By Elsie Ayeh (UNAIDS/UN Plus Ghana)
In collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Ghana, UNESCO, the World Bank, ILO, UNAIDS, Education International, and the Partnership for Child Development (PCD) convened a sub-regional meeting on support to teachers infected and/or affected by HIV and AIDS in West and Central Africa from 24 to 26 April, 2012 at Alisa Hotel in Accra, Ghana. Participants were from Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Cameroun, Liberia, The Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Senegal and Ghana.
The meeting which brought together key national and international stakeholders, such as HIV focal points of ministries of education, teachers’ unions, associations of teachers living with HIV, and international organisations, aimed at:
- Strengthening the associations of teachers infected and affected by HIV;
- Developing and/or adapting a workplace policy framework for the education sector taking into consideration the ILO 200 recommendation;
- Developing action plans for teachers’ unions, MoEs and national HIV positive teachers’ associations, in order to ensure continued support and collaboration at national, regional and international levels.
The workshop, funded by UNESCO, PCD and UNAIDS was covered on the national airways through the national broadcaster GTV on primetime news on Tuesday May 1, 2012 at 7.00pm. UNIC also prepared a press release which was carried by Ghana News Agency (GNA) and further syndicated by a number of online media. The joint statement prepared was also carried on UNESCO, ILO and PCD websites as indicated below:
UNESCO
ILO
GNA
PCD
http://www.schoolsandhealth.org/Lists/News%20%20Events/DispForm.aspx?ID=85
Modern Ghana
http://www.modernghana.com/news/391350/1/high-incidents-of-death-amongst-hiv-positive-teach.html
Feedback from some participants
- ‘Let me express my total satisfaction for participating in the Accra meeting, I learned a lot from it; I’ve already talked about the issue with some teachers unions leaders with whom we intend to create a coalition to support our colleagues infected; hoping that we’ll work together with Education Ministries to achieve the goal…’. (Michel Tamo – Cameroun)
- ‘…la qualité de la liste des participants…contribué au succès de l’atelier’. (Guehi Filbert Cote d’Ivoire)
- ‘je suis bien rentré; je vous remercie (organisateurs) de l’accueil et de l’opportunité que vous nous avez offert pour partager nos convictions et nos ambitions pour le secteur de l’Education; je suis aussi d’accord sur ta remarque sur le fait que cette rencontre sera sans doute un point de départ pour la collaboration entre les Ministères et les syndicats au grand bénéfice des EVVIH. j’espère que tous comprendront cela pour , sur de nouvelles bases, mieux travailler dans le secteur de l’éducation…’ (Mor Mbengu Senegal)
- ‘Nous sommes bien rentrés chez nous après l’atelier assez enrichissant d’Accra; les leçons tirées sont énormes, c’est pour nous participants du Niger un grand tonus pour l’achèvement de la mise en place de notre jeune association des EVVIH, Au nom de nos autorités nous disons Merci aux initiateurs et organisateurs de cette rencontre. Accra est une réussite, félicitations …’(Rahila Coulibaly – Niger)
- ‘…We want to forge ahead strongly’ (Haruna Ibn Hassan – Ghana)
Key issues that emerged was the need to forge strong linkages between teachers, their unions and the Ministry of Education in all the countries that participated in order to forge ahead and be effective in addressing issues relevant to HIV positive teachers.
Country specific action planning was initiated and is expected to be completed as participants continue working in their small groups in their various countries under the responsibility of MoE and with technical support from their partners.
