It is without question that our response to the HIV epidemic would not be nearly as successful without effective leadership. 

Host James Watson chats with his guests Tara Jewal and Marc Seguin, both provincial managers of the Positive Leadership Development Institute (PLDI), about their approach to leadership and the exciting work they do. PLDI is a program that aims to support people living with HIV to realize their leadership potential and increase their capacity to participate meaningfully in community life. We can all be leaders, because as our guests point out, leaders are learners! 

Tara offers over a decade of professional expertise gained through national and international work, and volunteer roles. She has worked with the federal government, the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation, The Teresa Group, and currently manages the Positive Leadership Development Institute on behalf of the Ontario AIDS Network.

Similar to his counterpart, Marc began his work in the HIV community as a volunteer with Friends for Life and the Retreat Team with Positive Living BC, which over time evolved into a paid position with Positive Living BC as the Manager of Volunteer Services. In his current role as Manager of the Positive Leadership Development Institute (PLDI) at the Pacific AIDS Network, he wants to provide leadership opportunities and encourage people living with HIV to meaningfully connect with their communities.

The conversation starts with an introduction to leadership development in HIV/AIDS work, and references the important work Greg Szekeres and his paper titled, Leadership development and HIV/AIDS, as well as The Leadership Challenge, developed by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. 

Core leadership components of PLDI that were discussed include: 

PLDI is a program of the Ontario AIDS Network (OAN) and was first launched in 2006. Since then, PLDI has expanded its reach to BC, where its programming is supported by the Pacific AIDS Network, and in Quebec, where it is supported by COCQ-SIDA (the Coalition of Quebec community organizations fighting against HIV/AIDS).

Visit the Ontario, BC, and Quebec web pages for more information on what exciting things PLDI is doing in each province, or contact our episode guests, Tara (tjewal@oan.red) and Marc (marc@pacificaidsnetwork.org ) directly.

Are you considering this leadership training and would like to hear from a PLDI graduate? Check out the post titled, From the Front Lines: Learn to be a Leader, on the CATIE website.

For full episode details and more about our pozcast guests, visit the episode page on The Positive Effect website. Subscribe to pozcast on your favourite podcast streaming service to ensure you’re notified when new episodes are released each month.

Click here for the full audio transcript.