With PEPFAR support, the International Labour Organization provides technical assistance to national partners to establish a sustainable national workplace program as well as prevent HIV and provide services using the workplace as an entry-point. The program covers 26 enterprises plus 26 government ministries. It assists in the development of workplace HIV policies, and implementation of programs using a combination of approaches. COP 2012 will support the expansion and extension of HIV workplace policies, programs and activities as there are planned new HIV/AIDS workplaces program initiatives. By using a combination of approaches for prevention (biomedical, information, behavioural and structural) and by using the workplace as an entry point , the ILO contributes to a coordinated and comprehensive response for sexual prevention. The ILO brings to the response its understanding and expertise in the world of work. ILO knows that the workplace is a key location for HIV/AIDS prevention and care program. Issues in relation to TB in the workplace and gender equity are fully integrated in the training curriculum of the peer educators.

The ILO M & E framework and plan will be reviewed to be in alignment with the national thematic area of response management, where the project will contribute to the monitoring and evaluation strategies listed as item 5.5.8 in the National Strategic Framework(NSF). The program will create an enabling environment at the implementers level for national monitoring and evaluation activities to operate effectively through the below listed activities.

Conduct M&E training and workshops to develop, pre-test, review and adopt data collection tools to improve quality of data obtained from peer educators

Mentoring and audit checklist review and orientation for workplace programs to strengthen their alignment with new labour standard on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work (Recommendation No. 2000).

Conduct workshops to review and follow up on peer educator work plans and provide technical guidance on areas with challenges

The project will share M & E reports with the national M & E technical working committee. The Project M & E Officer will be a member of the national M & E committee. The ILO M & E plan will be aligned, implemented and monitored along the national M & E framework. This alignment and support at national level will strengthen the coordination of data management and use to avoid overlaps plus improve on data accessibility when it comes to monitoring workplace interventions.

With the support of COP 2012, the project will work on developing a data collection tool for peer educators and train them on its use to improve data integrity and quality. The peer educators will be trained on using the tool to collect/record data to be submitted at enterprise level, then at regional level through Regional Multi-Sectoral HIV/AIDS Coordinating Committee (REMSHAC) structures, REMSHAC will feed the national M & E structures.

A presentation has already been made with NERCHA on how ILO can contribute to harmonizing the national M & E activities at national level. Making inroads to national M & E platforms can be attributed as an achievement, as we are addressing the gap identified by ILO impact survey.

The projects partner enterprises contribute in-kind and financial resources by virtue of allowing workers to attend workshops during official time. In addition they support the development of banners and other resource materials during the commemoration of the World AIDS Day. Some enterprises have clinics in their premises which provide services at no cost to the employee.

Establish and capacitate HIV/AIDS committees in workplaces form the private and public sectors to coordinate the HIV responses and mainstream HIV in current activities (workplace health facilities, occupational safety and health structures)

Provide technical assistance to the HIV/AIDS workplace committees for the development of HIV/AIDS workplace policies and programs in line with the ILO Code of Practice and new international labour standard on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work (Recommendation No. 200).

Review existing HIV/AIDS workplace legal and policy framework at the enterprises and national levels in accordance with the new international labour standard.

Monitor and evaluate the implementation of the workplace policies.

Build program management capacity among partners

The Government of Swaziland/ILO/USDOL/PEPFAR HIV Workplace Education Project supports the implementation of HIV/AIDS Workplace programs with enterprises from agriculture, manufacturing, retail, uniformed and public service sectors. A large proportion of the workers from these sectors are mobile in nature and their priority is to earn a salary and not access HIV/AIDS services due to non conducive structural, environmental and behavioral conditions, therefore the need for HIV/AIDS workplace interventions.

The Demographic and health Survey (2006) showed that the country has the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world of 26%. This being the target population of the ILO (15-49).

