Selected Readings - The Crushing Impact of HIV/AIDS on Leadership in Malawi
Rick James
In this Praxis Note, James looks at the different costs that the HIV/AIDS pandemic are inflicting on leaders of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Malawi.
In the Malawian context, leadership is not just about an individual person, but about the relationship between this person and others, whether in the work place, at home or in the community.
A necessary side-effect of this, is that leaders are often turned to in situations of need, and feel responsible and forced to live up to the expectations and perceptions that others have of them.
The spread of HIV, offers financial blows to leaders, since they tend to be the ones paying for medical treatment and the funeral. They are expected to take in the dependants of ill or deceased family members and to visit them and attend their funerals. This creates both physical and emotional exhaustion.
