Jobs Project Trains Brazilians with HIV/AIDS
The program fulfills need for professional qualifications and income generation

Arco-Iris beneficiaries work during their food service and hospitality course graduation ceremony

Photo: USAID/Brazil

Discouraged by four years fighting her HIV/AIDS—as well as her low level of education and limited work experience—Eliana hesitated to look for a job. “I didn’t even have the courage to start searching for a job,” she said. She was tired of depending on government allowances to sustain her son and husband, also HIV positive.

With over 600,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, Brazil struggles to reduce the discrimination that affects many of them and denies them access to the job market. USAID’s mission in Brazil has combated this issue since 2007 through PACT, an international NGO.

Eliana is part of the first group of beneficiaries to improve professional skills and employability through this program. At Arco-Iris, an HIV/AIDS NGO in Brasília, Eliana and nine others have been trained in food service and hospitality. Most have already found jobs at events and restaurants.

“This workshop has made a big difference for me in terms of opening doors to the job market,” said Elliana.

Sandra, another beneficiary, continued improving her professional skills after completing the course. She is now enrolled in a two-month class, training to be a server in the restaurant sector. “I see this as an opportunity to find a regular job in the future and stop my diagnosis from limiting me,” she said.

Most of the participants have already found jobs at events and restaurants

Foto: USAID/Brazil

According to Arco-Iris Vice President Antonio Lisboa, the USAID program fulfills a long-standing need for professional qualifications and income generation for people living with HIV or AIDS. "These people have never had an opportunity to improve their job skills, mainly due to their HIV/AIDS diagnosis. For them, having the chance to work again also means an improvement in many other dimensions of their lives, such as their health, education levels, civic participation, and social life.”

To bolster job placement of graduated trainees, the program also plans to develop databases of job opportunities in the community and establish a professional center with comprehensive job-related programs.

Apart from the job training and placement, the program improves quality of life by recognizing the need for a holistic approach to health and well-being of people living with HIV/AIDS. The strategy includes physical activity courses, psychosocial support groups on living successfully with AIDS, and proper nutrition education.

For privacy reasons, the program beneficiaries interviewed for this article have chosen not to disclose their full names