The Uganda Initiative for Teacher Development and Management System (TDMS) and Presidential

Initiative on AIDS and Strategy for Communication to Youth (PIASCY) - (UNITY) Project is managed by

Creative Associates International Inc. This contract was signed in November 2006 with three education and

one HIV/AIDS objectives:

•These are Professional development for enhancing the quality of primary teachers and Primary Teachers'

College (PTC) tutors.

•Increase parental and community participation in education by providing information to parents and

communities to enable them effectively contribute to school management; through a sustained multi-media

advocacy and communication campaign and using incentive grants to strengthen successful school-

community initiatives.

•Support the formulation and implementation of education policies with an aim of enhancing the capacity of

the MoES/Education Planning Department (EPD) Monitoring and Evaluation Unit for effective data

collection and analysis

•Expand the implementation the Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy and Communication to Youth

(PIASCY) for primary and post primary schools throughout the country.

PPET PIASCY and G&C: the PPET PIASCY and G&C activities will include consensus building meetings

with the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) Working Group on HIV/AIDS in collaboration with national

HIV task force headed by Uganda Aids Commission (UAC). This is important to ensure strong collaboration

and partnership with the client. It allows the activities to be client driven. It encourages full involvement of

the MoES personnel in providing the necessary leadership and ensures collective accountability and

ownership of the intervention. PPET PIASCY and G&C are complementary programs which will be

implemented jointly in order to raise the level of awareness while equipping the students and teachers with

appropriate life skills and information for abstinence. The modified implementation model is student focused

and driven with books in the hands of students. The PPET PIASCY and G&C activities also include

materials development and pre-testing while ensuring that the materials meet the MoES standards and are

fully endorsed by MoES Top Management. For effective delivery of the intervention, there will be training of

teachers using a cascade approach. This will include national training of facilitators and regional training of

teachers. The training will target 4,530 teachers from 906 Post Primary Institutions (secondary schools

(SE), Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) and National Teacher Colleges

(NTCs)). This will be followed by school based implementation to be consolidated through joint support

supervision and monitoring by MoES user Departments, District officials, selected Master Trainers, staff

from NTCs and the UNITY Project Team. A total of 79,911 adolescent students are targeted to be reached

through materials provision. Regular reviews of progress will be facilitated so as to ensure timely

responsiveness to field realities. The PPET PIASCY and G&C intervention fits within the Education Sector

Strategic Plan (ESSP 2). The national and district structures will be supported to share information and

coordinate planning through the decentralized TDMS arrangements and in liaison with the Teacher

Education Department of the MoES and in collaboration with the user departments: SE, BTVET and Special

Needs Education, Guidance and Counseling (SNE-G&C). The District HIV/AIDS focal point officers will also

be engaged in training and documentation strategy. Within the MoES arrangements, the GoU systems will

be supported through the priority areas as and when identified by the HIV/AIDS Working Group and

indorsed by MoES Top management. The Abstinence programming will be consolidated through

development and distribution of pre-tested materials and providing necessary capacity building to teachers

for effective and sustainable school based implementation. The materials which have been developed will

be distributed to all target institutions and are expected to increase the risk perception of the students for

HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). The students' handbooks also address issues of abuse of

alcohol and other drugs as a cofactor for HIV/STI transmission. The materials are integrated with

information which strengthens sexual prevention within Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and also

strengthens services for prevention of young positives. The OVC issues are addressed by MoES through

the Working Group modality and in collaboration with the Uganda AIDS Commission and other partners

involved in HIV/AIDS work. The UNITY Project activities respond to ESSP2 and will be reported in the

MoES six monthly report. The UNITY Project PEPFAR activities will be reported and reviewed during the

joint Annual Education Sector Review (ESR) scheduled for October 2007 to ensure that they are in sync

with other major donor's efforts. In order to ensure capacity building at all levels and the involvement of

government counterparts, training and implementation will be done in collaboration with MoES, other sister

institutions and the district local governments.

