ABSTRACT
The fourth case study takes us to the Russian capital Moscow. In contrast to the previous three chapters which focused on local HIV/AIDS NGOs in Russia’s regions, this chapter discusses those organisations that work at the federal level. They differ from their local counterparts in terms of the size of their organisations and the budget they can spend on HIV/AIDS programmes. The most important difference, however, is that they act as a link between the global governance of HIV/AIDS, Russia’s national policy-making, and the local realisation of HIV/AIDS prevention programmes. In contrast to HIV/AIDS organisations in Russia’s regions, Moscow-based NGOs have – at least to a certain extent – access to Russian political decision-makers, inter-governmental organisations and transnational NGO networks. This creates far greater opportunities for them to engage in agenda-setting and advocacy work. Moreover, these central HIV/AIDS NGOs implement country-wide prevention programmes which have a strong impact on regional responses and enable them to create networks with local partner organisations. In the development of Russia’s response to HIV/AIDS, Moscow-based NGOs have thus played a crucial role.
