Accelerate Initiative Working Group
The goal of the Accelerate Initiative Working Group is to help countries in
sub-Saharan Africa to accelerate the education sector response to HIV
and AIDS. ‘Accelerate’ means both to quicken something that is already
in motion and to hasten into motion something that is initially
stationary. In support of this goal, the Working Group identified the
following five objectives:
1. To promote leadership by the education sector and create sectoral demand for a response to HIV and AIDS.
2. To harmonize support among development partners, so as to better assist countries and reduce transaction costs.
3. To promote co-ordination with the national AIDS authorities, and enhance access to AIDS funds.
4. To share information on HIV and AIDS that has specific relevance to the education sector.
5. To strengthen the technical content and implementation of the education sector response to HIV and AIDS.
To
address these five objectives, the Working Group developed a plan of
action that began with the participation in sub-regional workshops of
teams, representative of the education sector, including key formal and
non-formal sub-sectors, and teachers’ associations. These workshops
were intended to lead to a common understanding of the role the
education sector could play in responding to HIV and AIDS, and thus to
the emergence of sectoral leadership and action at the country level.
Effective leadership at the country level, combined with appropriate
technical input, is intended to result in more effective sectoral
policies, strategies and implementation plans, and better harmonized
support from country level education donor teams. The philosophy of the
Accelerate Initiative has always been to promote bottom-up planning and
activism, informed by regional and national, proven examples of good
practice. This is intended to lead to the establishment of programs
with strong local ownership, capable of accessing suitable funding and
implementation at all levels of the education sector.
The
Accelerate Initiative, in recognition of the fact that any external
program can only hope to spur on, and contribute to, existing education
sector initiatives aims to build on and strengthen these. It does so
through the provision and dissemination of information on new and
effective technical solutions combined with the stimulation of
political will to further develop appropriate responses.
Workshops
at sub-regional and national levels build on past workshops and are
coordinated with other, similar activities being organized by
development partners. The Initiative is a ‘work in progress’ and, in
addition to working closely with development partners active at
national and regional levels, plans are discussed at the UNAIDS IATT on
Education biannual meetings with the global representatives of the
UNAIDS co-sponsors, bilateral and inter-governmental organizations and
civil society. During these meetings, plans are modified and
consolidated for going forward.