Towards a commons for HIV and AIDS related information

The UNAIDS Civil Society Partnerships Unit and the AIDSPortal Initiative are convening a consultation on strengthening civil society database management.

The UNAIDS Secretariat does not manage a global database of NGOs and civil society organisations responding to HIV, the services they provide and associated resources such as tools and publications. However, there are a number of partners working in parallel to develop databases, interactive technology and electronic platforms to achieve such objectives. It is an important task to link these databases and initiatives and establish communication mechanisms between NGO-held databases and those held by UNAIDS country, regional and cosponsor's offices. This would allow us to know which organisations are doing what, in which country and with which groups or communities. This would make it possible to identify and consult with a representative group working in one country or on one issue. Organisations themselves would be able to identify potential partners, or refer people to those providing complementary services.

Do you want to get involved and discuss these ideas? Click here to visit the online discussion group on AIDSspace.

AIDSPortal staff member Anne Babcock relocates to Kenya

AIDSPortal Facilitator Anne Babcock has migrated south for the next year. She has moved to the sunny sites of Nairobi in Kenya where she is based at AIDSPortal partner offices the Kenyan AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO). She will be managing AIDSPortal projects in Eastern Africa. These projects include:

1. KANCO’s mapping project - KANCO’s membership of, AIDS and TB organizations all over the country are being mapped www.ushahidi.kanco.com. In the future, additional data sets will be added to this map. It is hoped that this project will improve access to information, identify gaps in AIDS and TB services and serve as an advocacy tool.

2. A joint venture with the Eastern African National Networks of AIDS Service Organizations (EANNASO) where by AIDSPortal is supporting EANNASO to develop a regional online information sharing and networking platform for EANNASO members.

If you’d like to get in touch with Anne please don’t hesitate to do so. Her email remains the same at anne@aidsportal.org or she can be reached on +254 20-2717664 or +254-20-2715008. For more information about AIDSPortal activities in Eastern Africa watch this space.

AIDSPortal Initiative: Case Study

In 2009 a short case study was conducted over five days to look at the nature of institutional support that the AIDSPortal Initiative provides to partners, and how the AIDSPortal Initiative works to help them meet their objectives in knowledge sharing and management. This case study feeds into a longer evaluation study, by suggesting appropriate indicators of success.

This case study describes the development of the AIDSPortal Initiative from its inception, and the learning acquired along the way. It draws upon the collective knowledge and understanding of those working in partnership with the AIDSPortal Initiative, its staff, and of others working in the broader environment of knowledge-sharing and management in the health and development sector.

The AIDSPortal Initiative is seen as largely successful at responding to its partners’ needs for technological solutions to knowledge-sharing challenges. The KANCO and International HIV/AIDS Alliance partnerships demonstrate that when the AIDSPortal Initiative designs solutions that work tightly with partners’ strategies, partners have a sense of ownership and can rapidly integrate the technology into their work. The partnership with the AIDS Consortium in South Africa shows how a more top-down approach blocks momentum, and struggles to generate the commitment needed for success. Balancing the desire for ownership with the central objectives of open knowledge-sharing is the AIDSPortal Initiative’s key challenge. This requires that the project refine its approach to partnership, by developing criteria that can guide it to work with the most effective networks. It also demands a more rigorous approach to setting indicators for success.

Recommendations
The AIDSPortal Initiative would benefit from taking the following actions:

1. Consolidate its partnership criteria, along the lines of the implicit consensus that currently exists. These should include:
• Synergy: partners should be already established networks of organisations (national, regional and global thematic) that are already engaged in knowledge-sharing and networking activities in HIV.
• Committed to sharing: partners should demonstrate commitment to working with others on joint information-related initiatives that add further value
• Capacity: partners should be able to integrate the project into existing plans and programmes, and sufficient capacity in terms of information communications, technology, and infrastructure.
• Diversity: partners should be committed to working with diverse views, and ensure that the information gathered, organised and disseminated is from the most appropriate local coalition of organisations and is not dominated by any one perspective.
• Regional/national balance: the AIDSPortal Initiative should seek a portfolio of regional partners, where it can foresee rapid scale-up of joint achievements and strong national network partners to demonstrate benefit for community-level users.

2. Develop core indicators - The AIDSPortal Initiative should be assessed on:
• how well it aligns itself with the strategies of its partners
• how responsive it is to the priorities of its partners
• how successfully it chooses its partners according to agreed criteria
• its ability to restrict its activities to those that will have greatest chance of scale up, either at the local level or regionally
• the way it balances the demands for ownership and for knowledge-sharing

3. Develop partner-specific indicators to which it can be held accountable, in line with partners’ strategies and objectives

To read the full AIDSPortal Initiative Case Study click here.

UNAIDS HIV Prevention Toolkit Feedback Meeting

AIDSPortal has been commissioned by UNAIDS to conduct an assessment and analysis of the ongoing maintenance

of the English version of the UNAIDS HIV Prevention Toolkit.

On Monday 9th November, AIDSPortal held a meeting to gather feedback and discuss the toolkit. The meeting was attended by 23 participants who represented government and civil society from seven regions and three UNAIDS co-sponsors agencies.

The meeting focused primarily on the content, usability and functionality of the Toolkit. Feedback from the participants indicated a clear demand for developing the toolkits content by including national resources on the Toolkit, such as national policy documents, tools and statistical information on HIV. A number of recommendations have been made to improve the usability of the toolkit through user prompts and better search functionality. Improvements to the self-assessment tools are also needed. Additionally, the Toolkit should consider ways of syndicating content and functionality (ie self assessment tools) via third party web sites. There was willingness from several participants to include Toolkit content or features on their websites via embedded widgets. There was also great interest in seeing the Toolkit available in multiple languages.

