USAID Africa Bureau Activity Summary: - UMass



USAID Africa Bureau Activity Summary (Partial):

Mitigating the Impacts of HIV/AIDS on Education in Africa

Washington DC, June 2000

USAID Africa Bureau Education Team Activities from Washington:

• Began building internal USAID/AFR/SD/ED capacity for education response to HIV/AIDS through cross sector conversation with Africa Bureau Health sector, HIV/AIDS division, LIFE Initiative, and Global Bureau counterparts

• HIV/AIDS Strategy for Education Team provisionally formulated in June 1999 in collaboration with school health partners in other agencies (through International School Health Initiative - ISHI) working on HIV and education (primarily World Bank, UNICEF)

• Participated in USAID/AFR/SD-sponsored Consultative Meeting on AIDS as a Development Crisis in Sept 1999, inviting major ISHI partners from other agencies

• October 1999 - With ISHI partners formed Informal Interagency Group on HIV/AIDS in Education with UNICEF, World Bank, UNDP, Ford Foundation, DFID, CIDA to gather information on impacts on education systems in Africa, and coordinate responses. The group meets periodically to exchange information on HIV impact studies, identify opportunities for action, and build common vision for collaborative funding and action in Africa. Inter-agency partners maintain contact between meetings to coordinate opportunities for shared funding on various activities in Africa

• Education team worked with LIFE Initiative to refine USAID/Univ of Natal - Health Economics AIDS Research Division (HEARD) Toolkit for HIV/AIDS in Education. Agreed in October 1999 to plan together and co-sponsor a HEARD-led workshop in southern Africa on application of the HIV Toolkit for representatives of MOEs and MOFs in 9 SADC regional countries

HIV/AIDS in Education Workshop held in April 2000 in Durban South Africa, sponsored by LIFE Initiative and AFR/SD/ED, led by HEARD. Attended by approximately 50 participants. Outcomes included: recommendation for a southern Africa website and central database on AIDS and education and network opportunities for MOE focal persons to share experience and expertise; recommendation to form a mobile task force to assist MOEs to mitigate impacts on delivery of education; DFID funding for a district level manual to assist district education officers to track and mitigate HIV impacts; call for another workshop to be held in west Africa

AFR/SD/ED worked with Global Bureau/HCD to build HIV support and School Health activities into new central education project - Basic Education Policy Support (BEPS), thus allowing easy cross-sectoral mechanism for any USAID Mission to contract HIV/AIDS support within ongoing education strategy and reform activities

AFR/SD and LIFE Initiative sponsored teams to work with USAID Missions and MOEs in Zambia (Feb 2000), Malawi (April 2000) and Ghana (April 2000) to formulate strategic plans for mitigation of HIV in education sector. Resulted in cross-cutting HIV activities built into each country's education strategy/framework

March 2000 - AFR Education Team in Washington stated goal to assist every USAID Mission education program to build cross-cutting HIV support activities into the education strategic objective/framework

May 2000 - USAID/AFR/SD/ED and DFID-ED met in London and agreed to collaborate especially on four countries where both have education programs and HIV support already started: South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Ghana. The two education teams agree that as we gain experience in these countries we will look for ways to collaborate in others, including countries where one or the other does not have an education program, thus strengthening the support either could give on its own. For example countries where USAID has no program but DFID does include Rwanda, Tanzania, Mozambique

June 2000 - AFR/SD/ED continues to refine AFR Strategy for HIV/AIDS Mitigation in Education, around three priority areas: 1) central support to MOE for host-country tracking and management of the impacts of HIV; 2) support for classroom based interventions for HIV prevention, and care for HIV-ill; 3) support within education systems for out-of-school programs on HIV prevention, care for HIV-ill. Special focus on orphans, out of school youth, streetism

June 2000 - AFR/SD/ED follows-up previous actions, and responds as called to support USAID AFR Missions developing strategies for mitigation of HIV in education systems. Missions (in addition to those mentioned above) expressing immediate intent to build HIV support into education programs include Nigeria, Ethiopia, Benin, and Mali

USAID Africa Mission Activities

Jan - June 2000: USAID South Africa supports full time AIDS advisor to the MOE; also full time economist and planner to the Department of Human Resource Planning who supports the MOE advisor on HIV impacts in education personnel; supports local mission staff to attend Durban HIV in Education Workshop, April 2000

