Procesos Cognitivos y Resistencia Dinámica

Project Support of the private sector in Africa to fight AIDS (SPAA)

Project region Africa, transregional

Project partner Pan African Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, East African Business Council and SADC HIV and AIDS Unit

Project term February 2008 to December 2011

Budget EUR 3.6 million (including cofinancing)

Context

HIV/AIDS has a profound impact on economies – both the public and the private sector – as the disease mainly affects people in the most productive age group (15-49 years old) worldwide.

AIDS increases absenteeism and personnel costs, results in the loss of qualified staff, and hampers economic investment. High prevalence countries in Africa are suffering from the negative consequences for markets, investments and progress. In order to mitigate the impacts of HIV/AIDS on their employees, multinational companies began, at the end of the 1990s, to introduce comprehensive HIV/AIDS workplace programmes consisting of prevention and treatment. Information, education and communication tools are needed in order to stabilise or reduce the infection rate. The treat- ment of opportunistic HIV infections and therapy using anti-retroviral drugs (ARV) give hope to people living with HIV/AIDS. Workplace programmes also include human resources policy measures, monitoring and evaluation, as well as essential analyses. Comprehensive HIV/AIDS workplace programmes not only provide services for company employees but also make appro- priate provision for their families and community. In addition, there are a number of successful examples showing how multinational companies are assisting their supplier companies to operate HIV/AIDS work- place programmes or are working with them to plan and implement these programmes.

Project

The project ‘Support of the private sector in Africa to fight AIDS (SPAA)’ aims to strengthen and expand the private sector’s contribution to combating HIV/AIDS at the national level through regional organisations. In the interests of good knowledge management, the project builds on the many years of experience gained in cooperation with multinational companies in devel- oping comprehensive HIV/AIDS workplace programmes – a concept which was later adapted, in conjunction with national business associations, for smaller domestic companies in various African countries. The associa- tions are important intermediaries in raising member companies’ awareness of the need for health-related interventions at the workplace and supporting imple- mentation of the relevant measures.

| Workplace HIV/AIDS training provided by the AIDS Business Coalition Tanzania (ABCT), November 2006

| Presenting the monitoring and evaluation system of the Zambia Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (BZCA) in Bamako, Mali, 2007 Photos: GIZ

The experience gained in the various countries is now being utilised in the SPAA project in order to create synergies at the regional level with a view to improving health, with a focus on people with HIV/AIDS who work for private companies, as well as their communities. Germany is therefore working with the following regional and pan-African organisations which have the potential to act as a catalyst in this context:

• the Pan African Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (PABC), a network of business associations from more than 25 African countries which have joined together

As at: June 2011 F A C T S H E E T : O T H E R R E G I O N A L P R O M O T I O N M E A S U R E S

to combat HIV/AIDS, based in South Africa;

• the East African Business Council (EABC) in Tanzania, with more than 100 members, companies and associations from five countries;

• the HIV and AIDS Unit set up by the SADC, based in Botswana.

Technical advice on the development of strategies, materials, products and services, organisational devel- opment and process-based advice and capacity build- ing are the main focus of the cooperation with partners. It is also extremely important to take account of gender relations, as women are now more affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic than men. The instruments and programmes are developed on a flexible basis and can be adapted easily to meet the partners’ individual needs. The standards adopted for HIV workplace programmes by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

(UNAIDS) are also taken into account.

Results

Comprehensive health-related workplace programmes, especially those focusing on HIV/AIDS, offer great potential to reduce absenteeism among employees, and can thus help to stabilise or improve productivity. Lower infection rates and the mitigation of the effects of HIV and AIDS have a positive effect on private invest- ment and, indirectly, on the economic climate. This can only succeed, however, if the private sector is aware of its responsibility for the health of its employees and their communities, and accepts the need to take action. The project approach is successful due to a variety of factors: the involvement of all key stakeholders at company level, the formation of networks for the delivery of public and private services with support from business coalitions, and the integration of HIV workplace programmes into national health systems.

With the shift in focus towards the regional organisa- tions, the aim is to address transnational issues on a more targeted basis and to create synergies. For example, the EABC has established a regional working group on HIV/AIDS and the private sector, with one elected representative from each of the five member states. The working group adopts a practical approach, which includes the coordination of joint awareness-raising campaigns, for example, and discusses new approaches for the development of workplace programmes which can be channelled back into the economy. The for- ward-looking mandate of organisations such as SADC and EABC may be useful here. With more members of the national business associations now joining PABC, more companies can benefit from HIV/AIDS

programmes. The network on HIV/AIDS and health in the workplace now being established, the technical development of the approach and the associated expansion of support services aim to boost the private sector’s contribution to HIV/AIDS prevention and health promotion in the workplace in Africa on a more targeted and comprehensive basis.

Contact

Support of the private sector in Africa to fight AIDS (SPAA)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1-5

65760 Eschborn |Germany

Contact person Ute Papkalla T +49 61 96 79-1918 F +49 61 96 79-801918 E [email protected]

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