Donor Responses

At the times of HIV/AIDS It is important for international donors to adjust their partnership strategies and funding modalities to make them more relevant and appropriate to working in conditions of high HIV/AIDS prevalence.

While some international NGOs, particularly members of STOP AIDS NOW! in the Netherlands, have been at the forefront in assisting partners, most others have lagged behind. They have been little more than ‘concerned bystanders’.

To remain relevant in the region, donors need to develop HIV-positive partnerships which will require international NGOs to integrate HIV/AIDS into their partnership strategies in sub-Saharan Africa. They will also need to develop their own staff competence to engage with these issues.

If you working for an INGO struggling to find the right mechanism for assisting local partners in internal HIV/AIDS mainstreaming then contact Rick James for assistance.

To read more on the issue download:
HIV Positive Support for Partners
Rick James, INTRAC, 2007

Emphasis on HIV/AIDS programme mainstreaming, though vital, is only a partial and technical response to the problem. While programme mainstreaming does recognise and address the impact of HIV/AIDS on ultimate beneficiaries at the grassroots level, it ignores the debilitating organisational impact that HIV/AIDS is also having on the local NGOs which are expected to implement the programmes. This paper offers some practical steps for donors to follow in developing HIV/AIDS positive partnerships.

HIV Positive Support for Partners.doc (263Kb)

Good Donorship in a time of AIDS- Guidelines on support to partners to manage HIV and AIDS in workplace
Stop Aids Now! 2006

The guidelines outlines why local NGOs should have a workplace policy, and why within this policy special attention should be paid to HIV/AIDS. This document is a first attempt to set out what ‘good donorship’ means in a time of AIDS. It contains clear principles and commitments which are presented as separate text in boxes throughout the document, and which are also all listed together in Section 3. The guidelines are also available in French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Good donorship in a time of HIV and AIDS_SAN!.pdf (691Kb)

For more relevant literature and documents access our resource database on HIV/AIDS in the workplace

How to develop HIV-positive partnerships:

• Focus more on organisational capacity, rather than simply on development projects. If development organisations are not resilient then they will not meet programme deliveries and targets.

• Accept the higher ‘overhead’ costs and reduced outputs that working in contexts of high HIV prevalence entails. This means adjusting predicted results and budgets.

• Integrate a workplace HIV/AIDS response into grant appraisal, monitoring and evaluation processes

• Develope clear guidelines for support to partners, including how much they will contribute to implementation of a workplace response.

• Catalyse partner response to HIV/AIDS through dialogue, field visits, and dissemination of information.

• Sponsor HIV/AIDS capacity building processes, such as training, workshops, consultancies and exchanges for partners.

• Strengthen skills in HIV/AIDS mainstreaming among local providers of capacity building services.

• Fund research, workshops, publications and dissemination of good practice regarding organisational responses to HIV/AIDS.

• Explore collaborative ventures with local insurance companies and health providers.