1 UN HIV/AIDS PERSONNEL POLICY and THE UNDP “WE CARE” INITIATIVE IN THE WORK PLACE Milly Katana, Global Advisor JPO Regional Workshop, Nov. 2002

2 Background to “We Care” Initiative UN HIV/AIDS Personnel Policy approved by the Executive Heads of all UN organizations, through the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), in April 1991 The June 2001 UN General Assembly-Special Session on HIV/AIDS, calling for development of workplace policies that protect the rights and dignity of people living with HIV/AIDS in the workplace 2 UN HIV/AIDS Personnel Policy

3 Why We Care Now? The Spread of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic is Reversible UN Agencies are advocating for Generating an Extraordinary Response: Nation-wide Multi-sector Gender sensitive Response, with Results

4 Why should the UN Care? Because HIV/AIDS is a problem affecting the UN the same way it affects the rest of the community Silence surrounding the epidemic is making it difficult in many countries for SMs and eligible dependants to benefit from existing care schemes UNDP has a global mandate of creating an enabling environment for countries to effectively respond to HIV/AIDS The enabling environment must, first and foremost, be created in the UN work place

5 Why the Initiative? The value UN places on its staff and other personnel to deliver its mandate The commitment of the Administrator to fully support staff members and their dependants who are affected and living with HIV/AIDS The opportunity to enhance the caring culture of UN for its staff who face serious situations that may impair them from performing their duties

6 Aims of the “We Care” Initiative To stimulate reflection and discussion on complex issues underlying the HIV/AIDS challenge so as to engage all SMs and other personnel in a common action that will support an HIV/AIDS competent workplace To enhance capacity of UN country offices to support SMs and their dependants, with particular emphasis on access to care and treatment

7 “We Care” Initiative: Objectives 1 To ensure full implementation of the UN Personnel Policy on HIV/AIDS and the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS in the world of Work To ensure that all SMs and their dependants have at any given time 100% access to antiretroviral treatment To facilitate access to adequate care, treatment and support to all SMs

8 “We Care” Initiative: Objectives 2 To ensure that all SMs and their eligible dependants have access to voluntary confidential counseling and testing (VCT) To enhance prevention through information, education and training so as to reduce personal vulnerability To ensure protection of the rights of those affected by HIV/AIDS To provide a supportive workplace environment free from discrimination and stigmatization of those affected and or living with HIV/AIDS

9 Mode of Implementing the “We Care” Initiative Phase 1: Formal Training for Staff in 18 countries Launch activities in 10 countries Phase 2: Assessment of performance of the initial 10 countries and expansion to an additional 10 countries

10 Resources Available for Implementation Specific Resources The “We Care” Team The “We Care” Project Manager Provision for External Facilitators The Global “We Care” Advisor Budget of up to $30,000 for year 1 activities General Resources -The Office of Human Resources (OHR) Team in HQ -The Special Initiative on HIV/AIDS Team in the Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) -Expertise from all UN Agencies operating at Country Level

11 UN HIV/AIDS Personnel Policy: Highlights A. Information and education B. Testing, counselling and confidentiality C. Terms of appointment and service D. Health insurance benefits 11 UN HIV/AIDS Personnel Policy

12 Other UN Workplace Initiatives Access, Care, Treatment and Inter- Organizational Needs (ACTION) financed by UNAIDS Caring for Us-Financed by UNICEF Other efforts Inter-agency Task Team on HIV/AIDS in the World of Work Inter-agency Advisory Group on HIV/AIDS UNAIDS Learning Strategy, etc

13 Key themes of the ILO Code Prevention of HIV/AIDS Management and mitigation of the impact of HIV/AIDS in the workplace Care and support of workers infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS Elimination of stigma and discrimination on the basis of real or perceived HIV/AIDS status

14 Overriding Principle in the Code of Practice The key principle for implementation is applying the Rights-based approach to HIV/AIDS in the work place It has 10 general principles

