Political Commitment

​COMMUNIQUE “THE HIV/AIDS AND EDUCATION NETWORK FOR EASTERN AFRICA

We, the Focal Point persons for HIV/AIDS and/or representatives of the ministries responsible for education from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania Mainland, Zanzibar, Mozambique and Zambia, attending the 14th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in Africa (ICASA) in Abuja-Nigeria;

Are Grateful to The World Bank for facilitating our participation in the ICASA 2005 and in the several meetings we attended, reiterate our commitment to accelerate the education sector response to HIV/AIDS in our respective countries;

Are Cognizant of the immense potential of the education sector in the prevention and mitigation of impacts of HIV/AIDS – a strategic issue that has already been acknowledged in the overall context of the global and national responses to HIV/AIDS as well as under the UNAIDS Inter Agency Task Team for Education Working Group, EFA/FTI, the World Bank PSRC, among others;

Are in agreement with the overall mission to accelerate Education Sector-Wide response to HIV/AIDS within the participating countries;

Do hereby commit ourselves to greater and wider co-operation and collaboration under the HIV/AIDS and Education Network for Eastern Africa, whose initial major areas of focus in support of the national level responses are:

1 Strategic planning, policy development and institutional support;
2 Forging and maintaining partnership, donor co-ordination, and resource leveraging;
3 Capacity building;
4 Information, Education and Communication management and dissemination; and
5 Research, analytical work, sharing of best practices, and monitoring and evaluation.

And in pursuit of, and towards the full realization of, the already stated mission and objectives of this Network, invite technical, financial and all other forms of support from The World Bank and other bi-lateral and multi-lateral development agencies towards, among others:

the establishment and maintenance of a website for this Network;

extension of assistance by World Bank for HIV/AIDS and Education for purposes of maintaining this Network and its activities; and

convening sub-regional consultative meetings in a period not exceeding six months from the date of this Communiqué of Ministers responsible for education, Permanent Secretaries, and of other relevant stakeholders respectively;

Also undertake to actively seek support and endorsement from our own ministries of education, HIV/AIDS national secretariats and regional organizations such as the AU, SADC, EAC, and ADEA for Network’s activities aimed at enhancing the role of the education sector in eliminating the risk to HIVAIDS infection in the sub-region."

So pledged by:

Communique.doc

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