Under a cooperative agreement with CDC/PEPFAR, the Ivoirian Ministry of Education (MEN) is implementing a five-year (2009-2013) project designed to improve HIV prevention and care services for students, teachers, other MEN staff, and their families and to integrate those services into the national educational system. As part of a multi-sectoral response consistent with the 2006-2010 HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plan, and in collaboration with other ministries and NGO/CBO/FBO partners, the MEN is building on PEPFAR-supported FY 2004-08 achievements to improve:

The quality and coverage of HIV prevention activities through life-skills training for students.

The promotion of HIV prevention among students and teachers through age-appropriate abstinence and be faithful (AB) behavior change communication (BCC) designed to delay sexual debut, promote fidelity, encourage partner reduction, and promote HIV testing and counseling.

The promotion of correct and consistent condom use, as part of a comprehensive ABC approach, for those engaged in risky behavior (e.g. at teachers' training centers, as part of life-skills modules)

Parental involvement and capacity to reinforce preventative behavior among students.

An HIV-in-the-workplace program that focuses on BCC, peer education, stigma reduction, psychosocial support, and care and treatment referrals for seropositive teachers and staff. This includes support for QUITUS, an NGO of teachers living with HIV/AIDS, whose activities include encouraging teachers to seek testing and promoting positive living for those who are seropositive.

Educational support for OVC (such as school fee subsidies, school canteen subsidies, supplies, psychosocial support, palliative care, and academic tutoring) designed to improve their school attendance and school performance.

The centerpiece of the MEN HIV/AIDS program is its life-skills curriculum, developed and piloted with PEPFAR-supported technical assistance, that is integrated into primary and secondary school academic subjects and accompanied by support materials containing HIV prevention and healthy-living messages. With FY 2009 funding, the MEN is working to refine its strategy, finalize the life skills curriculum, and extend life skills implementation to 10 more sites (for a total of 30 sites by March 2010, each consisting of all public and private schools at that site). The MEN reached 39,419 students with AB and healthy-living messages during FY 2009 and expects to reach 20,000 more by March 2010. Through close collaboration with its division of pedagogy and continuing education (APFC), the MEN is working to integrate life skills information in school books and to build the capacities of the staff unit responsible for life skills integration (CNFPMD). The MEN is teaching life skills techniques to pedagogical supervisors and teachers from the APFC, training school health club supervisors, and strengthening its Sports for Life AB activities.

Efforts have focused on scaling up life skills and ABC training for all 360 secondary and 112 primary-level regional teacher trainers at the 14 branch offices of the department of pedagogy. Teachers in rural areas are trained by PEPFAR partner ANADER to be "community development agents" to help link school-based and broader community initiatives in HIV prevention and care.

Similarly, the MEN is working to extend its Other Prevention, OVC care, and HIV care and support activities, including QUITUS support groups, to 10 additional sites (for a total of 30). The MEN approach relies on linking clinical care provided by its medical staff (or through referrals to other providers) to the home-based care and support provided by QUITUS members, AB peer educators from student health clubs, and other NGO service providers.

To reduce the vulnerability of OVC, the MEN works closely with the National OVC Program (PNOEV) and its collaborative OVC "platforms" built around social centers to ensure comprehensive OVC care. Social workers and special educators employed by the MEN work with NGO/CBO/FBOs to monitor the progress of OVC in school and coordinate with other organizations to provide care services and stigma-reduction activities. Social workers and teachers are trained to recognize and address the vulnerabilities of OVC, especially girls who may be at risk of engaging in transactional or inter-generational sex.

With FY 2010 funding, the MEN will continue and build on these activities. Priorities will include:

Building the capacities of student peer educators, trainers, teachers, administrative personnel, counsellors, and social workers in life skills education, HIV prevention, BCC, and the MAP approach.