15 10 Principles in the ILO Code Recognition of HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue Non-discrimination Gender equality Health work environment Social dialogue Prohibition of screening for purposes of exclusion from employment Confidentiality Continuation of employment Prevention Care and support

16 Important Policy Issues to Remember-1 UN Staff living with HIV/AIDS are entitled to the same rights and opportunities as other staff with serious and life threatening illnesses Health Insurance coverage is available for all eligible UN staff and their dependants regardless of HIV/AIDS Status UN SMs and their dependants must be provided with up-to-date information to enable them to protect themselves and their dependants, and to cope with the presence of HIV/AIDS in their lives as well as within UN work environment

17 Important Policy Issues to Remember-2 UN/UNDP does not oblige any SMs or other personnel living with HIV/AIDS to inform the organization or any of his/her colleagues of his/her status No UNDP SMs and other personnel can be forced to take an HIV test Confidential and Voluntary Counseling should be available to all UN/UNDP staff members and their dependents All UN SMs and other personnel, together with their dependants should have access to a consistent supply of quality condoms

18 Important Policy Issues to Remember-3 All UN SMs and other personnel must have access to disposable syringes and needles All UN SMs and other personnel must have access to safe blood and plasma expanders UN SMs and other personnel who are living with HIV/AIDS must not be subject to any form of stigmatization, harassment or discrimination, and have the right for their medical information to be kept confidential

19 What’s there-1 Goodwill among top management to support staff Basic information on HIV/AIDS Efforts to raise the profile of HIV/AIDS not only among UN agencies but country wide Formal training among some UN agencies in management of HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue Inter-agency collaboration in workplace programs

20 What’s there-2 Prevention technology support including condoms Death in the staff ranks from HIV/AIDS Staff members directly affected by HIV/AIDS “Confidence” that enough intervention is in place The MIP and Van Breda Schemes for Health Care

21 What is missing-1 Trust and confidence among staff in top management and the institution to deal with HIV/AIDS Clarity on what is available in terms of policy between HQs and COs A deep appreciation of how HIV/AIDS affects UNDP as an institution Denial among especially national SMs on the risks posed by HIV/AIDS on the UN workforce in the countries

22 What is missing-2 Clarity on the difference between program support and in-house support to SMs and dependants Delineating staff support to other agencies (not UNDP) Actionable intentions for supporting SMs to build confidence in the organization Active support to personnel who are not on a fixed-term arrangement with the organization

23 What is missing-3 Time committed to staff development

24 What is Possible-1 To match the goodwill and actions that support SMs and dependants to deal with HIV/AIDS Alignment at all levels on issues of policy and practice Resource Mobilization in-country for staff activities

25 What is Possible-2 Generating a deeper understanding among SMs on HIV/AIDS and how it affects us in the UN Engaging all SMs to integrate HIV/AIDS in their different work-lives/areas Use of the UN RC system to support other workplaces in strengthening their interventions

26 What is Possible-3 Assign some permanent SM the responsibility of staff welfare including HIV/AIDS Having an AIDS competent UN workplace free from fear, stigma and discrimination

27 WE CARE COUNTRIES Formal Training-18 Angola Botswana Cameroon Central African Republic Fiji Haiti India Kazakhstan Kenya Malawi Mozambique Namibia Nigeria Congo-DR South Africa Uganda USA Zimbabwe 10-Demonstration Countries Botswana Egypt Haiti Lesotho Malaysia Mozambique Namibia South Africa Swaziland Ukraine Additional 10 countries

28 A.C.T.I.O.N. COUNTRIES-11 Cambodia Ethiopia India Ivory Coast Nigeria Rwanda Senegal Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

29 Way Forward Continued support to the teams in the Initial 10 countries-Networking and capacity enhancement Additional 10 countries-2003 By 2005, scale up the Initiative to all UN country Offices

30 Selection of the Countries Emphasis on the levels of prevalence A balance on regions