Founder and chairman of the Jaringan Indonesia Positif – JIP (Positive Indonesia Network), a national network for people living with HIV AIDS. Meirinda Sebayang also serves as chairman of the Indonesia Technical Working Group of HIV (TWG-HIV) and a member of the Country Coordinating Mechanism of the Global Fund Indonesia.
She has been involved in HIV issues since 15 years ago. Mei, as she is usually called, started her struggle since being involved in the Indonesian Family Planning Association (PKBI) Bandung as a field officer to reach out to a community of female sex workers in the Saritem area of Bandung in 2004.
Since then, she has played various roles, including being a certified HIV counselor, case manager as well as collaborating with other HIV activist organizations such as UNAIDS, UNFPA and UN Women. She has been consistently immersed in building movements that voice the need to fulfill a sense of justice for marginalized communities, especially for people with HIV AIDS within the framework of upholding human rights (HAM).
Equipped with an education in law and after completing her master’s degree in public health at Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, she has committed to build Positive Indonesia Network (JIP).
Through JIP, she wants to show all parties, including the PLWHA community, that being part of a marginalized group is not an obstacle to achieving dreams and aspirations. According to her, everyone, without exception, must be willing and able to move forward so that they can bring about change for a better Indonesia.
Writing is her hobby, she believes the power of writing, beside she admits that she is not good enough in diplomacy and speech.
She has devoted her energy and thoughts to develop accurate strategies to improve the quality of life and reduce the stigma and discrimination that is often experienced by PLWHA, including developing interventions related to issues of violence that often characterize the lives of women with HIV.
Meirinda has many dreams. One of her dreams is to have a health clinic that is friendly and can meet the health needs of PLWHA and other marginalized groups. In addition, she dreams that dreams of fulfilling of justice can come true for those who are discriminated, for those who are marginalized.
And she will fight with JIP to make those dreams come true!
Work Experience
Spiritia Foundation
Manager of Planning and Monitoring and
- Evaluation (PME) 2011 – 2016
- Supervisor of HIV Program 2009 – 2011
- Staff of Event Organizer 2007 – 2009
- Women and AIDS Assistant 2006 – 2007
- Community Advocacy Team 2005 – 2006
Rumah Cemara
Insan Hamdani Foundation
- Counsellor of VCT 2004 – 2005
Organizational Experience
Country Coordination Mechanism of The Global Fund Indonesia
- Member 2019 – present
- Chair of The Technical Working Group 2019 – present
- Oversight committee 2019 – present
The Positive Indonesia Network
- Chair 2015 – present
Indonesia Positive Women Network
- Chair of National Board 2011 – 2015
- Member of National Board 2007 – 2009
Research and other Publications
- The HIV prevention for Intimate Partners of key affected population and People Living with HIV AIDS Guideline – UNFPA Indonesia 2019
- Gender and Legal Environment Assessment on TB in Indonesia, Spiritia Foundation – Stop TB Partnerships 2019
- Technical guidelines: Tracking and Tracing LTFU HIV Patient, Jaringan Indonesia Positif – DKI Jakarta Provincial AIDS Commission 2018
- Strategies for Improving Antiretroviral Treatment: Initiation, Retention and Compliance for People Living with HIV AIDS, Jaringan Indonesia Positif – LINKAGES/USAID 2018
- Situational Assessment on Social and Legal Barriers in Relation to Comprehensive HIV Prevention and Treatment Response in Indonesia, ARC Atma Jaya – UNAIDS 2018
- Documentation of the Implementation of the National Program of HIV and AIDS Prevention for Best Practices 2016-2017, Spiritia Foundation – GFATM 2017
- Intimate partner violence against WLHIV in Indonesia: Causes and Effective Interventions, A Theses 2017
- A Guideline and Module: Positive Prevention, AusAID 2014
- Mata Perempuan: Photo essay, Mata Perempuan, 2012
- Documentation of violence against women in Indonesia, IPPI 2012
- Quality and Recommendations for Improvement of PMTCT Services for Women Infected with HIV in Four Cities in Indonesia, IPPI 2012
- Kartini Bernyawa Sembilan (Kartini has 9 lives): Short stories of Women Living with HIV2006
- PLHIV and Health Service Access: A Qualitative Research, UNAIDS 2005
Events, Trainings, Consultancy and Workshops
- September 2019 – present, Consultant of Social Contracting Assessment, APMG Health – UNAIDS
- March – July 2019, Consultant of UNFPA Country Evaluation, Euro Health Groups
- Feb – April 2019, Consultant of Development of SOP for Prevention of Intimate Partner Violence as part of The Partner Notification guidelines, UNWOMEN Indonesia
- July 2018 – June 2019, Consultant of Gender and Legal Environment Assessment on TB in Indonesia, Spiritia Foundation – Stop TB Partnerships
- Aug – December 2018, Consultant of The HIV prevention for Intimate Partners of key affected population and People Living with HIV AIDS Guideline, UNFPA Indonesia
- June – September 2018, Consultant of Community Based Monitoring and Feedback Mechanisms (CBMF) Strategy for Indonesia, UNAIDS and UNDP Indonesia
- Feb – March 2018, Consultant of Global Fund HIV Program – Service Packages for Key Population Review, APMG Health – GFATM
- Dec 2017 – June 2018, Research team to conduct a follow up study regarding the impact of brothel closure and increasing prosecution of key populations towards reaching Fast Track Target, AIDS Research Center Atma Jaya – UNAIDS
- Nov – Dec 2017, Consultant of National HIV-AIDS Program Implementation