Case Study
P.T. Unilever Indonesia HIV/AIDS Workplace Program
The Unilever AntiNarcotics HIV/AIDS
Program Team, Jakarta
Case Study Snapshot
P.T. Unilever Indonesia Tbk (P.T. Unilever) is a subsidiary of the multinational
company Unilever and is located in Jakarta. Unilever is one of the world’s largest
producers of consumer goods with 400 brands spanning home, personal care
and food products. Unilever’s mission is to add vitality to life by meeting everyday
needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care. Unilever is a leader in corporate
social responsibility and is committed to addressing global environmental and
social concerns by working with local, national and international stakeholders.
Like its parent company, P.T. Unilever manufactures and markets fast moving
consumer goods. P.T Unilever employs 3,000 people in six factories and ten
sales offices. A further 300,000 people work indirectly for the company in P.T.
Unilever’s extended supply chains.
CASE FOR ACTION
In 2004, P.T. Unilever’s growing concern about the spread of HIV in Indonesia
prompted the company to commence a workplace response to HIV and AIDS.
Indonesia’s HIV epidemic is largely spread through injecting drug use and unsafe
sex. In 1987, 80 cases of HIV were reported in Jakarta. In the following twenty
years, the population of people living with HIV and AIDS increased to an estimated
14,000 cases. Many of these people contracted the virus by sharing contaminated
injecting equipment.
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Case Study | P.T. Unilever Indonesia HIV/AIDS Workplace Program
Research indicated that people aged 20 to 40 are at a higher risk of using drugs.
Two thirds of P.T. Unilever’s workforce fall within the age group most at risk of
using illicit drugs and contracting HIV. P.T Unilever began addressing the risk to
its workforce by commencing a HIV workplace and community program.
BUSINESS RESPONSE
P.T. Unilever identified limited staff and community awareness about the risks
associated with injecting drug use and the link with HIV infection. In response
to this, the company developed a drug and HIV prevention program in 2004. The
program has rapidly grown to include outreach to local schools. The name of the
program is the P.T. Unilever Anti-Narcotics HIV and AIDS Program, or “ANHA”
and incorporates the following six components:
Left: Unilever staff learn
about HIV prevention
during a staff training
session. Right: Workers
receive HIV prevention
information as they arrive
for work.
The ANHA team raising
local school children’s
awareness of drug and HIV
issues
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Case Study | P.T. Unilever Indonesia HIV/AIDS Workplace Program
1. Establishing the
program team
A core group of staff volunteers received training and awareness in basic HIV
and AIDS issues. This core group, in addition to P.T. Unilever’s Senior Medical
Advisor, Dr Johny Sulistio, are the driving force behind the program. The core
group of staff volunteers received their initial HIV and AIDS training from the
Indonesian organisation Komite Kemanusian Indonesia. The core group have
since inducted more than 30 more staff into the program. There are now forty
five staff volunteers who are trained peer educators. A key part of the peer
education training is the dialogue with a person living with HIV, which enables
better understanding of HIV-based stigma and discrimination.
2. Awareness, education
and training
New staff and contractors undergo an HIV awareness session as part of the P.T.
Unilever induction program. This basic awareness is built upon with frequent
peer education sessions, or “circle meetings”, conducted during the low
production time between 2pm and 4pm. Peer education is an effective mode of
HIV prevention because trusted and respected staff impart messages in small
groups, allowing for open discussion on sensitive subjects. All of P.T. Unilever’s
direct staff have participated in circle meetings and are aware of basic HIV and
AIDS issues. The ANHA program volunteers are highly motivated and enthusiastic;
there are now 45 staff volunteers on rotation to deliver program.
3. Senior management
commitment
P.T. Unilever aims to ensure that management understands that HIV prevention
is a company priority; therefore the ANHA team updates the annual P.T. Unilever
Management Forum about the progress and achievements of the ANHA program.
The team have been commended for their contribution and encouraged to
continue their efforts.
4. Workplace HIV
and AIDS policy
P.T. Unilever released an official HIV and AIDS policy in January 2007, three
years after it began implementing its workplace program. Some companies
develop their policy before they implement a HIV workplace program. However
P.T. Unilever decided it must start a HIV workplace program without delay.
5. Outreach program
A key component of P.T. Unilever’s program is the outreach it conducts in the
schools and communities surrounding the company’s factories in outer Jakarta.
Due to the rate at which HIV and the practice of injecting drug use is spreading
in Jakarta, P.T. Unilever considered it imperative that HIV/drug awareness
information go beyond the gate. The schools in the local communities have
embraced the program and work closely with the ANHA team to deliver it to
students.
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Case Study | P.T. Unilever Indonesia HIV/AIDS Workplace Program
6. Involvement of people
living with HIV
Dr Sulistio wanted to recruit a person living with HIV to work with the ANHA
program team and challenge the perception that HIV only happens to injecting
drug users or “immoral/promiscuous” people. While watching the news, Dr
Sulistio saw a young mother named Fifi, talking about her experience living with
HIV. Fifi and her six year old daughter tested HIV positive after her husband
passed away. Since her diagnosis Fifi has been an active peer educator, informing
the community about her experience as a young widowed mother living with HIV.
She works with HIV positive mothers’ groups, sharing her experience on issues
such as treatment, mother to child transmission and living positively.
Dr Johny Sulisito,
Unilever’s Senior Medical
Advisor and Unilever’s
“HIV Workplace
Champion”, with Mirza
“Fifi” Revelia.
After seeing her on the news, Dr Sulistio asked Fifi to work with the AHNA team
to educate staff and the community about HIV and AIDS. The partnership has
been a resounding success – Fifi’s story has shifted perceptions about HIV
positive people among P.T. Unilever staff and people of the surrounding
communities.
Fifi and her daughter are receiving government funded anti-retroviral treatment
and are healthy and optimistic about their future. Fifi’s story sends a message to
employers that not only can HIV positive people continue to contribute to their
company, but their commitment to their health and life can be strengthened with
the right support and encouragement.
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Case Study | P.T. Unilever Indonesia HIV/AIDS Workplace Program
Lessons learnt
The ANHA program deals with issues that are culturally sensitive. To ensure
community support for the program, the ANHA team works with the community
so that the program is appropriate to the target audience. For example, when it
delivers the program in a secondary school, the ANHA team involves the school
in preparations for the day. The outcome of this approach has been strong school
and community ownership of ANHA. The ANHA team report that community
members spanning three generations have been participating in the ANHA
program days.
Including people living with HIV has been a crucial part of the program, enabling
the team to effectively tackle issues such as stigma in a sensitive manner. High
profile HIV positive advocate Mirza “Fifi” Revelia has helped P.T. Unilever
challenge long held attitudes about people living with HIV and AIDS. The inclusion
of Fifi has ensured the ANHA program is grounded in reality.
Case Study Sources
Text
APBCA meeting with the ANHA program team, February 22, 2008
Unilever company information; www.unilever.com
Photos
Courtesy of the ANHA program and APBCA Program Manager,
Amanda Allen-Toland
CONTACT
Asia Pacific Business Coalition on AIDS
Level 12, 8 Exhibition Street
Melbourne 3000 Australia
www.apbca.com
+61 (3) 8656 6029
info@apbca.com
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