This is an archive of the Treatment Action Campaign's public documents from
December 1998 until October 2008. I created this website because the TAC's
website appears unmaintained and people were concerned that it
was becoming
increasingly hard to find important documents.
The menu items have
been slightly edited and a new stylesheet applied to the site. But none of the
documents have been edited, not even for minor errors. The text appears on this
site as obtained from the Internet Archive.
The period covered by
the archive encompassed the campaign for HIV medicines, the civil disobedience
campaigns, the Competition Commission complaints, the 2008 xenophobic violence
and the PMTCT, Khayelitsha health workers and Matthias Rath court cases.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is the leading HIV/AIDS advocacy organization in South Africa. TAC welcomes international volunteers if they meet the organizations requirements. TACs volunteer program is not an internship or training program the main goal of the program is to provide assistance to the organization wherever needed.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Volunteers usually work within the national office in Muizenberg, a suburb of Cape Town, doing a variety of tasks depending on the needs of the staff and organization, such as:
Administrative tasks -- preparing mailings, updating or creating databases, cataloguing materials, etc.
Programmatic tasks -- research, assisting with campaigns, developing fact sheets and other materials, etc. Often volunteers will pair up with specific staff members and work with them on their projects.
As a campaign oriented organization, workload can vary. TAC cannot guarantee consistent work for volunteers.
TAC volunteers are generally under-graduate, graduate, or post-graduate students. In addition, we require:
A commitment to working at least 12 consecutive weeks, at least three days a week.
Proficiency in spoken and written English. Knowledge of another South African language is a plus.
Computer skills
Some knowledge of HIV/AIDS issues (political as well as scientific) and the TAC (check tac.org.za for useful background information)
If you are interested in volunteering, please send CV, cover letter and a completed application form to . The application is available for download here. If accepted, you must also download and sign a copy of TAC's confidentiality agreement and bring it on your first day of work at TAC and the volunteer coordinator will arrange for it to be signed by a TAC supervisor. The confidentiality agreement is available for download here. If you are coming to TAC for research purposes of any kind, you must write a letter of intent detailing the research. Research must receive explicit written permission from TAC management before you arrive or before your research begins. Please meet the following application deadlines:
If you are applying to volunteer sometime betwen January through June, please apply by late September. If you are applying for the June through September period, please apply by late February. If you are applying for the September through December period, please apply by late May.
Once you have been accepted as a volunteer, if you require documents for entry into South Africa (e.g. a letter of invitation to give to the embassy), please draft the letter and e-mail it as an attachment to volunteers@tac.org.za where we will review it, print it on letterhead, sign it, and fax it back to you or to the South African Embassy (please provide detailed information for faxing).
Unfortunately, TAC is unable to pay international volunteers or provide reimbursement for travel, local transport, or living expenses. We are happy to help with advice and guidance on issues such as housing and transportation and offer volunteers a useful guide to living and working in Cape Town. If you are applying for independent funding to subsidize your volunteering and require a letter from TAC, please draft the letter and e-mail it as an attachment to volunteers@tac.org.za where we will review it, print it on letterhead, sign it and fax it back to you or whomever you designate (please provide detailed information for faxing).