Monitoring and evaluating the academic progress and behavior of a cohort of 5,022 students to assess the impact of life-skills teaching

Conducting educational sessions (peer education outreach, group discussions, competitions, etc.) for students, teachers, other staff, and their families to promote abstinence and other HIV prevention, HIV testing, self-esteem, STI prevention and care

Ensure the availability of male condoms and wooden phalluses at at least 80% of MEN intervention sites

Providing care and support for at least 250 MEN personnel living with HIV and their families

Training members of QUITUS in nutrition assessment and counseling, BCC, prevention with positives, and data collection

Training nurses in STI care, HIV testing and counseling, and palliative care, and 15 MEN physicians in ARV prescription

Building capacity in primary and secondary schools (social work assistants, special educators, teachers) to identify OVC and provide care for the most vulnerable

Developing a sustainable strategy to ensure nutritional support for the most vulnerable OVC, in collaboration with the national school canteen program (DNCS), parent-teacher associations (COGES), social workers, the WFP, and PEPFAR

Developing a sustainable strategy for subsidizing school-related fees for OVC

Strengthening the M&E system through reproduction and distribution of data collection tools, IT equipment and Internet to facilitate reporting, improved technical and M&E supervision of activities, coordination meetings, and training

MEN M&E officers will work closely with regional antenna offices in charge of academic evaluation to track life skills pedagogic activities. The MEN will reinforce its coordination team at each site to track the progress of activities conducted in conjunction with NGOs and other partners in the school setting. The MEN will report quarterly program results and ad hoc requested program data to the USG strategic information team. To help build and strengthen a unified national M&E system, the MEN will participate in quarterly strategic information meetings.

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Under a cooperative agreement with CDC/PEPFAR, the Ivoirian Ministry of Education (MEN) is implementing a five-year (2009-2013) project designed to improve HIV prevention and care services for students, teachers, other MEN staff, and their families and to integrate those services into the national educational system. Activities supported in the HKID budget code focus on reducing the vulnerability of OVC by providing educational support (such as school fee subsidies, school canteen subsidies, supplies, psychosocial support, palliative care, and academic tutoring) designed to improve their school attendance and school performance.

While activities supported by FY 2009 have gotten a late start, the MEN is working with the National OVC Program (PNOEV) under the Ministry of Family, Women, and Social Affairs (MFFAS) and with UNICEF to train social workers and other MEN staff to identify and address OVC-specific needs and provide referrals to care at the MEN's 20 pilot intervention sites and 10 additional sites, for a total of 30 sites. The MEN is working with the PNOEV-supported collaborative "platforms" built around social centers to contribute to comprehensive OVC care and support (for 2,268 OVC during FY 2009), including through payment of school enrollment and examination fees for OVC in need of financial support in order to increase school retention. To avoid double-counting in reporting project results, the MEN is working with the PNOEV and its social center coordination platforms to standardize data-collection tools and contribute to a national OVC database.

Social workers and special educators employed by the MEN work with NGO/CBO/FBOs to monitor the progress of OVC in school and coordinate with other organizations to provide care services. To increase community participation in OVC support, the MEN collaborates with other partners in community activities and national campaigns to raise awareness and reduce discrimination and stigmatization of OVC. Social workers and teachers are trained to recognize and address the vulnerabilities of OVC, especially girls who may be at risk of engaging in transactional or inter-generational sex. Collaboration with care partners (such as the school health centers (SSSUs), the PNOEV, QUITUS (an NGO of teachers living with HIV/AIDS), RIP+ (network of PLWHA organizations), Alliance-CI, Care International, and UNICEF) facilitate the identification of OVC in the schools and help to strengthen the system of referral to comprehensive care. These strategies are complemented by training and technical assistance, as well as sensitization and advocacy meetings to strengthen coordination and harmonize monitoring efforts. FY 2009 funds will also support an evaluation of the academic results of OVC at 30 sites at the end of the school year to assess whether the children's needs were met and to bridge service gaps.

A lack of sufficient school canteens continues to be a challenge in the education sector. Through dialogue with partners such as the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF, and the National Direction of School Canteens (DNCS), the MEN is exploring how best to provide nutritional support to OVC in the absence of a canteen, in addition to mobilizing resources to fund additional canteens at the secondary-school level. On a limited scale, the MEN is continuing its collaboration with the WFP for the provision of food and nutritional assistance in rural areas, supplemented by income-generating activities in conjunction with school canteens through technical assistance from ANADER.

With FY 2010 funding, the MEN will continue and build on these activities. Priorities will include:

Strengthening capacities in primary and secondary schools (among social work assistants, special educators, teachers) to identify OVC and provide care and support for the most vulnerable

Providing technical, organization, and material support to strengthen the capacities of the MEN team responsible for OVC care in the school system.

