United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural OrganizationUNESCO organised a planning workshop for its staff involved in supporting comprehensive education sector responses to HIV and AIDS through the UNAIDS initiative EDUCAIDS,, from 8 to 10 December 2009 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Participants came from UNESCO offices in Eastern and Southern Africa as well as the UNESCO Regional Bureau of Education in Africa (BREDA), based in Dakar. The workshop was co-organised by UNESCO’s regional team on HIV and AIDS based in Johannesburg and the Section on HIV and AIDS at UNESCO HQ.
Participants were presented with new planning tools including a draft Global strategic plan for promoting and supporting EDUCAIDS implementation and a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E;) framework for EDUCAIDS prepared by UNESCO HQ. The interactive methodology provided participants with the opportunity to comment on the tools in order to improve them and adapt them to the regional context.
Participants’ feedback highlighted the importance of this workshop in enabling them to better plan strategically and operationally, and to clarify M&E; issues related to EDUCAIDS. The Strategic Plan was appreciated as offering the opportunity to make UNESCO’s support to EDUCAIDS more upstream, a strategic approach identified as a key need in the region. It was also seen as a tool to enable more coordinated planning processes for EDUCAIDS with other stakeholders, including UN agencies, with a much clearer role for UNESCO. Participants said they could use the Strategic Plan as a tool for resource mobilisation with donors, and that it would improve reporting and communication on HIV-related activities in the region.
At the request of BREDA, a similar workshop will be organised in French for UNESCO staff from West and Central Africa in 2010.