Education Sector Global HIV & AIDS Readiness Survey 2004: Policy Implications for Education and Development

An Integration of Perspectives from Ministries of Education and Civil Society Organizations

A new report “Education Sector Global HIV & AIDS Readiness Survey 2004: Policy Implications for Education and Development” has just been published. It documents the outcomes of the first international survey of education sector readiness to manage and mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS.

Education contributes toward the knowledge and personal skills essential for the prevention of HIV, and the mitigation of the impacts caused by AIDS.

This report was written by Peter Badcock-Walters, Health Economics and HIV and AIDS Research Division’s (HEARD) Mobile Task Team (MTT), University of KwaZulu Natal, and Tania Boler, Global Campaign for Education (GCE) on behalf of the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on Education. The coordinators of the IATT, Alexandra Draxler and Christopher Castle, piloted the project from conception to fruition, and logistical support was provided by Nuria Chat.

The IATT is convened by UNESCO and includes as members the UNAIDS Co-sponsoring agencies, bi-lateral and private donors, and civil society. The IATT focuses on mobilising commitment to prevention education, acting as a catalyst for the exchange of information about what is known, what is available, and what still needs to be known about how education can be most effective in mitigating the effects of the HIV and AIDS crisis.

It seeks to examine and strengthen existing tools for monitoring and evaluating the responses of education systems to the crisis, identify weaknesses in these responses and overcome these weaknesses, analyse what is known to strengthen information and materials exchange, and stimulate research and evidence-based policy-making.

The HEARD Mobile Task Team would also like to acknowledge the members of its Global Readiness Survey research team which include Peter Badcock-Walters, Daniel Wilson, Wendy Heard, Christopher Desmond and Marelize Görgens; Prof. Michael Kelly and Rose Smart provided valuable advice, and Cathy Connolly provided additional statistical analysis. Thanks are also due to John Mendelsohn and Michael Morrissey for piloting the GRS in Namibia and Jamaica respectively.

GCE would like to thank Kate Carroll, Anne Jellema, David Archer, Maysa Jalbout, Wouter Van Der Schaaf and Diego Postigo for their support throughout the project. Coordinating the national level work were Angelina Lunga, Jean Claude Fignole, Anne Marie Hadcroft, Branimir Torrico, Tito Lopez, Mr Brian Gilligan, Emmanuelle Abruix, Ramesh Joshi, Ms Suman, Justice Egware, Joe Makano, Sileye Gorbal Sy, Matarr Baldeh, Adelaide Sosseh Gaye, Assibi Napoe, Eulalie Nibizi, Mamadou Diallo, Lydia Aku Adajawah, Juliana Adu-Gyamfi, Kamilia Ibrahim Kuku, Nydeng Gordon, Mubark Ali Yagoub, Peter Modison Yugu, Elizabeth Baroudi, Bruna Siricio, Mahjoub M. Mhajoub, Fred Mwesigye, Salome Anyoti, Blastus Mwizarubi, Njeri M. Kinyoho, Wambua Nzioka, Vincent Mwakima, Olad Farah, Otieno Aluoka, Emily Kioko-Echessa and Light Wilson Aganwo .

Justine Sass edited the text. Design and layout was undertaken by Corinne Hayworth. Paintings are used with the kind permission of Catherine Marinet. Development Cooperation Ireland (DCI) provided financial support for the publication of this report.