EI EFAIDS Programme Thrives in Post-Conflict West Africa
The electric generator was running outside the classroom and the rain pounded on the corrugated zinc roof. The noise might have been a distraction to some, but not to the 30 EFAIDS participants of the National Teachers Association of Liberia (NTAL). 30 teachers met in Monrovia, motivated, focussed, and thirsty for information. The workshop, conducted by Odete Cossa of the WHO, Emanuel Fatoma of EI, Scott Pulizzi of EDC was designed to give participants the skills to serve as master trainers and advocates for both EFA and HIV programmes and policies in their union.
Over four days participants learned about the basics of HIV, how to teach skills-based education, and how to advocate for quality education. Participants were led through interactive sessions of group work, role plays, and demonstrations. Central to the training was the recently published EI toolkit: Leadership in the HIV and AIDS Response.
The programme-launching workshop was auspiciously held alongside the NTAL national congress. This afforded participants from both events to share information and join in solidarity for the causes of democracy and development through education. The workshop was closed by the outgoing president Margaret Flomo. Her leadership and support for the programme was just the right way to send the 30 participants off to fulfil their mission as master trainers.
After the training in Monrovia the team of EI, WHO, EDC and the NTAL EFAIDS Coordinator, Louise Kawah, headed northwest overland up the coast to Sierra Leone. Checkpoint after checkpoint they finally passed through the border and made their way to Freetown the following day. In Freetown they met 25 teachers from the Sierra Leone Teachers Union (SLTU) for an EFAIDS refresher training. The original training, held eighteen months ago, covered the same topics as the training in Liberia. This time around though, the team found a tremendously skilled and sophisticated group ready to take the SLTU programme to the next level.
The participants honed their skills on training strategies and participatory methods. The group also made significant contributions to a new EI toolkit currently in development. The toolkit, sponsored by WHO, is designed to help teachers and their unions link the EFAIDS programme to a broader range of health issues affecting them and their learners. This includes alcohol abuse, chronic diseases, and malaria, among others.
