Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) has set an excellent example for other B-Schools by accepting the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) proposal to host a fully-residential development programme for capacity building in HIV affected people.

Hence, on 8 th January, 2007, XIMB launched a six-week Certificate Programme in Leadership and Managerial Proficiency (LAMP) for People Living with HIV.

According to HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2006, India has an estimated 5.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS, which is the highest in the world. This initiative is an attempt to bring this group of people in the mainstream by improving their employability.

The programme consists of four weeks of classroom learning and two weeks of field learning. Organisations such as UNDP, UNICEF, CARE and ICICI among others have come forward to employ the participants for the two-week internship period. It is aimed at training HIV positive people in public speaking to enable them to participate in policy formulation, advocacy for effective implementation and to negotiate effectively with decision makers.

"The pedagogy includes interactive sessions, Power Point presentations, group discussions, case analysis, psychometric tests, business games and simulation exercises," explains Prof S Peppin, joint-coordinator of this programme.

Fr E Abraham, director XIMB said, “XIMB is the first management institute in the country having both business management and rural management in the same campus. We have also emerged as a unique institute by having an amalgamation of diverse programmes.”

About 15 XIMB professors from five disciplines of management as well as a couple of doctors and UNDP officers will be involved in this programme. Four batches of 25 students each have been planned in 2007 so far. The continuity of the programme beyond this will depend on UNDP's inclination to take this forward as the programme is sponsored by UNDP.