About APCASO
Who We Are
APCASO is a regional civil society network organisation that serves as a catalytic platform for advocacy and community systems strengthening for health, social justice, and human rights for key, vulnerable and marginalised communities in Asia and the Pacific.
What We Do
APCASO supports and promotes advocacy and community systems strengthening to advance health, social justice, and human rights, including gender transformation for key, vulnerable and marginalised communities.
Vision
We envision just, equitable, and inclusive societies that respect, fulfil, and advance the rights of key, vulnerable and marginalised communities, thereby enabling their equitable access to health, development, and social justice.
Mission
We bring together and support community and civil society organisations to improve advocacy and community systems in order to secure health, human rights and social justice for key, vulnerable and marginalised communities.
Our Theory of Change
If we can:
(a) convene and mobilise groups representing and serving key, vulnerable and marginalised communities,
(b) strengthen community systems and civil society, and
(c) support civil society’s leadership of evidence-based advocacy efforts to influence decision-makers and policy processes,
then we can ensure that effective, equitable, sustainable, and resilient systems for health, social justice, and development respond to the needs and priorities of the most vulnerable and marginalised communities.
APCASO’s Governance & Management Structures
The structure of APCASO is designed to ensure sound oversight of the network organisation, with clear roles and responsibilities to ensure transparency and accountability. APCASO’s governance structures are the Board of Trustees and the Council of Representatives, and its management and implementation functions are delegated to the Executive Director who provides management and oversight to the Secretariat. Each of these bodies brings different skills and perspectives, and engage with each other to continually reflect and review on APCASO’s strategy and impact.
Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees (BoT) is responsible for the overall governance of APCASO. It delegates the strategic direction setting of APCASO to the Council of Representatives, and the management and execution of day- to-day functions to the Executive Director. The Board was established in accordance with the national laws of APCASO’s host country, Thailand, and includes five prominent members from Thai’s civil society, and health sector.
Council of Representatives
The Council of Representatives (CoR) plays the lead role in providing strategic direction for APCASO and is a deliberative, advocacy and networking body. The Council is comprised of key players at the country and regional level with its members elected from focal point organisations, whose individual and collective experiences of, and expertise in, issues related to health, and social justice make them well-placed to guide APCASO in developing the necessary responses.
Focal Points
At the country level, APCASO’s partners, or Focal Points, are leading health and social justice organisations that bring together organisations and communities for unified support and advocacy action in addressing issues of shared concern, and to work towards community system strengthening. Focal points are the essential link between the country and regional levels, ensuring that local challenges, messages, and lessons learned are elevated to contribute to the broader agenda.
The Secretariat
The Bangkok-based Secretariat is responsible for the daily operations of APCASO to ensure its fulfilment of the goals, objectives, strategies and activities laid out in this plan. It is led by an Executive Director and includes a growing team of full-time and part-time staff with both technical and operational expertise.
History
Pre 2015 APCASO
APCASO’s beginning is closely linked to the establishment of ICASO, or the International Council of AIDS Service Organisations, in 1989. ICASO’s main mandate is to promote civil society response to the global HIV epidemic, especially in the area of capacitating communities in least resourced settings.
In a meeting in Singapore in 1992, APCASO, then named as the Asia-Pacific Council of AIDS Service Orgnaizations, was formally created as one of the regional secretariats of ICASO. Prior to 1992, the pioneers of the network were already actively involved in ICASO, and they facilitated the formation of the network’s Council of Representatives (CoR). The secretariat of APCASO rotated among the member-organisations until the network established an office in Kuala Lumpur in 2000.
While APCASO was deemed as the regional arm of ICASO in Asia and the Pacific, it was autonomous in terms of organisational development and programmatic orientation to ensure that it is able to respond to the Asia-Pacific context.
