCT research. Internal communications and data systems will be top-notch and fully integrated.  The main office plan will afford plenty of common space for meetings and small-group sessions. Phase 1 also will create spaces for:

 

Administration and finance	Conference facilities and IT support
Archiving/storage facilities	Auditorium
Book, crafts and gift store	Breakout rooms
Boardroom	IT development/support/training
Business/finance	Library
Catering	Parking
Support groups	Research
Community/children's center	Parking, transportation

 

When the goals of Phase 1 are achieved, we will move immediately into Phase 2, a second US$5,000,000 effort, to complete the fundraising and facilities needed to support expanding CIDRZ efforts.

 

PHASE 2: CIDRZ Institute serving partners worldwide

 

Goal: Disseminate CIDRZ data, knowledge, practice and partnerships through expanded conferencing, education, IT access and broadcasting to come to scale against HIV/AIDS, first, in Zambia.

 

Target: 2009

 

Additions in Phase 2 would include an art center; teleconference and publications facilities; a laboratory; lodges; recreations areas; an area for pharmacy and storage; and a collaborative space for lease to partner organizations.