In vast areas of Sub-Saharan Africa HIV/AIDS threatens to destroy decades of investment in economic and social development. The AIDS epidemic is presenting particular challenges to the education sector, not least by hindering its capacity to deliver quality education for all. The human resource base is rapidly eroding, as are the number of individuals expected to seek and receive its services.

Sub-Saharan Africa has pronounced its commitment to a regional approach to combat HIV/AIDS at several occasions. Currently, a set of documents, including Action Programmes, Country Preparedness, Reports and Regional Strategies are available. Additional to this regional approach, most of the SADC member countries have specific HIV/AIDS and Education, Impact Studies and country strategies. Despite all these efforts, the education sector continues to face three major problems: (i) a lack of openness and awareness regarding the damaging impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector, (ii) a lack of expertise and ‘good practices’ to translate HIV/AIDS strategies into concrete action, and (iii) insufficient funds available to implement nationwide HIV/AIDS and education programmes.

This paper provides an overview of how UNESCO Harare strives to merge UNESCO’s global strategy for HIV/AIDS preventive education and Sub-Regional strategies, of how it defines its specific role in the crowded arena of HIV/AIDS and Education and the kind of activities it currently supports. UNESCO Harare’s HIV/AIDS and Education Programme is funded by the Belgian Government through a Funds-in-Trust Agreement.

UNESCO’s Education Sector response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic should concentrate on two main goals:

• Minimize the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector
• Maximize the impact of preventive education on the mitigation of the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The purpose of preventive education is to promote health and prevent disease by providing the knowledge, the attitudes, the skills and the means to foster and sustain behaviour that reduces risk, improves care and lessens the impact of illness. Preventive education also tackles how key institutions for development such as the education and the health sector can be protected or – if necessary - restructured to perform their core duties. Preventive education therefore also addresses caring for the infected and the affected.

In summary, UNESCO Harare’s priority in preventive education in the Southern African Region is directed towards five core tasks and accommodates the following objectives:

Policy development and advocacy at all levels

• Develop policies and programmes to ensure that HIV/AIDS prevention is fully integrated into national education strategies, both in formal and non-formal education programmes, and advocate policies and programmes at all levels.
• Monitor and document the development and implementation of national education policies in the SADC area and promote advocacy at all levels.
• Strengthen the development of a sub-regional database on HIV/AIDS preventive education.
• Promote exchange of information and personnel among the SADC member States on HIV/AIDS and education related issues.

Changing risk behaviour and vulnerability

• Ensure the scientific validity and cultural sensitivity of the information/materials of preventive education programmes.
• Develop AIDS curriculum content and processes for its integration into mainstream education curricula and non-formal-education programmes.
• Develop or strengthen pre- and in- service teacher-training packages on HIV/AIDS preventive education.
• To impart knowledge and skills which are life enhancing to both learners and teachers.
• Establish systems to link school health services with community health services.
• Build partnerships with parents, community and religious leaders, civil society and international groups in support of HIV/AIDS preventive education.
• Promote an AIDS research network in preventive education in the SADC region

Caring for the infected and affected

• Support efforts that make education provision more flexible to meet the needs of young people affected by HIV/AIDS.
• Support programmes that minimize the fear and discrimination for people, infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

Coping with the institutional impact of HIV/AIDS

• Develop specific programmes and tools to build the capacity of education policy-makers and managers to adequately respond to and mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector.
• Increase the capacity of countries to research, monitor and evaluate progress in preventive education.

Resource mobilization

• Mobilize resources for HIV/AIDS preventive education, specifically to support the implementation of national strategies on HIV/AIDS and education and to meet the needs of vulnerable groups such as orphans, the poor, young girls and women and out-of-school youth.

In addition, three rapid response areas to maximize the positive impact of education on reducing HIV/AIDS transmission are recommended for the most affected countries. These are:

• Policies to ensure comprehensive educational programmes for AIDS orphans, children who head households, and children displaced as a result of AIDS.
• Integrating AIDS education into non-formal education programmes through community-based structures and constituencies.
• Developing innovative education programmes for young girls whose HIV risk and vulnerability are increasing rapidly.

The SADC region witnesses an increasing number of actors in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Governments, NGOs, CBOs, donors and Faith Based Organizations are all present in the area of HIV/AIDS and education. As a consequence, duplication as well as conflicting and even contradicting approaches have started to appear. Hence, the coordination of HIV/AIDS preventive education programmes is of paramount importance. UNESCO Harare’s role is therefore:

• To network with all parties involved.
• To bridge the gap between policies/strategies and their actual implementation.
• To monitor and evaluate ongoing initiatives in HIV/AIDS preventive education.
• To identify, document and promote good practices.
• To disseminate information .
• To provide technical backstopping.
• To assist in the development of financing proposals.

In order to achieve this, UNESCO Harare has to be present at all levels of the education sector. However, the delivery, success and impact of HIV/AIDS and education programmes will ultimately be assessed at the level of the schools and colleges. Within the framework of national HIV/AIDS and education strategies, we therefore prioritise the strengthening of school and college based initiatives.