In its 1998 Strategic Plan, APCASO laid down the centrality of community-focused approaches in its mandate, focusing on the protection and promotion of the human rights of those who are affected by or vulnerable to HIV; the need to intensify collaboration among different civil society groups and community-based organisations; and the greater involvement of people living with HIV and other affected communities.
Since its inception, APCASO has closely worked with emerging regional key population networks and other HIV regional organisations, and it provided the platform to support the organisational development of these networks. By 2001, a regional network of networks, 7Sisters, was formed, and APCASO was the host of 7S from 2001 to 2006.
It continued to expand organisationally and programmatically, bringing in new community leaders and organisations different parts of the region. APCASO’s programs included mobilizing communities in global and regional platforms (UNGASS, ASEAN, etc) and country-level capacity-building in the areas of evidence-based HIV programming and investment.
While still being anchored in community-based response to the HIV epidemic, APCASO’s Strategic Plan from 2003-2007 was focused on scaling up regional and national advocacy for key affected populations and on capacity development for AIDS service NGOs and HIV activists.
By 2010, APCASO’s programmatic orientation was directed towards community mobilization in national and regional platforms that are crucial for the HIV response in Asia-Pacific, strategic regional and national engagements to improve HIV policies and HIV responses, and enhancing collaboration between different community and CSO stakeholders.
In 2015, in response to shifting health and development priorities, APCASO overhauled its organisational mandate to take on the ‘unfinished business’ of the MDGs on HIV, TB, and malaria, and to engage in how health and development should be framed under the Sustainable Development Goals or the SDGs.
APCASO 2.0
APCASO’s beginning is closely linked to the establishment of ICASO, or the International Council of AIDS Service Organisations, in 1989. ICASO’s main mandate is to promote civil society response to the global HIV epidemic, especially in the area of capacitating communities in least resourced settings.
In a meeting in Singapore in 1992, APCASO, then named as the Asia-Pacific Council of AIDS Service Orgnaizations, was formally created as one of the regional secretariats of ICASO. Prior to 1992, the pioneers of the network were already actively involved in ICASO, and they facilitated the formation of the network’s Council of Representatives (CoR). The secretariat of APCASO rotated among the member-organisations until the network established an office in Kuala Lumpur in 2000.
While APCASO was deemed as the regional arm of ICASO in Asia and the Pacific, it was autonomous in terms of organisational development and programmatic orientation to ensure that it is able to respond to the Asia-Pacific context.
In its 1998 Strategic Plan, APCASO laid down the centrality of community-focused approaches in its mandate, focusing on the protection and promotion of the human rights of those who are affected by or vulnerable to HIV; the need to intensify collaboration among different civil society groups and community-based organisations; and the greater involvement of people living with HIV and other affected communities.
Since its inception, APCASO has closely worked with emerging regional key population networks and other HIV regional organisations, and it provided the platform to support the organisational development of these networks. By 2001, a regional network of networks, 7Sisters, was formed, and APCASO was the host of 7S from 2001 to 2006.
It continued to expand organisationally and programmatically, bringing in new community leaders and organisations different parts of the region. APCASO’s programs included mobilizing communities in global and regional platforms (UNGASS, ASEAN, etc) and country-level capacity-building in the areas of evidence-based HIV programming and investment.
While still being anchored in community-based response to the HIV epidemic, APCASO’s Strategic Plan from 2003-2007 was focused on scaling up regional and national advocacy for key affected populations and on capacity development for AIDS service NGOs and HIV activists.
By 2010, APCASO’s programmatic orientation was directed towards community mobilization in national and regional platforms that are crucial for the HIV response in Asia-Pacific, strategic regional and national engagements to improve HIV policies and HIV responses, and enhancing collaboration between different community and CSO stakeholders.
In 2015, in response to shifting health and development priorities, APCASO overhauled its organisational mandate to take on the ‘unfinished business’ of the MDGs on HIV, TB, and malaria, and to engage in how health and development should be framed under the Sustainable Development Goals or the SDGs.
