PPP in Guyana with USAID

Business sector gets high marks for commitment to HIV/AIDS workplace programmes

More than 20,000 workers reached through partnership with USAID-GHARP

Friday, May 19th 2006

United States Ambassador to Guyana Roland Bullen and Scotia Bank Country Director Ian Cooper sign the document confirming the Bank's partnership with USAID-GHARP for the implementation of an HIV/AIDS workplace programme. Witnesses to the signing include U USAID/Guyana HIV/AIDS Reduction and Prevention (USAID-GHARP) Project Country Director Kwame Asiedu has told Stabroek Business that the response of the local private sector to the "partnership" initiative with the United States-funded Project has been "innovative and outstanding." "Business sectors in other countries have HIV/AIDS workplace programmes that focus on training and sensitization. The difference in the Guyana case is that the private sector has gone to great lengths to demonstrate practical commitment to and support for workplace programmes by investing financial and human resources in the programmes," Asiedu said. The USAID-GHARP/ private sector partnership initiative has, through private sector employers, reached more than 20,000 workers and according to Programme Officer Andrea Rohlehr-Mc Adam the response of the local business community to HIV/AIDS as a business issue compares favourably with anywhere else in the region. USAID- GHARP is to further consolidate its "partnership" with the business community with the launch of an Advisory Committee on the Private Sector on May 30. The USAID-GHARP programme is a joint United States/Government of Guyana Project designed to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Guyana. The four-year project was established in 2004. According to the USAID-GHARP officials while a thorough evaluation of the impact of the "partnership" must await full implementation and eventual evaluation, there are already important indications that the private sector is aware of the importance of taking steps to protect business enterprises from skills losses resulting from HIV/AIDS. Twenty local private sector entities including the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, Citizens' Bank, Gafoors, the Linden Economic Advancement Programme and the Demerara Oxygen Company, a subsidiary of the Neal and Massy Group, have already signed on to "partnerships" with USAID-GHARP that commit their entities to designing and implementing workplace HIV/AIDS programmes for their employees and the communities in which their operations are located. According to Programme Officer Gweneth King four of the twenty are currently in the process of creating full-fledged workplace programmes. The creation of workplace programmes involve the setting up of in-house training and education that focuses on prevention, risk-reduction and treatment; establishing linkages with volunteer HIV/AIDS counseling and testing agencies; creating employee-friendly workplaces that foster anti-stigma and discrimination; establishing in-house HIV/AIDS workplace committees and the development of a corporate policy on HIV/AIDS. Last December, the twenty local private sector agencies "signed on" publicly to the partnership with USAID- GHARP at a ceremony held at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel. Under the "partnership" arrangement the USAID-funded project is providing human resource and technical support to the partners in the setting up of the workplace programmes. Stabroek Business has learnt that since last December USAID-GHARP has "recruited" Scotia Bank and the Guyana Lottery Company into "partnership" and that a further twenty-five business entities are "in the queue" to become part of the fight against HIV/AIDS. Technical Services Director Dr Jomo Osborne told Stabroek Business that the Project is encouraged by the response of the business community. "What is particularly encouraging is that business houses are actually approaching us and seeking to be part of the partnership initiative. Rather than simply paying lip service to the idea there are business entities that are allocating time, personnel and in some cases financial resources to implementing workplace programmes," Osborne said. Rohlehr-McAdam told Stabroek Business that USAID-GHARP had taken particular note of the response of some of the country's major business entities to the "partnership" initiative. "You have to be encouraged by the fact that some of the key players in the business community are actually beginning to regard HIV/AIDS as a business issue," she said. The experiences of the business sectors in other countries suggest that Guyana has good reason to be concerned about the potential impact of HIV/AIDS on the business sector. Africa, for example, provides several examples of countries - including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia where HIV/AIDS has impacted on planned private sector expenditure by increasing costs of employee health care and recruitment and training. The incidence of HIV/AIDS is also a factor that is being increasingly taken into account by foreign investors when deciding whether or not to invest in countries. Noting that HIV/AIDS usually has the greatest impact on the working age population USAID-GHARP Programme Officer Gwen King told Stabroek Business that it makes for "good business sense" for the business sector to have HIV/AIDS programmes. "There is reason for the private sector to be concerned and, altruism aside, companies ought to begin to think about their bottom line," King said. King, an Occupational Health and Safety specialist and a former senior public servant with the Ministry of Labour whose responsibilities include planning and implementing workplace training programmes told Stabroek Business that "significant progress" had been made in enhancing private sector interest in the "partnership" project since its initiation. "In the past it has not been that easy. At an earlier stage we encountered difficulties in getting private sector entities to act immediately in terms of providing the time for their employees to be sensitized." Up to 80% of employees in some private sector entities have been fully sensitized. King told Stabroek Business that in order to seek to overcome the challenge posed by the accessibility of some interior workplaces USAID-GHARP is currently working with a local mining company that is making a valuable "outreach contribution" beyond their own workforce and into communities and other workplaces in remote hinterland areas. USAID-GHARP has also provided training for Non-Governmental Organi-zations located in hinterland areas in order to equip them to reach remote workplaces. USAID-GHARP is also currently running a Commercial Sex Workers CSWs) project. Behavior Communication Change Officer Jewel Crosse told Stabroek Business that USAID-GHARP has established "structured lines of communication with persons of influence among CSWs" and has been able to host seminars and other fora for them. "CSWs have had access to information on HIV/AIDS in the past. What USAID-GHARP has done is to put structure to what was already there," Crosse said. A critical phase of the project will "kick in" next year when USAID- GHARP undertakes an evaluation exercise aimed at determining the impact of its partnerships with the private sector. Monitoring and Evaluation Director Dr, Navendra Persaud told Stabroek Business that the real impact of the combined efforts of USAID-GHARP and the private sector can only be properly determined after the evaluation has been completed.