TITLE: Strengthening and Expanding HIV Prevention in Primary Schools in Tanzania

NEED and COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE : A situational analysis conducted recently in the project area

(Mtwara and Ruvuma regions) indicates that HIV and AIDS affects between 10%-15% of enrolled pupils,

and an average of 7% teachers. Furthermore, schools have as many as 25% of pupils becoming orphans

resulting from various causes including HIV/AIDS. Through PEPFAR support the Ministry of Education and

Vocational Training (MOEVT) -Tanzania Institute of Education (TIE) has developed an operational plan to

reach 50% of all schoolchildren from Mtwara and Ruvuma regions with life planning skills education and

6,000 teachers from the same areas with basic HIV education. This project will equip both teachers and

pupils with the knowledge and skills to prevent HIV infections by practicing delayed sexual debut,

abstinence and being faithful to one partner. In FY 2008 MOEVT-TIE will continue to train teachers and

other caretakers in life planning skills education (LPSE) provide appropriate materials, advocate for

community involvement in protecting children, and promote healthy lifestyles in schools and local

communities. A special emphasis will be placed on girls' education to promote the empowerment of women

and delay early childbearing to allow time for maturity and fulfillment of academic goals.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: With FY 2007 funds, MOEVT-TIE is currently: 1. Developing and printing

comprehensive life planning skills package and IEC materials; 2. Training 57 district facilitators and 6,000

classroom teachers; 3. Advocating for acceptance, support and collaboration in mainstreaming HIV/AIDS

prevention education using Life Planning Skills from 200 leaders at regional and district levels; and

4. Disseminating IEC materials in schools and surrounding communities.

ACTIVITIES: Continuing activities initiated last year, MOEVT-TIE will: 1. Strengthen the capacity of

teachers, school counselors, and youth leaders in LPSE as a strategy to reach 50% of all the schools in the

two regions. To achieve this, MOEVT-TIE will: 1a) Build the capacity of 6,000 classroom teachers and 90

Teacher Resource Center (TRC) coordinators in interactive teaching and behavior change communication;

1b) Train 50 school counselors with 500 supportive youth leaders per district in basic counseling skills for

HIV/AIDS; 1c) Train 50 school inspectors and 180 ward education coordinators in supportive supervision

and monitoring skills. 2. Provide adequate reading materials for learners when in and out of school by

printing and disseminating 50,000 comprehensive life planning skills packages to schools and surrounding

communities in each district. 3. Advocate for community involvement and participation in HIV prevention

activities being implemented in schools including annual events such as World AIDS Day, Day of the

African Child, Parents' Day, and School Open Day. 4. Advocate for Guidance and Counseling services in all

schools to address HIV related issues. 5. Strengthen local teacher resource centers (TRC) with HIV

materials and relevant information for local use. 6 Advocate for voluntary counseling and testing among

teachers and pupils (with parental consent). 7. Strengthen information sharing mechanisms between TIE

and project area by: 7a) Conducting stakeholders coordination meeting quarterly in Mtwara and Ruvuma;

7b) Conducting dissemination workshops for teachers and education inspectors in selected districts; and

7c) Producing and distributing newsletters monthly that will provide feedback on the progress of

implementing the program. 8. Regularly monitor and evaluate project activities at all levels. This includes

reinforcing regular supportive supervision, conducting field-monitoring visits to schools, supervising

classroom teaching and extra curricular activities.

LINKAGES: To achieve the above linkages will be with the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP),

GTZ, Track 1 AB partners, and TAYOA, and other relevant NGOs in the respective regions.

CHECK BOXES: Capacity building activities will be conducted in the respective districts by trained

facilitators with additional faculties deployed from zonal and regional education offices, health facilities, and

other sources. Trainees will be strictly drawn from the respective district only. Printing and material

dissemination will be conducted by TIE in collaboration with zonal and regional education officials for easy

follow up. Advocacy meetings will be conducted in open meetings and all key persons will be invited to

attend and make policy statements or guidelines in activity implementation.

M&E: MOEVT-TIE has a monitoring mechanism in place for all sponsored school based interventions.

These will be used to track results and evaluate impact. However, collaboration with CDC Tanzania is

being sought to design a tool for monitoring that is easy to use and interpret findings. TIE will work closely

with the zonal and district inspectors of schools to ensure both monitoring and evaluations are implemented

accordingly. Findings and lessons learned will be shared with parents, partners, and other interested

parties.

SUSTAINABILITY: Positive outcomes of this intervention will be sustained by mainstreaming LPSE in the

school curriculum and ensuring that teachers and educational leaders are well conversant with teaching

them and monitoring the outputs. Enhanced community involvement and participation in school activities

will also be a driving force to the teaching of LPSE for prevention of HIV infections.