Developing a sustainable strategy to ensure nutritional support for the most vulnerable OVC, in collaboration with the DNCS, parent-teacher associations (COGES), social workers, the WFP, and PEPFAR

Developing a sustainable strategy for the reduction of fees (school fees, inscription, exam), in collaboration with the COGES

Working with implementing partners and social centers to strengthen the capacity of focal points in data collection and reporting.

Conducting regular monitoring and joint supervision of activities with key stakeholders

Activities will provide support for at 2,000 OVC per year.

Under a cooperative agreement with CDC/PEPFAR, the Ivoirian Ministry of Education (MEN) is implementing a five-year (2009-2013) project designed to improve HIV prevention and care services for students, teachers, other MEN staff, and their families and to integrate those services into the national educational system. Activities supported in the HVAB budget code focus on improving the quality and coverage of HIV prevention activities through life-skills training for students; the promotion of HIV prevention among students and teachers through age-appropriate abstinence and be faithful (AB) behavior change communication (BCC) designed to delay sexual debut, promote fidelity, encourage partner reduction, and promote HIV testing and counseling; and parental involvement and capacity to reinforce preventative behavior among students.

The MEN's life-skills curriculum, developed and piloted with PEPFAR-supported technical assistance, is integrated into primary and secondary school academic subjects and accompanied by support materials containing HIV prevention and healthy-living messages. While activities supported by FY 2009 have gotten a late start, the MEN is working to refine its strategy, finalize the life skills curriculum, and extend life skills implementation to 10 more sites (for a total of 30 sites by March 2010, each consisting of all public and private schools at that site). The MEN expects to reach 60,000 students with AB and healthy-living messages between April 2009 and March 2010. Through close collaboration with its division of pedagogy and continuing education (APFC), the MEN is working to integrate life skills information in school books and to build the capacities of the staff unit responsible for life skills integration (CNFPMD). The MEN is teaching life skills techniques to pedagogical supervisors and teachers from the APFC, training school health club supervisors, and strengthening its Sports for Life AB activities.

Efforts have focused on scaling up life skills and ABC training for all 360 secondary and 112 primary-level regional teacher trainers at the 14 branch offices of the department of pedagogy. Teachers in rural areas are trained by PEPFAR partner ANADER to be "community development agents" to help link school-based and broader community initiatives in HIV prevention and care.

The MEN is also using FY 2009 funding to:

Strengthen the activities of at least 10 health clubs through the acquisition of audiovisual material (TV, CD players, DVD players) to facilitate the dissemination of HIV/AIDS audiovisual messages.

Train peer educator instructors for health clubs at the new sites to implement HIV/AIDS activities.

Reinforce the capacities of peer educators and trainers at existing sites in BCC and life skills.

Train trainers, teachers, and teachers in training (CAFOP) in the life skills approach.

Train pedagogical supervisors to monitor teachers implementing the life skills approach.

Train trainers at in-service teacher-training institutions (ENS, INJS, INSACC) in order to build a pool of national trainers.

Continue to support school health club activities that promote HIV prevention and healthy living (health club newspapers, activities guides, theater sketches, debates, essay writing, music, dance competitions, Sports for Life events, etc.). Secondary school social clubs will also be supported in integrating gender-sensitive and anti-violence content in their activities.

Pilot Men as Partners, an HIV prevention program that addresses male norms and seeks to involve men in HIV prevention and care, at 20 sites in collaboration with school health clubs.

Develop an HIV/AIDS guide for girls to address gender vulnerabilities in the school setting.

Develop brochures and posters that address appropriate relations between students and teachers and outline the legal consequences of intergenerational sex in the school setting.

Strengthen AB outreach with integrated life skills messages through activities such as theater competitions and film development.

Developing and distributing/broadcast health club newspapers and youth program radio spots that have HIV/AIDS prevention information.

With FY 2010 funding, the MEN will continue and build on these activities. Priorities will include:

Building the capacities of student peer educators, trainers, teachers, and counselors in life skills and BCC.

Conducting academic and behavioral monitoring of 5,022 students who have received life skills teaching to assess the impact of life skills teaching.

Conducting an outcome review/analysis of the life skills content for 18 new academic subjects.

