Background

HIV/AIDS directly and indirectly affects all humanity, and combating the disease is a challenge to all. The CGIAR centers and their partners world-wide have developed an initiative to address the negative impacts of the HIV/AIDS pandemic through research on agriculture, food and nutrition security and the environment. Indicated in late 2000 as a systemwide activity, the program is now being developed as a challenge program. This report gives highlights of activities and processes in 2001 related to HIV/AIDS, agriculture, food and nutrition security conducted under the umbrella of the initiative at different CGIAR centers and programs.

The process—working group and steering committee

During MTM 2001 (Durban, South Africa) Stein Bie, Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Kanayo F. Nwanze met to discuss next steps for the CG HIV/AIDS initiative (referred to as “SWIHA”). It was agreed to formally establish a working group (WG)—consisting of Stuart Gillespie (IFPRI), Michael Loevinsohn (ISNAR), Frank Abamu (WARDA), Marcela Villarreal (FAO), Gabriel Rugalema (UNDP) and Tony Barnett (Univ. of East Anglia, UK)—to further develop the SWIHA proposal. A steering group (committee) consisting of Dr Nthoana Tau-Mzamane of South Africa (representing the NARS), Stein Bie, Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Kanayo Nwanze as members was also constituted. The WG reports to the Steering committee. The WG met in August 2001 at FAO, Rome, where it discussed and revised the proposal for the initiative

SWIHA-GIAAFS: The new-look proposal

The WG and the Steering Group ensured the SWIHA proposal positions itself optimally for the CGIAR Annual General Meeting (AGM). Some donors have indicated to us that they would welcome the initiative as global initiative. Subsequently, SWIHA was recast and renamed as "Global Initiative on AIDS, Agriculture and Food security (GIAAFS)" and submitted to the CGIAR secretariat.

The organizational setting of GIAAFS utilizes the rules of CGIAR Challenge Programs (as taken from the interim document now available). The GIAAFS will adopt a project portfolio modus operandi wherein sub-projects, adhering to a common set of criteria and quality standards, will be developed and implemented, with communication and synergy being maximized through appropriate information-sharing at all levels.

Inventory of center/program activities under SWIHA/GIAAFS

IFPRI

IFPRI and DFID organized an expert consultative meeting addressing government policies in the areas of agriculture, food and nutrition security and HIV/AIDS in December 2000. IFPRI also made a presentation to the Annual Session of the UN Sub-Committee on Nutrition (Nairobi, April 2001) and to the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (New York, June 2001). An article entitled "Effective Food and Nutrition Policy Responses: What we know and what we need to know" by Haddad and Gillespie was published in the Journal of International Development, 2001.

In collaboration with ISNAR and FAO, IFPRI developed a proposal entitled “HIV/AIDS, food and nutrition security: supporting innovation.” Its purpose is to contribute to the prevention and mitigation of AIDS impacts on agricultural systems and livelihoods based on them. Other works include (1) Exploration of possibilities of linking planned household expenditure surveys in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, with investigation of dynamic effects of HIV/AIDS on poverty, (2) Exploration of possibilities of linking planned household expenditure surveys in Tanzania with investigation of dynamic effects of HIV/AIDS on poverty, (3) Proposed study of geographical overlap between food insecurity and HIV/AIDS in 20 Sub-Saharan African countries.

WARDA

WARDA continues to facilitate the development of the CG HIV/AIDS initiative. Since December 2000, WARDA staff in addition to staff of ISNAR, IFPRI and FAO served in the SWIHA/GIAAFS working group, and continue to play important roles in the development of the proposal for the initiative. WARDA also presented and discussed the SWIHA/GIAAFS initiative at different NARS/SRO fora in Africa, examples including the FARA–CG consultation (Nairobi, March 2001), The FARA Annual General Meeting (Addis Ababa, April 2001) and the CORAF/WECARD General Assembly (Libreville, July 200l).

WARDA has established partnership and working relationship with the UNAIDS inter-country team for West and Central Africa (UNAIDS ICT) and ECODEV (NGOs with valuable experience of the Ivorian and West African terrain with respect to HIV/AIDS). WARDA staff and these organizations are developing research issues for agricultural interventions. One such project—involving WARDA, UNAIDS ICT, ECODEV and IITA—was submitted as sub-project under the GIAAFS umbrella.

