The UNESCO Office for Pacific States in collaboration with the Papua New Guinea Department of Education (through the Gender and HIV Unit) organized an HIV and AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Framework Development Workshop in November 2013. The aim of the workshop was to improve the coordinated and harmonised education sector response to HIV and AIDS education in Papua New Guinea.
The workshop focused on collecting stakeholders’ feedback on the development of an HIV and AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the education sector based on a UNESCO publication “Measuring the education sector response to HIV and AIDS. Guidelines for the construction and use of core indicators” (September 2013). This publication aimed to provide Ministries of Education and other education stakeholders involved in country responses to HIV and AIDS clear guidelines on the construction and use of 15 core indicators to measure the education sector response to HIV and AIDS. The new indicators were rigorously tested in the field between 2009 and 2012 and the guidelines were endorsed by the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on Education in February 2013 after extensive national, regional and international consultations.
The overall objectives of the workshop in PNG were:
i) To advocate for and disseminate the International Global HIV and AIDS Indicators to national HIV and AIDS stakeholders and provincial focal points;
ii) To develop an implementation plan for the integration of selected indicators in education management information systems (EMIS) and/or other existing monitoring and evaluation systems; and
iii) To share with participants the draft outline for the HIV and AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation framework and receive feedback to develop and refine the framework.
Eleven representatives from various provinces of Papua New Guinea attended the consultation.
The first day gave the participants an overview of the Papua New Guinea HIV and AIDS Policy for the Education System 2012-2016 which focused on: prevention for students, care and support for students, prevention, care and support of the education workforce, and managing the education response to HIV. Mr. Eddie Sarufa, Manager of the HIV and Gender Unit, led the session and stressed the importance of monitoring, evaluation and research related to HIV within the education sector. He emphasised the role of UNESCO in assisting the national education sector to develop an HIV and AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to ensure the effective implementation of the Policy on HIV and AIDS.
Day 2 commenced with a briefing on the development of the Global Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for a Comprehensive Education Sector Response to HIV and AIDS and the draft toolkit for data collection of indicators. Participants were divided into groups of three to discuss and identify which of the global indicators were relevant to and applicable in Papua New Guinea including those that could be used in the Annual School Census (ASC) and the School-based Survey (SBS).
The focus of Day 3 was on how to further improve ASC and SBS questionnaires based on the recommended global indicators and to exchange views on the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders to effectively support the implementation of the framework. A follow up work plan was established to further review the selected indicators to ensure their consistency with the UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) indicator criteria checklist. The second review of the draft will be completed in early 2014.
Contact: Toshiyuki Matsumoto, UNESCO Office in Apia at t.matsumoto@unesco.org
Related Links:
Papua New Guinea HIV and AIDS Policy for the Education System 2012-2016
Monitoring and Evaluation for the Education Sector response to HIV & AIDS
UNESCO Office in Apia website