Ethiopia

Objective

To reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa by addressing the world of work vulnerabilities and strengthening the application of the policy and legal frameworks for the protection of infected and affected men and women workers.

The project is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)

Target Groups

In Ethiopia the project considered three target groups for its intervention:

• Cooperatives
  From 40 districts and seven, agricultural cooperative unions. Under these unions there are 167 primary cooperatives with a total member size of over 67,000.
• Micro and Small Enterprises
  350 associations with a membership size of 4,488.
• Associations of People Living with HIV/AIDS
  Five associations of People Living with HIV/AIDS are targeted in this component.

Interventions

• Prevention
  Enhancing the capacity of cooperatives through training and technical assistance to mainstream HIV/AIDS in their activities.
• Impact Mitigation
  Enhancing the capacity of Micro and Small Enterprises and Associations of People Living with HIV/AIDS through training in the area of Business Development Skills where HIV/AIDS is mainstreamed.

Aim

To contribute to the accomplishment of the strategic objectives identified in the country’s national Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP) 2006-2010, and the Ethiopian Strategic Plan for Intensifying Multi-sectoral Plan of Action to HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support (SPM) 2007-2010. The PASDEP and SPM are built around six strategic issues, among which one is “Leadership and Mainstreaming” focusing on ensuring leadership at all levels to sustain HIV/AIDS as a priority development and emergency agenda.

Major Achievements

• The project has contributed towards the accomplishment of the strategic objectives identified in the country’s national plan (PASDEP) and the Ethiopian Strategic Plan for intensifying multi-sectoral response to HIV/AIDS, 2004-2008 (SPM).
• In the effort of building the capacity of the human resources in cooperatives in the area of prevention and impact mitigation of HIV/AIDS, and validate the importance of their buy-in in starting and guiding the development of the workplace prevention initiatives, a total of 47 people in the leadership and key decision making positions have received Leadership Awareness Creation training. The leaders of cooperatives that took part in the training were from all levels of leadership.
• A total of 76 members from four cooperative unions have received training of Peer Educators. The training was successfully accomplished and the training topics were relevant considering the situation cooperatives are at present.
• Capacity building was provided for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) for 38 selected trainees from the target MSE Development Agencies and members of the target People Living with HIV/AIDS associations through Training of Trainers Program on Start and Improve Your Business.
• In general, the capacity building activities of the project, have contributed to the accomplishment of the strategic objectives. This, considering the multiplier effect, would ensure the continuation of the activities beyond the life of the project encouraging ownership of the issue by partners and collaborators. It would also create a great opportunity for sustainable implementation of the project.