Through collaboration with NORAGRIC, a Norwegian student arrived WARDA (August 2001) to work with WARDA scientists in assessing the relationships between health factors (focussing on HIV/AIDS) and livelihood security of rural communities and households in selected agricultural sites in Côte d’Ivoire. The project will form part of a thesis dissertation the student would submit to the Agricultural University of Norway.

WARDA staff participated in the World Bank sponsored “Training of Trainers” workshop on Gender Dimensions of HIV/AIDS (Nairobi, May 2001). And also represented SWIHA and WARDA at the SIMA sub-regional stakeholders workshop held in ICRAF headquarters.

IITA

Considerable discussion was held at IITA-Benin to identify areas and activities that need to be done under the SWIHA/GIAAFS initiative. This led to the identification of need for:

- Survey of HIV/AIDS from an agricultural perspective in five counties (Benin, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire) with identification of areas with high/low risk and risk factors;

- Literature review on HIV/Agriculture relationships, identification of mitigating strategies (agricultural technologies), identification of partners for implementation of strategies;

- impact of AIDS on agriculture, identification of factors, methods and models to measure impact, collection of baseline data.

In Collaboration with WARDA staff, a concept note was submitted as a sub-project of GIAAFS.

ISNAR

ISNAR activities under SWIHA/GIAAFS address the impacts of the AIDS epidemics on agricultural systems in eastern and southern Africa. This project aims to support institutional innovation contributing to the prevention and mitigation of AIDS impacts on agricultural systems and livelihoods based on them. Work is getting underway in two heavily-affected countries, Malawi and Uganda—the first in what is expected to evolve into a regional network of national groupings of concerned agricultural R&D organizations and partners in AIDS control and public health. In each country, a Background Paper is being written by two researchers, describing what is known about the links in both directions between HIV/AIDS and food security/rural livelihoods. The papers will be taken up by a Think-Tank composed of program-level persons from both agriculture and health institutions, and their recommendations will be considered, modified if necessary, and endorsed by a Stakeholder Workshop drawing together senior persons from key institutions.

A number of research ideas, protocols and partnerships have been developed in the two countries. These will be considered by the Think-Tank and Stakeholder Workshop. A competitive grant program is likely to emerge. The project is coordinated by ISNAR. IFPRI and FAO are also lead institutions. CIDA and IDRC provide financial support.

ISNAR staff worked with Zambian colleagues from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Soils and Crop Research Branch to enhance the responsiveness of national agricultural research, toward a rethinking of the usual ways in which research is planned and managed. This work has been conducted within the framework of the World Bank supported Agricultural Sector Investment Program and may lead to Zambian participation in the regional network described above.

ILRI

ILRI has developed a research concept note to look at goat’s milk as a substitute to breast milk for preventing and mitigating mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). It is hoped that the proposal would fit into the overall proposal for SWIHA/GIAAFS. Scientists at ILRI are also working closely with the Organization on Social Science Research in East Africa (OSSREA) to submit a proposal to Sweden on “The HIV/AIDS Challenge in Africa.” It will cover the sociological aspects in relation to rural development. Training efforts at ILRI have also been addressing HIV/AIDS aimed at minimizing the loss of human capacity in farming education and extension.

G&DP

In 2001, the Gender and Diversity Program (G&DP) produced model policies on HIV/AIDS in the workplace, and distributed it to all CGIAR centers. The Policies are designed to:

+ Prevent further HIV infection among all CGIAR employees and their family members.

+ Preserve the lives of those employees and their family members currently infected with HIV/AIDS.

+ Provide compassionate care for those employees and their family members suffering and/or dying from AIDS.

+ Encourage a commitment to provide HIV/AIDS insurance coverage to all international and local CGIAR staff members.

+ Foster a workplace that does not discriminate on the basis of the disease.

+ Set an example for our communities and national research partners, for the compassionate management of HIV/AIDS.

The document provides examples of sound policy and guidelines for Code of Conduct, Education and Prevention, Voluntary Testing and Counseling, Post-exposure prevention, travel kits and workplace infection control.