Firew Bekele Afework, President NIFECM Hans J Schwass, ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant Abstract MOAD0403 Oral presentation ICASA 2011 Addis Ababa, 5 December “Light the darkness of HIV” Campaign night

Partnership between labour movements at global and country level  LO/FTF Council (Danish Trade Union Organisation) Funding and technical expertise  ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions, Geneva) Expertise in Workplace Interventions  NIFECM (National Industrial Federation of Energy, Chemical and Mine Trade Unions, Ethiopia) Implementation of the project 2

 Reduce HIV infections in the mining sector in Ethiopia  Address stigma and discrimination Workers, their families and surrounding communities 3

 Development of an HIV and AIDS policy for the Federation and a model HIV/AIDS workplace policy  Interactive workshops with unionists  Respect of the Ethiopian national policy framework and the National Tripartite HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy  Training of union activists as peer educators  Skills to negotiate workplace policies with companies and include HIV/AIDS clauses in collective bargaining agreements 4

 329 activists (of whom 40% women) were trained as peer educators  Training of women to address their special vulnerability; female condoms were introduced  A leaflet on basic facts about HIV and AIDS was published in Amharic for mass distribution and the ICEM Manual on Collective Bargaining on HIV/AIDS was translated into Amharic  A tool kit for peer educators was produced  Union peer educators have carried the message of HIV and AIDS awareness prevention to workplaces and communities  Local authorities, farmers’ associations and traditional and religious have also been involved  Some 20,800 workers& individuals were reached with awareness, preventions and behaviour al change messages.  Close to 1800 individuals were reached with VCT programs.  9000 leaflets, 3000 broachers,1500 newspapers, 500 bulletins and 11,000 condoms were distributed 5

6 “VCT center at local Bus station” Give me Condoms?

 Projects have to be developed on the ground in consultation with target groups  Relevance for and commitment of implementing partners  Material has to be published in local languages and has to take into consideration the literacy level of the target groups  The role of the workplace in fighting HIV infections has been greatly underestimated  Trade unions are rooted in the communities; they have a solid membership and democratic structures  Trade unions can spread awareness and prevention messages and advocate VCT 7

8  When new infections continue to outpace the number of people starting treatment, prevention is the answer  The workplace is the ideal intervention point  Social dialogue with employers is a key to joint action  Sustainability can be achieved if employers are convinced that small investments in HIV work reap large benefits in terms of less absenteeism and lower health costs  The Ethiopian HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO) should extend support to HIV/AIDS workplace programmes  The principal recipient of Global Fund grants in Ethiopia should consider workplace actors as sub-recipients for grants

Information on the work of trade unions in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic and about the project can be found on the website of the ICEM You can also contact 9