Jan - June 2000: USAID Malawi education staff takes the lead in the MOE/Donor Education Work Group on HIV/AIDS; supported MOE participation in Center for Education Research and Training study on HIV impact on education sector, laying the foundation for HIV Planning Unit in the MOE; supported local mission and MOE staff to attend Durban April Workshop; USAID education sector sponsors proposal to LIFE Initiative for funds to support the MOE on pre-service teacher training for Life Skills curriculum, and central MOE support for long term strategic planning on HIV impacts; USAID education sector agrees to fund MOE central support on HIV planning; LIFE Initiative on funding for pre-service teacher training still pending

August 1999 - June 2000: USAID Zambia supports School Health and Nutrition Office in MOE, helps to leverage appointment of HIV focal person and task force; AFR/SD/ED assists MOE in formulation of strategy for action on HIV using HEARD HIV/AIDS Toolkit for Education; USAID Mission supports MOE formulation of comprehensive MOE school health strategic plan, including HIV/AIDS; in Feb 2000 AFR/SD/ED and USAID Zambia sponsor team to build cross-cutting HIV/AIDS activities into new USAID strategy for basic education (approved by DP in May 2000)

March - June 2000: USAID Ghana leads donor dialogue with MOE on mitigation of HIV in education; USAID Ghana requests AFR/SD/ED and LIFE Initiative to send a team for strategic planning and implementation workshop in the MOE; workshop conducted over ten days in April 2000; MOE continues working on implementation plans to be circulated within education sector, funded by the MOE and various donors in education; USAID education contractors, working with AFR/SD/ED begin to build HIV support activities into existing education reform activities at central MOE and community levels

Activities Planned or in Discussion

West Africa Workshop, to be sponsored by DFID, conducted by HEARD, participation with USAID and DFID and World Bank Mission support

Joint support (LIFE Initiative and AFR/SD/ED) for southern Africa regional capacity building hub, to support a mobile task force to work with MOEs on strategic planning, implementation, and monitoring (based at HEARD, Univ of Natal)

Joint support (LIFE and AFR/SD/ED) for southern Africa regional website, HIV/AIDS database

Joint support (LIFE and AFR/SD/ED) to begin a west Africa regional mobile task force and capacity hub based in Dakar

Joint sponsorship (AFR/SD/ED with DFID and UNICEF) to analyze and document best practices in classroom and non-formal interventions for prevention and mitigation of HIV-illness

AFR/SD/ED sponsorship of research to improve the role of schools in fighting stigma and discrimination of HIV-ill

Conversations with Food Aid and Nutrition Technical Assistance on especially targeting HIV-affected families and youth

Joint Zambia - Malawi MOE strategy and implementation planning workshop to be co-sponsored by MOEs, AFR/SD/ED, LIFE Initiative, local USAID Missions

Meeting between education and health contractors working in Ethiopia to discuss collaboration on HIV support to the MOE

Development of tools for MOE planning for impact of HIV in education (budgetary, personnel, systems)

Conversations with Global Bureau on planning for cross-sector programming in adolescent reproductive health in upcoming project design

Tools Available Now

HEARD-Univ of Natal HIV/AIDS Toolkit for Education

HEARD-Univ of Natal HIV/AIDS Sectoral Briefs

Samples of Scopes of Work for positions in MOEs to support capacity building for long term tracking and mitigation of HIV impacts in education

Sample MOE Strategic Plans for HIV mitigation in education

Life Skills curricula materials for some (not all) grade levels

Excellent impact studies on education sector, and matrix of impact study progress

Reports on HIV and education workshops

Sample Education Frameworks from USAID programs that have built cross cutting activities into their SO already

For questions or more information please contact Brad Strickland, USAID Africa Bureau Education Team, School Health and HIV/AIDS Focal Person, bstrickland@afr-, 202-219-0482; or Megan Thomas, USAID Africa Bureau Cross Sector Specialist in HIV/AIDS, mthomas@afr-, 202-219-0469. Or write to us at USAID Africa Bureau Annex, 1325 G Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington DC, 20005.

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