What is HIV and AIDS?

Section 8: Different approaches to HIV mainstreaming within VSO China
Basic Education: The programme’s objective is to improve the quality of basic
education programmes in primary and middle schools. The programme’s work
focuses on introducing new teaching methodologies to schools with the aim of
creating a more student-centered approach to learning. Looking at education broadly,
schools not only provide an environment to develop academic knowledge but also the
place to acquire essential life skills. These include decision-making, confidence,
self-esteem, assertiveness, ability to communicate as well as many others. The
middle schools already provide moral and health education classes to students,
covering health and disease topics including HIV and AIDS, and discuss moral issues
such as honesty, resistance to drugs and communication. However, there can be
ways to strengthen this. The life-skills education approach is a method that has been
used in countries across the world to support HIV mainstreaming. It has been
developed because, information is not always enough. We need the skills to be able
to use information, in this case how to protect ourselves from HIV.
National Volunteering: The programme’s aim is to promote volunteering as an
effective way of reducing poverty and disadvantage in China. It focuses on building
the capacity of volunteer involving organisations. The NGOs that VSO China work
with focus on addressing a range of development issues through the use of
volunteers, therefore to mainstream HIV into these organisations, it is best to
approach it using HIV as another development issue to consider. This can be part of
training that the organisations conduct with other NGOs and volunteers.
HIV and AIDS: Because the focus of work is on HIV and AIDS projects, much of the
mainstreaming work that is carried out in the other programmes is not applicable here.
However, because of the expertise within the programme, volunteers could share
technical knowledge and training support to volunteers in the other programmes. The
development of workplace policies if they do not already exist could be another focus
of mainstreaming work within the HIV and AIDS programme.
93