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A core group of supporters organized the Board of Directors, bringing in a diverse group accomplished leaders from a variety of disciplines - public policy development, government service, HIV/AIDS activism, fundraising, law and corporate affairs. The Board focused its attention on seed funding program activities that would immediately demonstrate how ARP can help meet critical needs created in the wake of the rapid start-up of the Bush initiative.

In August 2003, ARP organized a congressional delegation (CODEL) staff trip to three major African target countries in the Bush initiative - South Africa, Uganda and Botswana. The CODEL brought senior Congressional staff, Bush Administration officials and U.S.-based HIV/AIDS activists together with a wide variety of contacts on the ground. Through site visits, the CODEL investigated government projects, as well as corporate and faith-based programs in action, and met with scores of patients, service providers and medical personnel representing a cross-section of target populations in the Bush initiative, as well as U.S. diplomatic and aid personnel on the ground.

The August CODEL accomplished many goals. It built essential bridges between authorizing and appropriating Congressional staff in Washington and affected project administrators, communities and patients in Africa. It provided a collaborative opportunity for Congressional, Administration and NGO players to engage in investigative and strategic discussion on how to best coordinate efforts in funding and administering the Bush initiative and collateral efforts.

The CODEL also allowed ARP leaders to conduct important research on the ground in Africa, in order to compile a report on needs and potential solutions to be presented to the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS in December 2003. Forty hours of video footage was also collected in Africa through interviews and spot-taping by an ARP video crew to begin a video library for a variety of important program and development uses in 2004.

In the nine months of its launch phase, ARP has also begun its public education efforts. ARP's executive director Abner Mason made numerous speeches, television and radio appearances, and has published 3 op-eds in 2003, discussing the complex facts of the African HIV/AIDS epidemic and the Bush initiative. The organization's website was also launched in 2003.

ARP has also built partnerships through direct efforts and through its 2003 program activities with the Marlo Group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), AIDS Action, Daimler Chrysler, Baker and Daniels/Sagamore, the Dutko Group, Pfizer, and USAID.

In short, ARP has proven its effectiveness by building a strong Board of Directors, launching its program efforts and building a foundation for expansion.