A Sector Specific Guide for the Development of HIV/AIDS Workplace Programs
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Read the IFC Press Release
One of the primary goals of the CCA HIV/AIDS Initiative is to provide CCA members with the appropriate tools, resources and contacts necessary to strengthen each company's response to HIV/AIDS. A number of organizations are developing guides or toolkits covering a variety of sectors, regions and scenarios. These guides are useful in providing step-by-step approaches to HIV/AIDS program and policy design. One such resource is the "HIV/AIDS Guide for the Mining Sector: A Resource for Developing Stakeholder Competency and Compliance in Mining Communities in Southern Africa," developed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The IFC "HIV/AIDS Guide for the Mining Sector" offers a compendium of resources including tools, information and strategies that will help mining companies and others within the mining communities to implement HIV/AIDS programs in the workplace. IFC is piloting the Guide with several mining companies in Southern Africa. Initial training sessions and ongoing support is offered in the adaptation and implementation of the guide to company-specific needs.
The HIV/AIDS Initiative recently formed a partnership with the IFC against AIDS program, which will be assisting the CCA HIV/AIDS Initiative in conducting a series of seminars on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the private sector. IFC will work closely with CCA on the design of sector specific impact analysis and curriculum design for these upcoming meetings. CCA will be adapting this guide for other sectors starting with the Oil and Gas sector.
Why was the Guide developed?
Mining communities constitute one of the most important and influential sectors in Southern Africa. They are also communities that are being severely impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The Guide is intended to support the development of HIV/AIDS competencies and compliance in stakeholders and organizations operating in mining communities across Southern Africa.
The Southern African mining sector comprises a range of actors, including small scale miners, mining companies, suppliers, contractors and associated industries, national ministries, NGOs, labor unions and research institutions. Similar to mining companies in the region, large oil companies in Africa are also engaged in many aspects of the industry, including upstream operations (oil and gas exploration, development and production), downstream operations (refining and marketing) and the trading and shipping of crude oil and petroleum products.
The Guide will assist companies in providing HIV/AIDS services not only to direct company employees, but also to suppliers, distributors, and surrounding communities, In addition, the Guide supports the companies in targeting the needs of employees in high-risk positions and in customer-critical areas. For example, in the oil industry, programs focused on field-based oil workers are essential as they are considered to be high risk because of their distance from their spouses; their comparatively high disposable incomes; single sex housing while on location; and the presence of sexual networking at these locations. (See the ChevronTexaco Nigeria Case Study for more information regarding the business case for the oil and gas sector)
Who will use the Guide?
The primary users of the Mining Guide will be emerging mining companies, trade unions, organizations providing goods or services to the large mining companies (e.g. contractors and service providers) and stakeholders from other related sectors (e.g. construction and transport). For ease of reference these diverse users are referred to throughout the Guide as contractors.
The secondary users of the Guide will be large mining companies with well-established HIV/AIDS programs, the partners of these companies, such as the Chambers of Mines, training and research institutions, government ministries, NGOs, consultants - from geologists to jewelers - and even SMMEs and informal sector operations. Similar types of users in other industries can also use an adaptation of the Guide.
Why focus on the contractors?
There are multiple organizations - some small, some larger - that interface with mining, such as contractors, suppliers, service providers or partners. For example, in many mining companies at any point in time, there could be as many contractors on site as permanent employees of the company. Understanding that contractors and employees interact with one another, and that the spread of HIV occurs within sexual and social networks, mining companies have identified that the lack of opportunity to involve contractors in their workplace HIV/AIDS program or to ensure that contracting companies have their own synergistic programs undermines the effectiveness of their own HIV/AIDS programs.
The Guide was therefore developed to assist in addressing this problem; whether it is used by the mining companies as a resource in their interactions with their contractors, or by the contractors themselves. As many large companies often have large networks of contractors, the guide could be adapted to many different sectors to address these issues.
The Guide may be used when:
- Embarking on an HIV/AIDS response;
- Tackling a particular intervention for the first time;
- Reviewing an existing HIV/AIDS response, with a view to modifying and strengthening the response; or
- Reviewing a particular intervention for similar reasons.
The Guide can also be used when assisting others, such as contractors, suppliers, unions and partners to establish or strengthen their HIV/AIDS responses. Because the users and the contexts within which the Guide will be applied will vary considerably, adaptation of the tools and score cards will make them more relevant and useful, and users are encouraged to make whatever modifications are necessary to suit their situations and needs.
The Guide was developed following an assessment of current responses to HIV/AIDS by the mining sector (conducted by Golder Associates Ltd. in association with CARE Canada, in 2002), and involved periodic consultation and dialogue with IFC and specifically the IFC Against AIDS program, and mining and social development specialists from the Corporation. For more information, contact Sabine Durier at sdurier@ifc.org
