Since 2004, the PEPFAR program has supported efforts by the Ministry of Education (MEN) to integrate

HIV prevention, mobilization for testing, HIV care, and referral to treatment for students, teachers, other

staff, and their families. The MEN leads the national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the education

sector by working with other ministries, such as the Ministry for the Fight Against AIDS (MLS); Ministry of

Health and Hygiene (MOH); Ministry of Women, Families, and Social Affairs (MFFAS); and Ministry of

Youth, Sports, and Leisure (MJSL) and other partners to:

• Update and expand a life-skills curriculum and teaching aids across all subject areas.

• Promote applied leadership through youth service and community HIV prevention activities facilitated by

student health and sports clubs and peer educators.

• Train teachers, inspectors, social workers, and student leaders in peer education and support for

abstinence and fidelity.

• Work with school-serving clinics through the national school health service (PNSSU) and NGOs to

mobilize all actors for HIV counseling and testing (CT), prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted

infections (STIs), and blood donation through youth health clubs.

• Collaborate with QUITUS, an NGO of HIV-infected or -affected teachers, to reduce stigma and provide

care and support services.

• Assess needs and prioritize assistance to keep orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) advancing in

school.

• Engage parents to increase their comfort and skill in discussing sexuality and HIV, and in supporting their

children to maintain healthy lifestyles.

• Update technology at regional pedagogical support and supervision centers to assist teachers in adapting

life-skills lesson plans and materials.

• Institute monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems that capture learning and behavioral outcomes of in-

class and extracurricular HIV prevention activities.

The challenges of establishing, coordinating, and ensuring the quality of such a complex program require

additional technical expertise and focused support, which will be carried out by this TBD partner. Using

FY09 funds, the partner will be the primary technical assistance provider reinforcing the capacity of the

MEN to identify and overcome barriers to achieving a comprehensive program of HIV prevention and life

skills, school-based support for OVC, and referral to care, treatment, and support for teachers and students.

This will include promoting sustainability of all programs by fostering the engagement of ministry leadership

and integrating activities with existing processes and departmental responsibilities.

The partner will assist the MEN to reinforce national and decentralized coordination and mapping of NGO

activities in the education sector and strategic planning for appropriate resources, activities, and M&E of

expected outcomes, with a quality assurance program and strengthened accountability measures. This will

ultimately include assisting in the development of policies, a minimum package of services, and processes

to reach:

• Students: through school-based health and sports clubs, library support, school-serving clinics, classroom

curricula, and pedagogical materials.

• Parents: through improved strategies for communicating with school-based development committees

(COGES) to reinforce youth prevention.

• Teachers, inspectors, social workers, and regional direction teams: with targeted training, resources, and

M&E support.

• Families of students and communities: with HIV prevention activities, peer education, and communications

programs completed by health and sports clubs and student competitions.

The partner will also work to improve collaboration and transition to achieve HIV prevention outcomes

across educational contexts for in- and out-of-school youth by fostering exchange and joint planning by the

MEN and the School for Secondary Level Teacher Training (ENS), Ministry for Technical Training (MET),

MJSL, and MFFAS.

The four priority areas for MEN capacity building in FY09 are:

1) Strategic planning and advocacy

2) Internal and external coordination and partnership development (with MJSL and MET at the central level

and civil society at the district and local levels)

3) Technical support and quality assurance

4) Stronger M&E and use of strategic information

Strategic Planning and Advocacy

1. Review and assist the MEN in updating information and adapting national strategy documents, including

the HIV Sectoral Plan (with workplace programs for prevention targeting teachers and administrators), HIV

behavior change communication (BCC) and interpersonal communication plan, plan for life skills

development and HIV prevention in the classroom and extracurricular health clubs, and policies and

processes for teacher conduct and to assure the safety of students, particularly girls.

2. Strengthen the MEN/PEPFAR team, DMOSS leadership, and other key bureau planning teams (DESAC,

DPFC, SCA) to accomplish internal advocacy at the director and cabinet levels for policy development and

adoption to promote safe schools, girls' education, gender equity, and extracurricular health activities,

budget and acquisitions to achieve strategic goals.

Internal and External Coordination and Partnership Development

1. Assist the MEN to incorporate all life skills modules created in 2007-2009 into its national curriculum and

support the process of full nationwide implementation.

