91 The project aims to incorporate HIV&AIDS epidemic and its impact on society with its gender and human rights dimensions into feasibility studies that are legally mandatory before major capital projects are constructed, implemented and/or decommissioned. These studies Environmental Impact Assessment studies have traditionally focusing on the geophysical environmental impacts of projects on biodiversity, heritage impact, and aesthetic impact on its surroundings without taking into account the socio-economic dynamics of projects such as human rights, gender based violence and HIV&AIDS impact. Some of the achievements of the department of environmental affairs in relation to HIV&AIDS include the development of a operational plan for year one whose main focus was advocacy and capacity development work. Three capacity development workshops were conducted by the DPSA in Partnership with UNDP and SAIEA (South African Institute for Environment Assessments). These were targeting managers in the Department of Environmental Affairs to incorporate HIV into the Environmental Impact Assessment studies of individual projects and the impact of cumulative impacts of many projects through Strategic Environmental Assessments. The second workshop was aimed at training several Universities to begin to train Environmental Management specialists, and mainstream this into their curricula. Universities of Pretoria, North West, Stellenbosch, UNISA and Cape Town were trained. The University of North West has begun offering training short courses in this regard. The UNDP and SAIEA trained about 200 environmental management specialist who are already in the field to ensure that they incorporate the impact of HIV&AIDS in the social impact assessments of their feasibility studies. A guideline on Integrating HIV&AIDS and gender issues into Environmental Assessments was developed in partnership with SAIEA, IOM, UNDP and SADC. It was launched in Tunis, Tunisia in 2013. The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Union Commission adopted this guideline to inform their practices and policy work respectively. South Africa was represented by a delegation including representatives from DPSA, SANAC, UNDP country office and Department of Environmental Affairs. Each country is now expected to “domesticate” this guideline and align its provisions with country specific policy and legislative framework. The other partners in the above project include the department of Public Enterprises which is responsible for development of EIS for major capital projects of the Strategic Infrastructure Development Projects. This Department liaises with other departments to fast track EIA processes through a specialized unit. It is this forum of departments that will be engaged to ensure that the Strategic Infrastructure Development Plans don’t come with the “microepidemics” that are associated with major capital projects throughout the world. The Department of Health has Guidelines on Environmental Impact Assessments which have been developed in partnership with the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2010. These guidelines, the new guidelines launched by the UNDP, the legislative analysis using the EIOA Barometer, and the emerging legislation need to be considered will be harmonized 91