About the Company
Ballapur Industries Limited (BILT) is India's largest manufacturer and exporter of paper including writing & printing paper, industrial paper and specialty paper. With a total production capacity of 500,000 MT of paper, BILT has six manufacturing plants across four states of India. Most of its plant sites are located in remote areas. BILT has a total workforce of more than 10,000 employees and employs directly or indirectly 5,000 people as casual and contractual laborers. An additional 850 to 900 truck drivers visit its plants every day for dropping off raw materials or picking up finished goods.
HIV/AIDS in India
The epidemic in India has raised eyebrows because of the huge number of people living with HIV and AIDS. According to India’s National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), there were 5.1 million adults living with HIV or AIDS in the country by the end of 2004 – the second highest country case count after South Africa. India’s rate of infection is officially estimated between 0.4 and 1.3%, but in some areas (e.g. Mumbai) the rate is estimated to be as high as 4% according to unofficial sources. Rapidly scaling up and mainstreaming prevention and care initiatives are imperative in India, including in the private enterprises, as proactive engagement into HIV/AIDS in the private sector remains piecemeal. Widespread stigma and discrimination present tremendous challenges to prevention efforts. The main mode of transmission is heterosexual sex and the epidemic is largely being driven by high risk groups such as long distance truck drivers and commercial sex workers.
Background:
In 2004, BILT undertook a mapping exercise to assess awareness levels about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV among the trucking, casual and contractual labor communities at one of its operational sites. The baseline showed that:
- Although a large number of respondents had heard of HIV/AIDS, there were a number of misconceptions among them regarding its spread and preventive measures. The need for a group of peer educators who could engage their peers in each of those groups was seen as essential by the company.
- The majority of respondents had not heard of STIs and did not know if STIs were curable or not.
- There was a generalized sense of denial among respondents that HIV could ever infect or affect them.
On the basis of the baseline survey, BILT undertook a pilot project for its employees at its plant in Yamunanagar, in the state of Haryana. The objective of the pilot was to address the local educational needs through BILT employee volunteers as well as through the involvement of other organizations. BILT received technical support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO) through workshops on HIV/AIDS. Other local industries from the area also participated.
The pilot project achieved some good results:
- Several truckers and casual or contractual laborers got involved in the project.
- Employees showed interest in becoming peer educators, and were trained.
- A process of regular meetings and events was initiated.
- On 1st December 2004, employee volunteers observed World AIDS Day on two of BILT’s manufacturing locations, by setting up information booths for colleagues.
- This further motivated the volunteers and the trucking population to initiate similar programs more systematically.
In short, the pilot project showed that it was possible to achieve the objectives that were first established and gave the company’s management confidence to undertake a full-fledged program. The IFC support and CCF contribution were the catalysts to engage into a program across all locations, making HIV/AIDS one of the key pillars of BILT’s CSR programs.
Goal and scope:
The goal of BILT is to create awareness about prevention and management of HIV/AIDS within BILT stakeholders at all its manufacturing locations, namely:
- Yamunanagar in Yamunanagar District, Haryana
- Kamalapuram in Warangal District, Andhra Pradesh
- Sewa in Koraput District, Orissa
- Ballarpur in Chandrapur District, Maharashtra
- Ashti in Gadchiroli District, Maharashtra
- Bhigwan in Pune District, Maharashtra
Project details:
BILT feels the need for a larger scope and integrated program on HIV/AIDS that incorporates input and feedback from all its stakeholders, namely employees, truckers and transporters. The project team will therefore work in an integrated manner with these stakeholders, both primary and secondary. The program will include:
- Awareness efforts to promote prevention of HIV/AIDS among employees, casual and contractual laborers, and the trucking community;
- Training of doctors to address the issues related to HIV/AIDS;
- Running STI clinics at specific locations;
- Undertaking counseling services for referrals to STI clinics and testing.
Stakeholders’ input will also be incorporated in the development of BILT’s HIV/AIDS policy, which is one of the objectives of the company through this project. Indeed, BILT believes that stakeholders’ insights could be incorporated into the policy so that the policy itself can be owned by the stakeholders.
Awareness: The pilot project showed that the community (employees and truckers) felt the need to go beyond awareness, and to undertake some active prevention interventions in the form of STI clinics with specific groups. This was evident from the number of people who enquired about referral services during the pilot phase and subsequently.
Partnerships: BILT is involved in partnerships with a variety of local NGOs at all its manufacturing facilities. These NGOs are implementing community development programs that are part of BILT’s CSR initiatives. BILT envisions that some of these partnerships could be leveraged for taking the program ahead both internally and externally.
In addition, since all the project sites are situated in remote locations, a considerable amount of time will be devoted to work in collaboration with the local District AIDS Control Societies/State AIDS Control Societies.
Estimated reach and leadership: Through NGO partnerships, participation of employee volunteers, and by engaging with various stakeholders as well as leveraging resources from other agencies, the company estimates that it will reach around 20,000 people through this project:
- BILT employees – around 9,500 across all the six manufacturing locations
- Casual and contractual workers – around 5,000
- The trucking community, including truck drivers, cleaners and dhaba workers in the vicinity of BILT factory sites – around 2,500
- Communities in the vicinity of BILT operations – around 3,500 (an average community of 500 to 600 people in each site).
The number of people to be reached is significant. In most of the locations BILT is one of the only large companies. This position entails that the company will need to play a leadership role in reaching out to the community, hence a two-year project proposal. This will help in maximizing the reach of the program and will give the required stability to the project. Efforts will be made to create awareness among smaller industries in the vicinity of all the project sites to bring them on board and ensure that the issue of HIV/AIDS can be addressed collectively within the local private sector, with BILT working as an instigator and catalyst for action.
Project components:
- Baseline surveys in all 6 project locations.
- Creation of an appropriate enabling environment with all BILT personnel, and their families, at all six factory locations, through regular meetings, discussions and events designed to help participants gain knowledge and skills to prevent and manage HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that five events of this type would be organized per year.
- Events targeting the migrant worker and trucking communities.
- Specialized training of BILT staff: to ensure the creation of corps of peer educators and ensure appropriate medical personnel involvement.
- Development of a behavior change communication (BCC) strategy as well as information, education and communication materials (IEC) in view of sustaining continued education in all 6 locations.
- Increased provision of services – treatment of STIs; counseling services for patients visiting clinics; linkages and referrals for testing and treatment of HIV/AIDS; availability of condoms through a network of condom vending machines in all 6 locations.
Expected project outcomes:
The following outcomes will be assessed through constant monitoring of project activities and evaluation against baseline data collected at the inception of the program.
| Increased knowledge | - Knowledge that condoms protect against HIV/AIDS increases
- Knowledge on how to use condoms increases
- Knowledge that STIs increase the risk of HIV infection increases
- Knowledge that STIs need correct and prompt treatment increases
- Knowledge of various available services increases |
| Increased skills | - Condom use skills improve
- Ability to identify when to seek treatment improves
- Skills of medical personnel improve
- Advocacy skills among staff improve |
| Increased motivation | - Motivation to use condoms increases
- Motivation to seek STIs' treatment increases
- Motivation to access services and express personal rights increases |
| Increased service provision | - Condoms are available, accessible and affordable
- Quality STI clinics are available |
| Decreased barriers | - Barriers to condom use decrease
- Barriers to seek STIs treatment decrease
- Barriers to discuss HIV/AIDS decrease |