Conducting educational sessions (group discussions, competitions) for students, teachers, and other staff to promote abstinence, self-esteem, and HIV testing

Ensuring media visibility of MEN HIV/AIDS activities

Providing and maintain IT equipment at intervention sites

Conducting regular data collection on life skills in intervention schools

Conducting at least 4,230 class visits to assess the quality of the implementation of the life-skills program

Strengthening the M&E system through reproduction and distribution of data collection tools, improved transmission of data, supervision of activities, coordination meeting, and training of 110 pedagogic trainers in data management and analysis

Activities will reach at least 42,500 individuals with HIV prevention in FY 2010 and 65,000 in FY 2011, with training for 7,790 people by September 2011.

Under a cooperative agreement with CDC/PEPFAR, the Ivoirian Ministry of Education (MEN) is implementing a five-year (2009-2013) project designed to improve HIV prevention and care services for students, teachers, other MEN staff, and their families and to integrate those services into the national educational system. Activities supported in the HVOP budget code focus on improving the quality and coverage of HIV prevention activities through life-skills training for students; the promotion of HIV prevention among students, teachers, other MEN staff, and their families through age- and risk-appropriate BCC; the promotion of correct and consistent condom use, as part of a comprehensive ABC approach, for those engaged in risky behaviour; and an HIV-in-the-workplace program that focuses on BCC, peer education, stigma reduction, psychosocial support, and care and treatment referrals for seropositive teachers and staff. This includes support for QUITUS, an NGO of teachers living with HIV/AIDS, whose activities include encouraging teachers to seek testing and promoting positive living for those who are seropositive.

The MEN is also committed to increasing parent involvement outreach to reinforce preventative behavior among students. Parents are actively engaged through meetings with COGES (parent-led school management boards) and also serve as members of the management boards of student health clubs at secondary schools. The MEN continues to coordinate with other partners in training teachers and COGES members in order to improve communication and reinforce behavior change among the entire secondary school community.

In collaboration with FHI, ANADER, ACONDA-VS, and other partners, the MEN is strengthening its HIV-in-the-workplace program. Condom demonstrations are conducted during workplace programs, and condoms are made available to staff. Teachers are trained in Other Prevention methods (241 in FY 2009), and students, teachers, other staff, and their families are reached with comprehensive ABC prevention messages. In addition, since 79% of primary school teachers and 86% of secondary school teachers are men, the MEN has prioritized prevention efforts to address male norms and encourage role model behavior in remaining faithful in relationships, reducing the number of casual partners, and encouraging the use of condoms.

Efforts have focused on scaling up life skills and ABC training for all 360 secondary and 112 primary-level regional teacher trainers at the 14 branch offices of the department of pedagogy. Teachers in rural areas are trained by PEPFAR partner ANADER to be "community development agents" to help link school-based and broader community initiatives in HIV prevention and care. Referral systems for staff and students needing HIV-related care and treatment are being strengthened.

While activities supported by FY 2009 have gotten a late start, the MEN is working to strengthen and expand Other Prevention activities, alongside its extensive AB prevention portfolio, to 10 additional sites, for a total of 30 intervention sites by March 2010, each consisting of all public and private secondary schools at that site. The MEN is also engaging trainers in life skills, BCC, and Sports for Life (using soccer as a vehicle for HIV prevention education) to disseminate Other Prevention messages, including promotion of condom use among teachers and students engaged in high-risk behavior. School health clubs and health committees are organizing activities such as debates, radio spots, and theater competitions to convey Other Prevention messages through peer education. The MEN is working with QUITUS and other partners to train teachers and members of COGES to deliver BCC messages.

To address male norms that contribute to HIV risk, the MEN is collaborating with EngenderHealth to initiate a pilot program targeting men. Training in violence reduction and positive male norms is planned using the Men as Partners (MAP) approach.

With FY 2010 funding, the MEN will continue and build on these activities. Priorities will include:

Training 90 teachers, administrative personnel, counselors, and social workers in HIV prevention, BCC techniques, and the MAP approach,

Conducting peer education and community outreach on HIV prevention and STI screening

Ensuring the availability of male condoms and wooden phalluses at at least 80% of MEN intervention sites

Reproducing and distributing data collection tools for proximity sensitization

Working with FHI and URC to train 630 MEN staff members in M&E quality improvement

Facilitating data reporting through Internet connections at established and new intervention sites

Conducting four coordination meetings

Conducting quarterly supervision visits with PEPFAR and two supervision visits by mid-level focal points and the M&E team

Activities will reach at least 5,000 people with Other Prevention outreach in FY 2010 and 6,000 people in FY 2011, with training for at least 100 people per year.