BLUEPRINT FOR BUSINESS ACTION ON HIV/AIDS WORKPLACE POLICY

1. BLUEPRINT FOR BUSINESS ACTION ON HIV/AIDSWORKPLACE POLICY Rose Kumwenda Program Director, Malawi Business Coalition ICASA 2005 Abuja,Nigeria.

2. Introduction • A policy is a critical component of the building blocks for responding to HIV/AIDS in the workplace • It is a public statement of the organizations position • Creates the foundation for subsequent activities or workplace responses

3. Why a policy ? • Ensures consistency with appropriate national laws or legislations • Lays down a standard of behavior for the employer and employees • Helps employees living with HIV and AIDS to understand what care and support they will receive from their employer if they go for VCT and disclose their status • Guides the employer, supervisors and managers in planning and managing the impact and ultimately saving money

4. Respond to HIV/AIDS in the workplace • Identify HIV as a problem for your workplace • Clarity on the HIV problems to be addressed • Buy in of Management, worker representative and the workers • Commitment from executive management to support, allocate time and resources.

5. When developing a workplace policy • Top management leadership and commitment • Identification of a team leader and a team to facilitate policy development • Understanding how HIV/AIDS is affecting the organisation ,who is affected most, factors increasing their vulnerability and how?

6. Steps to follow Step 1: Problem identification, awareness, buy in , commitment and leadership by top management, employees and their representatives Step 2: Identification of a team leader and election of a committee Step 3: Assessing the current HIV situation in the work setting and finding out how HIV is affecting the organization Step 4: Analyzing and Synthesizing of information Step 5: Drafting of the policy

7. Steps to follow Step 6: Reviewing the draft policy Step 7: Refining and getting the policy approved Step 8: Developing a policy implementation plan with a budget Step 9: Dissemination and execution of the policy Step10: Monitor, review and revise the policy

8. Conclusion • Policy is a statement of intent • Must be put into practice and mainstreamed in the core business of the organization • The policy implementation plan must ensure that it covers, prevention, treatment, care and support • The starting point of implementation is prevention.

9. THANK YOU !