the CONDOM PROJECT
1919 16th St NW, Suite 1
Washington, DC 20009 USA
121 East 10th St, Suite A
New York, NY 10009 USA
A - 86 East of Kailash
New Delhi, 110 065 India |
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Advisory Board
Mary Ann Torres, International Council of AIDS Service Organizations
Mary Ann is a Lawyer from Venezuela with specialty in international health and human rights. In her hometown of Caracas, she taught a course on human rights at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello.
She was awarded a scholarship to purse postgraduate legal studies in the United States. There, she concentrated her masters in international law and health. She was later given a scholarship to pursue another Masters at the University of Toronto, where she concentrated in women's rights and health. In both opportunities, she worked as a research assistant in international health and human rights.
She is currently the Senior Program Officer at the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO), an international network of NGOs seeking to connect communities from around the world and represent their voices at policy-making forums on issues concerning vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, social development and human rights. She has conducted extensive community-based research, review and analysis of relevant laws, policies and practices and creation of evidence-based advocacy plans and agendas to respond to the needs of the communities. Because of her knowledge of the Latin American region, she currently serves as the advisor of the ICASO Latin American branch. This has given her the opportunity to establish working relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders in governmental and non-governmental settings, as well as regional, sub-regional, national and local levels.
She provides technical assistance to several organizations in the region. She has been particularly involved in capacity building programs on leadership, advocacy and monitoring initiatives, as well as programs and projects, especially around the implementation of international commitments related to HIV/AIDS (i.e., the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment and the Millennium Development Goals). She has also been intimately involved at several national, regional and international capacity building and training opportunities acting as a facilitator and trainer.
Tim Thomas, MTV's Staying Alive Foundation
Tim's training ground was the Population Council, a premier international non-profit, non-governmental institution that conducts biomedical, public health, and social science research, helping to build research capacities in developing countries. He joined the Council in 1991, and played a leading role in external relations, public affairs, and fundraising. As the Special Assistant to the President, he was charged with cultivating and maintaining institutional relationships with as many as twelve government overseas
development assistance agencies; and many more foundations, NGOs, multilateral institutions and UN agencies. During his tenure, the Council's unrestricted funding from foreign governments was increased by 132%, and new funding schemes were established with the Governments of Japan, New Zealand, and the U.K. He also served as the primary point of contact with the NGO community and with the U.S. Government, managing the Council's $13 million co-operative agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
From 1998-2001, Tim was a senior consultant at the London-based communications agency InterScience, working with a range of clients on their sexual and reproductive health programs. When InterScience folded in 2001, he continued consulting privately until early 2006. Much of his work supported policy and funding advocacy for HIV/AIDS.
By analyzing policy trends, programmatic developments, donor priorities, and a vast array of research, he helped clients determine their fundraising strategies, communications programs, and organizational development needs.
In April 2006, Tim was appointed Executive Director of the Staying Alive Foundation at MTV Networks International based in New York. A global grant-making and advocacy organization, the Foundation encourages and enables young people who are involved in HIV and AIDS awareness, education and prevention campaigns. The Foundation does this by presenting the Staying Alive Award annually to youth-focused groups that are working to stop the spread of HIV in their communities, and who actively mentor promising youth to become future leaders.
The Foundation is the latest component of MTV's Staying Alive Campaign -- a global initiative encouraging HIV & AIDS prevention, promoting safer lifestyle choices, and fighting the stigma and discrimination which fuels the epidemic. Staying Alive produces both short- and long-form programming, documentaries, and concert events, all of which are available free to broadcasters around the world. (www.staying-alive.org)
Tim graduated with honors from the Interlochen Arts Academy; he holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from Iowa State University and a Masters of Fine Arts degree from New York University, also with honors.
Innocent Sewoa Laison, African Council of AIDS Service Organizations
With a double specialization in urban sociology and sociology of work and organizations, Mr. Innocent Sewoa Laison has contributed for fifteen years to the promotion of associations and Community organizations. He is currently Senior Program Manager of the African Council of AIDS organizations (AfriCASO, www.africaso.net), which he joined as Communication Manager in 2003 to support the transformation and leadership process. Since then, Mr. Laison has put himself into a better articulation and visibility of the Community response to the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Mr. Laison fully contributed to the creation of the African Civil Society Coalition on HIV and AIDS, of which he is an active member of the Steering Committee.
With solid training in new information and communication technologies, Mr. Laison took part in several innovative activities aiming to reduce the numerical gap between the North and the South. For five years, he was a trainer and Deputy Director of the Computer Centre of the National School of Administration of Senegal. For three years, he was responsible for the training and communications at Enda Cyberpop, a project that in 2000 won the Social Footbridges prize in Bamako and was a finalist at the Stockholm Challenge. Mr. Laison is a founder member of Ynternet (Internet for young people); he has been a Consultant of IDRC in this field, Editor in Chief and graphic designer for the children's magazine "Gune Yi".
Mr. Laison has the firm conviction that all the questions of development in Africa, in particular the AIDS epidemic, will not be sorted out without strong recognition and promotion of communities' contributions, fully considered as partners and stakeholders.
Staff
Executive Director, Franck DeRose
Franck, an entrepreneurial visionary, has employed his strategic planning capabilities in many community-oriented capacities over the past two decades. His work in the HIV community started while he was a student at New York University in the mid 1980s while volunteering at the Gay Men's Health Crisis Center in New York City. He later served at San Francisco's Glide Church Community HIV Outreach Services until the early 1990s. In Washington DC Franck joined the Title II Community AIDS National Network which advocates in Congress to secure funds for the treatment of individuals infected HIV. He also Co-Chaired the Capital Area Vaccine Effort Community Advisory Board for an 18-month term.