Education Sector HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy: the process of developing the policy is accomplished. The

policy is now published. The major activity to be supported is mass production and targeted dissemination

of the policy. This will be done in collaboration with the MoES.

The Uganda Initiative for Teacher Development and Management System (TDMS) and Presidential

Initiative on AIDS and Strategy for Communication to Youth (PIASCY) - (UNITY) Project is managed by

Creative's Associates International Inc. This contract was signed in November 2006 with three education

and one HIV/AIDS objectives: These are; (a) Professional development for enhancing the quality of primary

teachers and Primary Teachers' College (PTC) tutors; (b) Increase parental and community participation in

education by providing information to parents and communities to enable them effectively contribute to

school management; through a sustained multi-media advocacy and communication campaign and using

incentive grants to strengthen successful school-community initiatives; (c) Support the formulation and

implementation of education policies with an aim of enhancing the capacity of the Ministry of Education and

Sports /Education Planning Department Monitoring and Evaluation Unit for effective data collection and

analysis; and (d) Expand the implementation the Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy and

Communication to Youth (PIASCY) for primary and post primary schools throughout the country.

UNITY will work with the existing Ministry of Education and Sports structures, namely the Working Group on

HIV/AIDS in collaboration with national HIV task force headed by Uganda Aids Commission (UAC) to

implement these activities. This is important to ensure strong collaboration and partnership with the client. It

allows the activities to be client driven. It also encourages full involvement of the Ministry of Education and

Sports personnel in providing the necessary leadership and ensures collective accountability and ownership

of the intervention.

Procurement of HIV Readers: With PEPFAR funding, USAID has so far procured and distributed HIV/AIDS

readers to about 30 districts out of the 81 districts. These readers give the pupils an opportunity to learn

more about HIV/AIDS and responsible behavior as outline the PIASCY manuals. These HIV Readers

should be age appropriate and have information which is likely to increase the risk perception of the children

on HIV and STI. The MoES will determine the districts and primary schools to be covered with the HIV

Readers. The supplier will distribute and train the teachers on how to use the readers, while the MoES will

monitor the use and share the feedback accordingly.

Expansion of Post Primary PIASCY: Under UNITY, the primary PIASCY program will be strengthened in all

government-aided as well as private primary schools throughout the country. UNITY will assist the Ministry

of Education and Sports to conduct refreshers courses for 30.000 teachers from 16,000 government-aided

and private schools and help teachers stimulate parent and community participation in PIASCY. The

proposed primary PIASCY evaluation will assess the effectiveness of the HIV prevention and life skills

messages delivered to primary school pupils.

UNITY and the PIASCY Working Group will develop and distribute new HIV/AIDS curricular and

pedagogical materials, including Straight Talk Foundations' Teacher Talk, Parent Talk, and Kids Time

newsletters.

UNITY will also deepen activities on HIV and Guidance and Counseling for primary pupils by printing and

distributing primary school guidance and counseling materials to 12,000 primary schools. UNITY will also

assist the Ministry to train school counselors in their use. Past interventions have indicated that Guidance

and Counseling rooms in primary schools give pupils an opportunity to talk to their teachers about sensitive

issues that affect their schooling. Teachers work with communities to handle these identified issues. This

has enabled children who would otherwise have dropped out of school to stay in school longer.

Expand PIASCY in the North:

In the former conflict districts of the north, UNITY will implement PIASCY in the large amalgamated primary

schools in Internal Displaced Persons camps, as well as to communities resettling in their former home

areas and or newly created satellite camps.

UNITY will provide more in-depth training to teachers in the north to equip them with knowledge and skills to

deal with the peculiar situation of children who have been affected by the conflict. It is anticipated that at

least five teachers per primary school (instead of three as was the case in other regions) will undergone

PIASCY training. For the PPET, schools will be given more PIASCY manuals over and above those given

in stable districts and their teachers will undergo more intensive training. The follow up and monitoring will

be intensified.