The participant’s views on the regional rollout and management of the Toolkit were also explored. They identified international, regional and national partners and events to assist with the rollout of the Toolkit. A number of events related to specific national regional or global processes were suggested. These included national HIV prevention planning processes, national strategy review processes and Global Fund proposal development processes. Participants also mentioned several global processes, including Global Fund monitoring and evaluation meetings, World Bank review processes and the UNAIDS Outcome Framework process.

Participants agreed that capacity building would be crucial to supporting the rollout of the Toolkit. There were two specific suggestions. First, that the Toolkit initially be rolled out in one or more pilot countries. Ideally these should be countries that are in the process of developing or updating an HIV prevention plan. Lessons from the trial can inform final changes to the Toolkit (before translation takes place) and the ongoing rollout. Second, that UNAIDS country offices should help facilitate sensitization sessions for key groups. Some of the groups mentioned included UNAIDS co-sponsors, the Global Fund CCM working group and the NAC working group. These groups are key to the successful rollout of the Toolkit at a national level. Finally, an investment should be made in training trainers in the use of the Toolkit.

AIDSPortal Developing new website on Children and AIDS

AIDSPortal has been contracted by the RIATT on Children and AIDS in Eastern and Southern Africa to deveop its website. The website that is based on AIDSPortal's nexus system will be launched early next year.

RIATT, the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Inter Agency Task Team on Children and AIDS is a multisectoral network comprising organisations and agencies workingaround vulnurable children and HIV and AIDS at the regional level. It advocates for a coordinated regional strategy on children and AIDS.

The website will have a "clearinghouse" and "knowledge management function" for RIATT members, national and international stakeholders to find the latest information. Specifically, the website aims to:

• act as a gateway to existing resources and networks
• provide an accessible platform where content can be uploaded
• be an instrument for advocacy for vulnerable children
• link up member organisations
• enable connections between people, knowledge and resources
• provide on-line workspaces/forums
• inform users of new content of their interest

Watch this space. We will keep you updated on the progress and launch of this website.

Aid transparency - New international initiative looks at transparency projects in Kenya and Brazil

From October 20 – 21st Anne Babcock and Rob Worthington participated in the first International Aid Transparency Initiative Conference. They presented their work on mapping HIV services and spending at the community level in Kenya. You can access the presentation here.

For an aid transparency perspective expected outcomes of this work include:
• New way of sharing more and better aid information, involving CBOs and end beneficiaries
• Inform donors and governments of the quality and availability of services
• Inform donors and governments of the quality and availability of HIV, AIDS and TB services
• Increased accountability and coordination

IATI is a multi-stakeholder initiative which aims to increase the availability and accessibility of information about aid. This will help to ensure that aid is used in the most effective ways in fighting poverty. IATI aims to make aid more effective in fighting poverty through improving transparency over aid flows. It does this by bringing together donors, developing countries, civil society organisations (CSOs) and aid information experts to agree ways of sharing more and better information about aid.

Participants from donor agencies, partner country governments, and CSOs came together at the conference to explore aid transparency within the broader context of ownership, domestic accountability and mutual accountability.

Of particular interest was the Brazilian presentation on Empowering Citizens: Experiences in promoting government accountability to citizens in Brazil. Check it out at http://www.portaltransparencia.gov.br/ it does a remarkable job at publishing government spending in a dynamic, user-friendly and interactive way.

Additional information of the work of conference participants can be found below.
• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/
• Development Gateway http://www.developmentgateway.com
• Aid Info - http://www.aidinfo.org/
• Kenya AIDS Service Map - http://www.kanco.ushahidi.com
• More on IATI can be found at http://aidtransparency.net

HIV/AIDS Information for Decision Making

AIDSPortal and Consultancy Africa Intelligence (CAI) have agreed a new partnership to help promote their HIV/AIDS Information products and services through their respective networks.

CAI offers a suite of services on Africa, designed for business, academia, research and policy makers in public and private spheres worldwide. The services include
·Fortnightly and monthly reports on topics spanning health, gender, economics and politics;
·Tailored research; and
·Complementary ad-hoc papers

CAI’s Report titles that are relevant for AIDS Portal users include the ‘HIV and AIDS Monthly Review’, the ‘HIV and AIDS Fortnightly Focus - Business and Policy’ and the ‘Gender Issues in Africa Monthly Bulletin’. CAI also provides targeted HIV and AIDS analysis and other commissioned research intelligence.

AIDSPortal will feature the CAI profile and product information on its new sharing and networking platform http://www.myaidsnexus.org/ The platform aims to improve flows of information and networking among people responding to HIV and AIDS. Some of the key features of interest to the HIV and AIDS community include:
·Interactive profiles for individuals and groups
·Customizable discussion groups (that can include pictures and polls)
·Micro-sites (mini web-sites) for community-based organizations without a web presence
·Applications (such as job listings, videos, directories) that can be included on any website
·Jobs, events and funding opportunities

To sign up for a free one month trial subscription to specialised CAI reports, click here to fill in your details and select the reports of interest. You will receive the reports and the complimentary newsletter by email.

CAI has also agreed to provide AIDS Portal users with a special offer on any one-year report subscription. In addition to a 25% discount on the monthly subscription fee, AIDS Portal users will receive an additional three months free, that is 15 months for the price of 12.

To help us monitor this partnership, should you contact CAI by email please mention that you got this information through AIDSPortal. AIDSPortal will receive a small payment for referrals, which will be used to support our work.

Watch this space for more updates, new products and special offers from CAI.