In 2003 Franck launched The Condom Project (TCP) creating a new style of condom awareness program bridging religious, cultural and societal barriers to facilitate discussions about condom. He designed and implemented TCP's global arts based community driven Condom Art Pin program and a youth led Video program. These capacity building programs open the door to community dialog about condoms and their use in safer sexual behaviors. Franck also created and mobilized a community driven peer condom distribution program, LIFE GUARD, in Washington DC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and New Delhi, India. He continues to work with his team and with the many TCP volunteers around the world to create effective, appropriate community driven condom based programs with the goal of reducing the transmission of HIV.
Franck has been a Washington DC resident for the past decade. He has volunteered his development and managerial skills to a variety of organizations in Washington DC and around the world. For five years he was a Leader of the American Red Cross Disaster Action Team. He has produced several domestic World AIDS Day events with the support of The Human Rights Campaign and The White House Office of National AIDS Policy and internationally in Addis Ababa Ethiopia with the Ethiopian Minister of Health and in Abuja, Nigeria with The National Action Committee On AIDS. Franck has also provided support to AIDS Empowerment and Treatment International whose primary aim is to expand access to HIV/AIDS treatment in resource-poor countries. He also has worked with the AIDS Drug Assistance Program Working Group, a coalition formed to ensure adequate access to HIV/AIDS-related therapies to impoverished communities in the US. Franck is passionate and feels a strong sense of responsibility for his community.
Director of Global Operations, Joy Lynn Alegarbes
Joy Lynn is committed to uniting global communities through performance art and sexual education. Trained as a Sexual Health Advocate while studying Community-Based Arts at New York University, Joy Lynn founded the national Community Outreach Program for the Condomania Corporation in the United States. She has appeared on television educating viewers throughout North America, Africa and Asia and has contributed to articles on sexuality to numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Joy Lynn came to The Condom Project (TCP) in 2004 and directs operations in all 10 countries served by TCP. She has worked successfully to build the video program, 30 Seconds: A Visual Voice in Ethiopia, Nigeria, India, Thailand and the U.S. She develops and facilitates our culturally specific safer sex workshops world-wide, and has helped to pilot condom availability and distribution programs in Washington, D.C., New Delhi, India and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In addition to her work with The Condom Project, Joy Lynn currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Joey DiPaolo AIDS Foundation, working with HIV-positive teenagers in New York City. She has developed original performance pieces with the International Rescue Committee, explored the correlation between advertising and addiction in American society with InnerView Theatre Productions and has performed in both North America and Europe with Synaesthetic Theater Company. She also coordinates all promotional aspects of the Gay Experience and Coming Of Age films for Picture This! Entertainment in New York, an independent film company who prides itself in distributing uncompromising and enlightening international motion picture fare to audiences world wide.
Director of Program Evaluation and Development, Marilyn Halper
Marilyn is a committed public health advocate. After receiving her public health degree from Yale, she has worked in cancer administration for over 25 years. In her role as an Executive Director of a cancer center, her responsibilities included program development, evaluation and advocacy.
Marilyn has been with The Condom Project since 2005 when she re-focused her public health efforts toward HIV work. She is responsible for global program development and for evaluating the effectiveness of TCP's programs. She has worked with TCP partners during site visits to India, Thailand, and Ethiopia.
Marilyn served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia, teaching and working on a public health vaccination project. The Condom Project is giving her the chance to fulfill her need to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Through the innovative programs of TCP, Marilyn believes that breaking down the stigma of condoms results in prevention of HIV.
Director of Visual Arts, Tim Sevilla
Tim is an artist, writer and nonprofit professional living in New York City. He began working in the HIV community in 2004, working with Visual AIDS, a nonprofit organization that strives to increase public awareness of AIDS through the visual arts. He furthers his commitment to the visual art community through his work as the Development Officer for Campus Hanoi, an international contemporary art residency and educational center in Vietnam.
Tim joined The Condom Project as Director of Visual Arts in May 2006, after serving as Acting Director of the Distribution to Underserved Communities Library Program, an organization creating access to contemporary art in rural and inner-city communities throughout the US. He works directly with The Condom Project's partner organizations creating media, video and condom pin art. Tim coordinated TCP's print and Internet media at AIDS 2006, the international AIDS conference, where he also facilitated grassroots Condom Art Pin workshops throughout local venues around town. Tim is also an integral part of LIFE GUARD, a community-driven condom distribution program in Washington, DC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Delhi, India.
Tim volunteers at Camp TLC, a residential summer camp for HIV-positive, inner-city teenagers, a program of the Joey DiPaolo AIDS Foundation, where he teaches art. Tim was trained as an illustrator, video artist and mass media watchdog at New York University, which he attended as a Dean's Scholar.
Director of Communication, David Johnson
David, "DJ," got involved in the fight against AIDS and HIV transmission while studying journalism at Indiana University. Not content to merely write about the epidemic, DJ has coordinated and volunteered for a number of safer-sex and HIV/AIDS programs in the Midwest. DJ left the field of journalism in 2002 and now works in non-profit management in Washington, D.C.
DJ joined The Condom Project in 2006. He coordinates internal and external communication with TCP's volunteers all around the world and with the press. DJ is also coordinator of TCP's LIFE GUARD program in Washington, D.C. LIFE GUARD is the district's only community-lead condom distribution program.
A former journalist for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) press in Chicago, DJ has had his work published in Chicago PRIDE magazine, Association Forum magazine and The Ryder Magazine. His play "A World of Their Own" was produced and performed at Northwestern University in 1998.
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