ANTANANARIVO, December 1, 2008 -- The Coalition of Citizen Enterprises of Madagascar (CECM) brings together some fifteen companies with the goal of fighting three diseases: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The CECM works with the Executive Secretariat of the National Committee that Fights AIDS, CNLS, the government agency charged with implementing Madagascar’s HIV/AIDS strategy. The World Bank’s ACTAfrica program is one of the Coalition’s partners, and the CNLS receives financial support from the World Bank.
On the occasion of World AIDS Day, current CECM Chair Nathalie Ratsimbazafy, discusses her organization’s work and the need for HIV/AIDS awareness in the workplace.
Please give a quick description of the CECM.
NR: Since 2005 some fifteen companies meet quarterly to share their experiences in the fight against HIV/AIDS. With the support of the CNLS, these companies decided in May 2008 to make their association official. They called it the CECM, or Coalition of Citizen Companies of Madagascar. In the beginning, only HIV and AIDS were discussed. However, the member companies also wanted tuberculosis and malaria to be taken into account since, unfortunately, these diseases are an ever-present reality in Madagascar. We believe that the fight against these diseases extends well beyond the framework of just health care, and represents a real development objective.
Which professional sectors do these companies represent?
NR: They come from multiple sectors. We have tax-free zone companies that operate in textiles (Epsilon, PGM), public works and construction companies (COLAS), telephone companies (Zain, Telma, Orange), petrol distribution companies (Shell and Galana), as well as companies that operate in domains such as drinks (the Star brewery), hotels (SiceH), or tobacco (Imperial Tobacco). There are also companies that work in the health care sector such as AMIT, OSTIE or Esia. The whole group represents about 10,000 employees.
Specifically, what activities to you intend to carry out?
NR: The CECM offers a range of services for companies. A company may wish to integrate the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria into its social activities, but does not know how to proceed. The CECM will accompany it, from the creation to the implementation of its policy to fight these diseases. For example, it will equip it with educational tools, help it to train education peers, help it to undertake some behavioral surveys and screening tests, etc.
There are also situations where a company’s management does not feel too concerned about the fight, but the employees, or some of them, want their colleagues to be aware and knowledgeable. In the latter case, the CECM will submit a request to management asking that implementation of the program be allowed. It must be emphasized that when a company integrates CECM, the costs linked to implementation of the program are shared, which is far more attractive for the member companies than if they were to develop individual programs.
Who are your partners?
NR: Our main partner is the Executive Secretariat of the National Committee that Fights AIDS (SE.CNLS), which is the national coordination structure in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and which is supported by the World Bank and other partners. A German institution, GTZ, has also strongly supported us since the beginning. Thanks to these bodies, and although it is still new, CECM has already participated in various international seminars that are important for sharing experiences and strengthening capacities. While still at an informal stage, CECM was invited to the “Consultation of HIV/AIDS Stakeholders in the African Region” in May 2007 in Kigali, Rwanda, a conference that was organized by ACTAfrica. A year later, this annual meeting took place in Madagascar, and the CECM companies were visited in order to show what is being done within Malagasy companies in the fight against HIV/AIDS. CECM is a member of the Pan African Business Coalition (PABC), which is the confederation of coalitions in Africa, a platform for sharing experiences between African coalitions which enables technical and financial partnerships to be developed with donors.
What are your goals for 2009?
NR: Now that there is a Technical Coordinator on our team, we are in the final stages of our implementation. 2008 was the year of our creation. 2009 will be the year we begin to implement our action plan. Above all, we would like to make companies conscious of the need to integrate the fight against these diseases into the social activities of their workforce. It is not necessarily a question of developing an expensive program that is difficult to manage. Rather, it is better to conduct small actions that have a direct impact on the target populations.
In comparison to other sectors, the private sector is a little behind in the fight against HIV/AIDS. CECM hopes to play a leading role in the mobilization of the private sector in the fight against these diseases. We also want to develop partnerships with stakeholders, since it is obvious that we cannot work alone.
One last question, a personal one: as the person in charge of human resources for a tax-free zone company that employs over 1,000 people, what motivates you to integrate the fight against HIV/AIDS into your activities?
NR: Epsilon is a rather special case since it was our general management that approached the SE.CNLS and the GTZ to develop a program. Pleading was therefore unnecessary, and I emphasize that our general management supports all our activities, which helps our work enormously. As the person in charge of human resources, I was motivated to develop a program because our population is young (the average age is 33) and therefore active. Our workforce is 80 percent women, who are more vulnerable than men. Our medical reports indicate five to seven new sexual transmitted infection cases each month, which represents a risk when one knows that a poorly-cared for STI is a gateway for HIV. The need is there to educate personnel who are also requesting information.
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