With support for the CORE Initiative, the Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) held a continental conference for African Independent Churches to share best practices and engage in discussions on the barriers to effective HIV/AIDS responses among the OAIC member churches across the continent. The conference took place September 14-18, 2004 in Pretoria, South Africa with 40 participants from 10 countries.

The protection and preservation of African cultural values was one of the aspects that gave birth to the African Independent Churches (AIC) movement. Today, traditional cultural practices that expose people to HIV infection have become a key issue in the HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation approaches. The AICs are mostly located in the rural areas and low-income sections of urban centers. They have a capacity to generate spontaneous and enduring responses among their communities from their values and beliefs. AICs are in a unique position to have a grass-root impact on HIV/AIDS efforts. By convening this conference, OAIC hope to unite the many approaches and experiences of the AICs across the continent into a more cohesive and powerful force to combat HIV/AIDS. The OAIC Continental Conference aims to achieve the following:

• Provide a forum for the various categories of AICs across the continent to share best practices and engage each in discussions on the barriers to effective HIV/AIDS responses among the OAIC member churches
• Reinforce lessons from the OAIC capacity building process into a deepened and expanded response to HIV/AIDS among the AICs at the continental level
• Enable AIC leaders and members to become conscious of their contributions to the wider debate on improving responses to the epidemic
• Strengthen the collective AIC voice on the issues affecting the PLHA and OVC

Conference proceedings and the resulting declaration signed by participants will be posted on the CORE Initiative web site as soon as it is available.