Mbn hiv/aids evaluation final report Team of consultants

5. Conclusions

5.1. Conclusions on CFA’s HIV/AIDS competence (EQ 1)

To what extent did the CFAS respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and build up competence to cope with HIV/AIDS?
HIV/AIDS integration in the core functions of each CFA

Considerable progress can be noted since 2001 regarding the response of the CFAs to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. HIV/AIDS related postions have been created, organisational structures (HIV/AIDS working groups/teams, focal points) put in place, resource materials were developed, new partnerships established, trainings organised, funding for HIV/AIDS related programmes have been provided, etc.

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  Hivos was the first organisations that developed a HIV/AIDS policy (1993), Cordaid, ICCO and Novib followed since 2000, Plan is currently finalising its HIV/AIDS policy.
  

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  Workplace policy development is of recent date with Cordaid being in the process of implementing its HIV/AIDS workplace policy and ICCO and Novib in the process of drafting one.
  
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  The number of HIV/AIDS experts that can dedicate almost 100% to the HIV/AIDS varies between the CFAs, with a team of three people at the headquarters of Hivos (and four HIV/AIDS programme officers at the regional offices), two HIV/AIDS officers at Novib, one HIV/AIDS expert at Cordaid and ICCO. At Plan the HIV/AIDS resource person is also partially available.
  
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  Hivos created a specialised team of HIV/AIDS programme officers (vertical structure), Novib, Cordaid, ICCO and Plan created focal points and HIV/AIDS project groups/working groups (horizontal structure).
  

At all organisations staff competence varies among staff: from not committed and not capable; to very committed and competent. This in combination with a sometimes frequent rotation of personnel and a poor knowledge management system, leads to a lack of HIV/AIDS competence by programme or country officers who often have a ‘generalist’ profile. Therefore, dialogue with counterparts on HIV/AIDS issues becomes difficult or remains superficial in the event of a monitoring visit.

An increased attention also has been developed, particularly since 2003, on support to mainstreaming processes. The CFA’s budget in the four selected countries for HIV/AIDS sharing and learning initiatives increased in this period from Euro 102,620.00 in 2001 to Euro 449,053.00 in 2004.

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  Novib, Cordaid and ICCO integrated HIV/AIDS mainstreaming in their HIV/AIDS policy papers and see it as a priority.
  
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  Novib mainstreamed HIV/AIDS in most of its instruments (e.g. their appraisal system, donor guidelines applicable for all countries, set up of a learning strategy, etc) and started a knowledge management project with and between counterparts, including experiments and research related to HIV/AIDS mainstreaming, involving many of their counterparts.
  
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  Cordaid and ICCO also succeeded in starting the HIV/AIDS mainstreaming process, often looking for collaboration with other international NGOs to support mainstreaming processes with their counterparts.
  
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  Hivos focus is on HIV/AIDS specific organisations, however in Southern Africa (generalised HIV/AIDS epidemic) Hivos supports also generalist development organisations and they started to support mainstreaming processes, including specific research on the link between HIV/AIDS and the sector of micro finances.
  

The way of working of Plan is different from the other CFAs in the way that programmes are managed by the Plan Country offices. Within Plan International a capacity building strategy for counterparts is foreseen and some of the Plan country offices are involved in the support of mainstreaming process with their counterparts.
Sustainability of the HIV/AIDS integration process is best secured by Hivos through their recent (July 2005) reorganisation and specialisation. To what extent the HIV/AIDS policy and programmes will be sustainable, depends on the ongoing commitment of senior staff resulting in an investment in (specialised) staff, the elaboration of strategic responses to HIV/AIDS and the availability of money. Involvement in networks such as SAN! and Sharenet is important in this respect as these networks challenge the management of the CFAs to keep the focus.
The HIV/AIDS policy in practice: programmes, budgets and counterparts

The inputs increased considerable. The CFA’s funding doubled in the period between 2001 – 2004. As already mentioned, the budget for sharing and learning initiative even quadrupled in this period. Cordaid (Euro 600.000) and Novib (Euro 1.000.000) created a special fund to support the mainstreaming process of counterparts. The lobby and advocacy budget of the global and international partners of all 5 CFA’s increased from Euro 642,807.00 to Euro 1,290,764.00 in the period 2001 and 2004. The majority of this lobby budget comes from HIVOS (66%) followed by Novib (16%), Cordaid (11%), ICCO (6%) and PLAN (1%). The budget for public awareness activities in the Netherlands increased from Euro 413,456.00 to Euro 889,129.00

The different focus of the CFA’s HIV/AIDS policy papers has been confirmed by the portfolio of counterparts, an overview of HIV/AIDS related counterparts that has been elaborated for the four countries visited (South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, India). Following main differences could be identified:

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  Hivos focuses on HIV/AIDS specific organisations and its strong involvement in lobby and advocacy programmes.
  
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  Hivos and Novib prioritise support to prevention and awareness programmes, with Novib focussing on gender based violence and women’s rights. Hivos on sexual rights issues and specific target groups such as men having sex with men.
  
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  Cordaid and ICCO working with many faith based organisations that are involved in the whole prevention to care continuum. Cordaid in particular has invested in treatment programmes and has supported some experiments to that end. Cordaid and ICCO also challenge the position of the church regarding their prevention approach focussing solely on abstinence and faithfulness (and not on condoms) as well as their position regarding the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS.
  
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  Plan, as a child rights organisation, focussing on the support of orphans and vulnerable children, their families and communities. Plan supports programmes that cover also the whole prevention to care continuum, including impact mitigation.
  

Lobby and advocacy

The lobby departments of the CFA’s are not activily involved in direct international lobby on HIV/AIDS. This is mainly organised through SAN partnership, Sharenet (a membership network organisation promoting the sexual and reproductive health and rights, all 5 CFA’s are member of Sharenet), through the international networks each CFA belongs to and the funding of global partners. Many of these HIV/AIDS advocacy and lobby have attained yet some important successes, mainly in the domain of accessing treatment and the attention of HIV/AIDS and OVCs in national and international development cooperation policies. The evaluators conclude that the relationship between these global Partners (advocacy and lobby) and local partners is missing.