Who we are

The mission of IFC Against AIDS is to protect people and profitability by being a risk management partner, HIV/AIDS expert and catalyst for action where HIV/AIDS is threatening sustainable development.

This mission statement encapsulates our strategy and role in the area of HIV/AIDS, as a development organization (in all regions), as a risk management partner and an HIV/AIDS expert (particularly in Africa), and as a catalyst for action (in regions where the overall rate of infection is relatively low, but where new infections are increasing rapidly – the “hot spots” for HIV/AIDS today, namely Russia, China, and India).

This strategy is based on the analysis of not only the epidemic's dynamics, globally as well as in the countries in which we operate, but also of private sector engagement on HIV/AIDS, including IFC’s own clients, and of the relative strengths of IFC with respect to those dynamics. It also drives the implementation and resource allocation priorities of the program (e.g. focus on Africa, preliminary presence on the ground in India, assessment of implementation conditions in Russia, raising awareness about the epidemic in China).

Our vision is to leverage the influence and comparative advantages of IFC in the fight against HIV/AIDS as the influence of IFC’s involvement on HIV/AIDS is greater than our actual programmatic presence.

Ultimately the goal of the program is to accelerate the involvement of the private enterprises in the fight against HIV/AIDS, with IFC playing a leadership role in demonstrating the role of the private sector in this area.

80% of our work is directly related to IFC investments.

The IFC Against AIDS Program is structured around three pillars of action: Guidance, Training, and Development and Research.

Guidance

Training
IFC Against AIDS conducts three types of training: SME training, portfolio training, and skills training. In Africa where the small and medium sized (SME) sector often accounts for 50% or more of a country’s private sector, IFC Against AIDS has developed a training program targeting SMEs in order to build their capacity to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on their businesses. The training program has the same risk management objectives as the guidance work, but it focuses on SMEs (training being a better delivery model with this group). Initiated in 2004 as a pilot in four countries: Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, the program is now being expanded through a pan-African PEP Africa project: “Managing HIV/AIDS in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises”. The project will aim at making the business case for action and developing the HIV/AIDS mitigation skills of SMEs, leading to an appropriate role and response of those enterprises in the face of the epidemic with two objectives: 1) proactive management of HIV/AIDS as an operational risk, and 2) prevention and care for the employees and communities of those enterprises. This program can also be offered to other SMEs and portfolio companies that have not been exposed to IFC Against AIDS.

The initial one day training is designed to achieve the following objectives among the participants:

• To learn the facts about HIV/AIDS and discredit myths about the disease.
• To raise awareness about the impact of HIV/AIDS on their businesses, their employees, and their communities by making the business case for action.
• To develop an understanding of the process used to create an HIV/AIDS program in the workplace.
• To develop a preliminary action plan for their company and become aware of the resources available for implementation.

Over a period of one year, the training facilitator evaluates the progress made by the participants in implementing their plans, and provides further guidance through three follow-up sessions held at four month intervals following the initial one-day training, with the final session 12 months after the start of the program.

In addition, under the training banner, we include the training of the AIDS committees of our clients, NGOs and service providers, and the facilitators that will become involved in the PEP Africa project.

We also offer training on Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). M&E is an important part of any corporate HIV/AIDS program because it enables a company to measure progress against its stated goals and make informed decisions about the effectiveness of various interventions relative to costs. The basis of this training is a Practical Guide to Monitoring and Evaluating Corporate HIV/AIDS Programs which was developed by IFC Against AIDS. The guide is intended to support the key activities/components of our Action Plan Roadmap by monitoring progress and evaluating the impact of the program. The M&E guide is a guideline for workplace program implementers on how to develop a strategy for monitoring program activities and measuring the effects. It provides tools that can be used in both monitoring and evaluating the activities or interventions. The training is intended to assist the users of this guide (including trainers, company HIV/AIDS coordinators and/or service providers giving implementation assistance to companies), to be able to monitor progress and evaluate the impact of their HIV/AIDS programs. The guide is currently being tested out with clients on a pilot basis and will soon be in use on a much wider scale. Click on image to see our M&E training.


Development and Research