Introduction
The EFAIDS Programme is implemented by 46 teachers' unions in 35 countries and is coordinated by Education International together with its partners the WHO and EDC.
It deals with two main issues. First Education for All. This sees teachers and their unions working to ensure that children get free access to quality public education (Education for All or EFA). Second HIV and AIDS. Here teachers gain the knowledge and skills they need to protect themselves, their colleagues and students from HIV infection and AIDS. Within these two main areas the EFAIDS programme deals with related issues such as the elimination of child labour, developing gender safe schools and combating stigma and discrimination.
Starting in 2001 EI and its partner organisations ran two separate programmes on EFA and HIV/AIDS education. In 2006 they merged to become the EFAIDS Programme. Since then EFAIDS has been implemented by teachers unions in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean - from India to Haiti and from Peru to Tanzania. It has seen teachers in these countries demonstrating great drive to preserve life, to promote quality education and to provide a brighter future for teachers, children and society as a whole.
The rationale of joining EFA and HIV/AIDS under one umbrella is as follows. If Education for All is not achieved and if children cannot get to school, they will not receive the education they need to protect themselves from HIV infection. By that same token, if HIV infection is not prevented, there will no longer be enough teachers in the classrooms to provide quality education. In other words, a lack of education will exacerbate the AIDS crisis just as the AIDS crisis can bring the education sector to its knees. So the response has to tackle both sides.
The HIV and AIDS component of the EFAIDS Programme functions via a cascading system through which over 150,000 teachers have already received training. Aside from learning HIV prevention skills, the training has also provided teachers with capacities to lobby their governments to institutionalise training on HIV and AIDS. On EFA, they have also pushed their governments to grant free Education for All and to improve the quality of education by recruiting more teachers, providing ongoing training and bettering school infrastructure. Together teachers and their organisations are making the difference!
