The Indicators Working Group of the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Education convened an international meeting of experts to develop a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework for education sector responses to HIV and AIDS.

The meeting took place on 9-10 November 2009 in London, hosted by the Partnership for Child Development (PCD) of Imperial College, London.

This meeting built on existing work underway since 2008 by WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO, Save the Children (US), and PCD through the FRESH (Focusing Resources on Effective School Health) Initiative to develop a generic and holistic M&E framework for school-based health and nutrition and HIV prevention interventions.

To contribute to the HIV prevention aspect of the framework, the Indicators Working Group commissioned a review of internationally-recognised methods and instruments to measure the process and outcomes of education sector HIV & AIDS programmes.

This review found that while much excellent work is taking place internationally, in countries and amongst agencies, much remains to be done before an M&E framework and accompanying indicators can be identified that will facilitate the work of the education sector in the field of HIV and that would command international recognition.

The meeting aimed to:

• Reach agreement on an appropriate structure for an M&E framework for education sector responses to HIV;
• Achieve consensus on the criteria for the prioritisation of indicators to be included in the framework; and
• Critically assess the indicators identified in the review, identify gaps and develop additional indicators, where necessary and appropriate.