Mobilisation
Since its creation in 2003, SIDA-ENTREPRISES organises, each year, a meeting for mobilising the Private Sector for the prevention of STIs of HIV-AIDS in a different country. These meeting helped 5 countries to:
- assess the state of play and obtain information about the latest techniques for fighting HIV-AIDS at national and entrepreneurial level;
- incite enterprises to develop or to set-up their own programme for fighting HIV-AIDS with the use of tools provided to that effect (existing bodies, doctors, documents, advice…) ;
- step up the process for the creation of a coalition or for subscribing to existing ones.

In 2008 : Meeting for mobilising the Private Sector in order to respond to needs in the field of STIs and HIV-AIDS in Antananarivo (Madagascar)
Madagascar remains, up to this day, among the countries having a low HIV prevalence (less than 1% according to the UNAIDS 2008 report), but there is still the danger of virus propagation due to the fact that there are a number of risk factors, which is why this meeting helped create awareness among enterprise leaders about the necessity of prevention among employees rather than being in a situation where treatment would be needed.

This meeting was organized with the support of the National AIDS Committee (NAC) and of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). This meeting attracted around 170 participants of which 20% were enterprise leaders and 49% were coordinators.

In the first part of the meeting, a number of presentations and testimonials made it possible to sensitise enterprise leaders on the importance of including a programme for fighting AIDS in their internal strategy (presentations, interventions, testimonials…). The second day made it possible for participants to acquire enough knowledge to set-up and/or to strengthen their programme for fighting HIV-AIDS within their enterprise and to translate ad hoc actions into sustainable programmes (workshops, field visits to committed enterprises…). This meeting led to expected results as a number of enterprises contacted the NAC and the Coalition d’entreprises citoyennes de Madagascar (CECM).
Report on the meeting (in french).

In 2007 : meeting for mobilising the Private Sector in view of fighting HIV-AIDS in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
Burkina Faso has a high prevalence rate estimated at 2% [World Bank, 2008], which is why this meeting was timely for motivating Burkinabè enterprises for taking action at their level.  

These two days were organised with a numbers of collaborators including: David Guiré, ILO/USDOL project coordinator, Pjiame Djiré from l’AARCOSIS, Aoua Ngargouni from AAS, Augustin Sankara from KASABATI, Hamidou Salogo from URBLS, Dr Martine Bonou, a doctor who works for enterprises including ACCOR, etc.

The first day included a number of presentations to describe the state of play at national and entrepreneurial levels in the field of fighting AIDS in Burkina Faso. This first mobilization day was a success as it included 160 participants. The second day was a « workshop day ». (Cf. heading « technical support » in Africa).  

In 2006: meeting for mobilising the Private Sector in Casablanca (Morocco)
Over the last few years, Morocco was lucky enough to have a very low prevalence rate which was around 0,1% in 2007 [UNAIDS, 2008]. This is the reason why it is vital to start quickly the sensitisation programmes in order to prevent the pandemic from growing. 

With the help of the ALCS (Association against AIDS), chaired by Pr Hakima Himmich and SIDA-ENTREPRISES, « SIDA-ENTREPRISES Morocco » [NB: the name was taken but there is no link with the hierarchy of SIDA-ENTREPRISES in France. SIDA-ENTREPRISES Morocco is a Moroccan coalition] organised a two-day workshop. Representatives of a number of Moroccan enterprises seized this opportunity for sharing experiences in fighting HIV. Le level of services, the relevance of interventions and the quality of exchanges during this seminar were highly appreciated.

In 2004, the first meeting was held in Douala (Cameroon).

In 2005, the meeting was held in Dakar (Senegal).

For each country mission, the SIDA-ENTREPRISES staff meet NGOs and associations who are essential partners for subsidiaries of member enterprises in the fields of sensitisation, training, screening and overall care. SIDA-ENTREPRISES establishes the first contact before advising member enterprises to choose their partners according to their specific needs. (Cf. "Partners" heading)

Updated : May, 11th 2009