The ILO with support from PEPFAR and in consultation with its constituents, will therefore ,on the strength of the above support efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in the world of work across the four regions in Swaziland(national) targeting 23 000 workers from private sector and 27 000 workers from public service. The major thrust of the project is workplace education, protection against stigma and discrimination and increase worker access to prevention, care and support and treatment services. The strategy is building upon the ILOs comparative advantage in advocacy and policy development, particularly drawing on its Code of practice on HIV/ AIDS and the world of work.

The major strategies to be used in the project include, advocacy for policy formulation and implementation of prevention, care and support interpersonal communication and capacity building activities within the workplace. With the support of COP 2012 the project will conduct;

Mentoring and refresher workshops HIV/AIDS workplace committees members and peer educators from the private and public sectors in the implementation of behavior change program for the workplace with the objective of reducing number of individuals involved in multiple and concurrent partnerships

Mentoring and refresher courses through structured workshops of master trainers for peer educators in workplaces from the public sector and private sectors to ensure the sustainability of the interventions

Development of tailor-made behavior change materials for specific target groups of workers taking into account age, gender, attitudes and practices and dissemination through most effective channels to reach them during a significant period to sustain behavior change.

Mentoring and refresher workshops of government officials, key member of employers and workers organizations in the implementation of behavior change strategies and program and policies to create an enabling environment to behavior change at workplace even at national level.

The above activities will be evaluated and monitored through a built in Project monitoring Plan identifying impact as well as strengths and weaknesses for any preplanning needed. A Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP) with country-specific indicators was developed to assess project impact. The monitoring system rests on three pillars:

1)

Workers survey to measure impact on knowledge, attitudes and practices of target workers;

2)

Workplace monitoring to assess impact on the partnering workplaces of policies and programs, including a workplace audit checklist;

3)

National monitoring to collect information on the technical assistance provided for activities of the national partners to strengthen their capacity and allow them to contribute to national strategies and framework

The Government of Swaziland/ILO/USDOL/PEPFAR HIV Workplace Education Project supports the implementation of HIV/AIDS Workplace programs with enterprises from agriculture, manufacturing, retail, uniformed and public service sectors. A large proportion of the workers are females who are involved in transactional sex and have a high HIV prevalence of 50% (Preliminary results of the Swaziland Behavioral and Surveillance Survey 2010)

The Demographic and health Survey (2006) showed that the country has the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world of 26%. This being the target population of the ILO (15-49)

The ILO with support from PEPFAR and in consultation with its constituents, will therefore ,on the strength of the above support efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in the world of work across the four regions in Swaziland(national) targeting 23 000 workers from private sector and 27 000 workers from public service. The major thrust of the project is workplace education, protection against stigma and discrimination and increase worker access to prevention, care and support and treatment services.. The strategy is building upon the ILOs comparative advantage in advocacy and policy development, particularly drawing on its Code of practice on HIV/ AIDS and the world of work.

The major strategies to be used in the project include, advocacy for policy formulation and implementation of prevention, care and support, interpersonal communication and capacity building activities within the workplace. With the support of COP 2012 the project will conduct;

Mentoring and refresher workshops of peer educators in condom promotion and distribution, including dialoging around condoms

Conduct structured dialogues specific to target groups of workers taking into account age, gender, attitudes and risk behavior (transactional sexual relationships, use of alcohol) and dissemination through most effective channels to reach them during a significant period to sustain behavior change

The above activities will be evaluated and monitored through a built in Project monitoring Plan identifying impact as well as strengths and weaknesses for any preplanning needed. A Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP) with country-specific indicators was developed to assess project impact. The monitoring system rests on three pillars:

1)

Workers survey to measure impact on knowledge, attitudes and practices of target workers;

2)

Workplace monitoring to assess impact on the partnering workplaces of policies and programs, including a workplace audit checklist;

3)

National monitoring to collect information on the technical assistance provided for activities of the national partners to strengthen their capacity and allow them to contribute to national strategies and frameworks.