Joint ILO/UNESCO Caribbean Sub-regional Workshop: Improving responses to HIV/AIDS in education sector workplaces
In 2005, UNESCO joined forces with the ILO to spearhead the development of an HIV and AIDS workplace strategy for the Caribbean which has as its objective the development of a model workplace policy and related resource materials for use by education authorities, staff and stakeholders at national and institutional levels of a nation’s education system. The joint ILO/UNESCO workshop was the result of collaboration between ILO Geneva (Sectoral Activities Department – SECTOR - and the Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work – ILO/AIDS), the ILO Sub regional Office for the Caribbean in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, national project coordinators for the ILO International HIV/AIDS Workplace Programme in participating countries, UNESCO Paris and the UNESCO regional office for the Caribbean in Jamaica. The workshop was organized under the auspices of an ILO-initiated programme begun in 2004-2005 to enhance a sectoral approach to HIV/AIDS education sector workplaces (the action programme on A sectoral approach to HIV/AIDS at the workplace) and as a complement to the ILO’s Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS in the world of work, adopted in 2001.
ILO and UNESCO jointly developed the model policy, which was modified and validated by representatives of Ministries of Education and Labour, teacher trade unions, private employers and National AIDS Councils/Commissions from Caribbean countries during the tripartite workshop. The policy includes key concepts and principles of the ILO code of practice, international recommendations on teachers and related international labour standards. It has been designed for adaption and use by education practitioners in conceiving, implementing and evaluating their own policies to meet the needs of schools, technical and vocational training sites and universities.
ILO and UNESCO jointly developed the model policy, which was modified and validated by representatives of Ministries of Education and Labour, teacher trade unions, private employers and National AIDS Councils/Commissions from Caribbean countries during the tripartite workshop. The policy includes key concepts and principles of the ILO code of practice, international recommendations on teachers and related international labour standards. It has been designed for adaption and use by education practitioners in conceiving, implementing and evaluating their own policies to meet the needs of schools, technical and vocational training sites and universities.