2. Assist the MEN to implement an internal communications strategy to ensure senior ministry leadership

engagement in the HIV program, with a transparent calendar of quarterly events in the annual work plan

and regular follow-up on integrated operational plans with focal points and directors of involved bureaus.

3. (a) Assist the MLS to reinvigorate a youth-focused HIV prevention technical working group with MEN

coordination of interventions in the formal education sector at the primary and secondary levels. (b)

Activity Narrative: Facilitate coordination and regular communication among the MEN, MET, and MJSL in strategic planning

and information exchange for synergies across education paths for academic and technical education

tracks as well as early school leavers.

4. Assist the MEN to analyze existing data and conduct situation analyses at the district level (coordinating

with regional M&E focal points) to identify domains, coverage, gaps, and needs by civil society and other

organizations actively engaged in school-based HIV prevention, OVC, CT, or care activities targeting

students or teachers or through formal agreements supporting extracurricular health and sports clubs.

5. Work with the MEN, PEPFAR SI team, and MLS to map those organizations and activities (with visual

representation) to inform MEN strategy for scaling up activities and filling gaps, to create a calendar of

communications and training support, and to facilitate district-level planning.

Technical Support and Quality Assurance

1. (a) Assist the MEN/PEPFAR implementation team, the project director, and focal points in various MEN

bureaus to evaluate and update the MEN capacity-building plan to achieve strategic objectives and

implement the training plan for focal points, M&E representatives, pedagogical inspectors, the HIV sectoral

committee, and regional MEN directorates (DRENs). (b) Assist the MEN to implement the capacity-building

plan with milestones and supervision standards.

2. Because different actors are implementing a variety of activities using many different resources, quality

varies, and there is a risk of inconsistent or ineffective approaches in implementing health club HIV

prevention activities. Therefore, the technical assistance partner will help the MEN to identify, in

collaboration with the MLS, MOH, and other partners, a minimum standard support package for

extracurricular health clubs ("clubs santé") based on core outcomes expected from all clubs.

3. Review, update and implement supervision and training evaluation tools that provide key information on

perceived quality and measured outcomes of interventions. Coordinate with URC, the MLS, and other

actors working to establish standard competencies and indicators for peer educators and their HIV

prevention programs.

4. Create a plan for internal and external review of the quality of the HIV-prevention and life-skills program.

Document areas of synergy and facilitate action to increase linkages between the life skills classroom

curriculum and extracurricular opportunities to apply and strengthen assets of leadership, responsibility,

critical thinking, communication, and confidence through service learning and community-based HIV-

prevention and stigma-reduction activities.

5. Based on strategic goals, objectives, and expected outcomes of the MEN/PEPFAR project, analyze

existing and proposed communications tools and technical resources and provide recommendations to

inform utilization and acquisition strategies and to facilitate synergies with activities designed to empower

youth in technology.

Stronger M&E and Use of Strategic Information

1. Assist the MEN to assure that M&E systems track differential participation, leadership, and outcomes for

male and female students in classroom-based life skills and extracurricular HIV prevention activities.

Coordinate the process of planning concrete actions that address deficits and build on strengths found in

M&E activities.

2. Collaborate with the PEPFAR SI and Prevention teams, MEN/PEPFAR team, DMOSS, and DPFC to

maximize integration of M&E tools and activities within existing MEN processes and coordinate with the sub

-directorate for pedagogical M&E to update the M&E plan and conduct periodic joint supervision missions.

3. Assist the MEN/PEPFAR team to create and implement a monitoring plan for student and MEN

employee peer education-based HIV prevention activities as well as extracurricular health club activities.

Update the plan and provide technical assistance to evaluate KAPB outcomes.

4. Provide technical leadership in assisting the MEN to put in place a transparent process with

accountability measures for providing financial support to regional competitions for proposed health club

HIV prevention, life skills, and service activities encouraging care and respect for vulnerable children and

PLWHA. This will foster creative leadership among youth and promote active engagement of regional

directorates (DRENs) to implement decentralized activities based on clear criteria and accountability.

New/Continuing Activity: New Activity

Continuing Activity:

Emphasis Areas

Gender

* Addressing male norms and behaviors

Human Capacity Development

Estimated amount of funding that is planned for Human Capacity Development

Public Health Evaluation

Food and Nutrition: Policy, Tools, and Service Delivery

Food and Nutrition: Commodities

Economic Strengthening

Education

Estimated amount of funding that is planned for Education

Water

Table 3.3.02: