EPF at Brussels Employment Week | Ensuring Positive Futures

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Green Legged Chickens hit Brussels Employment Week

18th June 2007

Green Legged Chickens fly to Brussels to spread the message that HIV is an issue in the workplace.

Green Legged Chickens logo

The Green Legged Chickens (GLC) is partnership made up of six partners spread across the EU. They provide services to a range of beneficiaries, and their common area of provision is to people living with HIV and AIDS. They are from Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Ensuring Positive Futures is the UK partner.

A unique partnership of organisations from across Europe hit the EU employment week with an innovative campaign to raise awareness of HIV as an employment issue.

Few delegates who attended the 2007 Employment Week conference would have missed seeing the Green Legged Chicken spreading his message of HIV awareness around the Exhibition area.

The chicken could frequently be seen distributing his eggs spreading his message of ‘HIV and employment’ awareness and inviting delegates to attend the GLC Project Showcase.

At the showcase event very important messages were presented from the Trans National Partnership, which included information about where to find a variety of toolkits for individuals employers and or unions.

The key message to conference exhibitors and delegates, policy-makers alike was that HIV is not just a health issue it is now just as much an important employability issue. Employers need to prepare their work place before a problem arises by ensuring that they have good policies and practices in place.

Attending the EU employment week, the Green Legged Chicken partners set out to:

Raise awareness of HIV as an employability issue
To raise the profile of the partnership
To promote their work projects
To feedback the lessons from their projects

The partnership received very positive feedback at the event on their initiative and innovation in getting their message across, and many of the lessons learnt are transferable to other disabilities. The new member states of the EU will also benefit hugely from the lessons of these innovative employment projects.

Andrew Little, EPF Programme Director has this to say:

“HIV has not gone away. In fact there are numbers of people living with HIV growing across the EU, and with effective treatments they have every right to enjoy a career and benefit from economic success. Our partnership has shown the benefits to society of breaking down the economic and social barriers that prevent people living with HIV from being supported in the workplace.”

Download the Green Legged Chickens keynote presentation (Powerpoint 4 mb)

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Notes:

Ensuring Positive Futures (EPF) is an innovative employability programme for people living with HIV in the UK, run by a partnership of organisations including major HIV charities, businesses, government bodies and trades unions working together to support people living with HIV in the workplace.
The Green Legged Chickens (GLC) is an EQUAL transnational partnership made up of six partners spread across the EU. Whereas they separately provide services to a range of beneficiaries, their common area of provision is to people living with HIV and AIDS. They are from Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Great Britain. www.glc-equal.org
Employment week 2007 runs from the 5th to 6th June in Brussels. Employment Week is the leading employment and social-affair event of the year. The conference and exhibition attracts over 800 European decision-makers and practitioners from the twenty-five EU member states. www.employmentweek.com

For Further Information Contact:

Andrew Little, EPF Programme Director

Tel: 020 7564 2180

Email: alittle@ukcoalition.org