In the first of its kind initiative by any management institute in India, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) has started a state training and resource centre (STRC) in partnership with National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and Orissa State AIDS Control Society (OSACS).
The STRC will work in partnership with NACO, OSACS and various other NGOs and it will be jointly coordinated by S Peppin and MN Tripathi, the faculty members of the institute. Training programmes will be conducted so that the participants can act as trainers and facilitators for targeted interventions amongst high risk groups. The participants will be sourced from members of the partner organisations.
The objective of the programmes to be offered by the STRC will be to train the participants to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS with the active participation of the target community. The programme will also aim to help develop a sense of passion and a certain level of commitment to the task at hand, amongst the participants.
The participants of these programmes would go on to become consultants for implementation of targeted interventions amongst the target groups like female sex workers, homosexuals, drug users, migrant truckers and labourers.
In August 2007, XIMB had conducted the Leadership and Managerial Proficiency programme, which was a certificate level course attempting to build the personal and professional capacity of HIV positive individuals.
This course also helped XIMB to play a major role in mainstreaming HIV. The institute’s faculty and their family members, students were highly sensitised, along with 30 partner organisations which provided field learning support to the participants the programme.