Embedded education involves delivering education through primarily non-educational encounters that people have in the course of their everyday lives. The Harvard Kennedy School of Government recently featured, as one of four examples of embedded education worldwide, an HIV/AIDS prevention program in China led by RCG’s Phil Marshall. Sponsored by the Asian Development Bank, the program integrated HIV/AIDS into expressway construction processes, targeting in particular unaccompanied migrant workers far from home.

Starting with a DVD to provide standardized HIV education during the worker induction process, the program includes (1) interactive educational exercises tailored to the worksite, (2) ensuring access to affordable condoms, and (3) providing mobile testing for HIV and other diseases to workers who would otherwise have difficulty accessing such services.

Working closely with private sector counterparts, the program team was able to demonstrate the feasibility of operating an effective HIV prevention project using local resources. The Chinese Government has now decided to make HIV prevention a mandatory part of all transport construction contracts.