HIV and AIDS - Support to the International Partnership against AIDS in Africa (SIPAA)
Lessons learned: Building bridges with SIPAA
Focusing on the key lessons of the programme, the learning publication describes how SIPAA has been a catalyst for action and a platform for raising new voices in Africa.
SIPAA has contributed to changes which have increased the dialogue between people living with HIV and AIDS, networks, civil society, and at decision- and policy-making levels. The work of SIPAA drew on a range of expertise and technical skills across the region. This meant it was an African response to HIV and AIDS and as such more likely to be sustainable in the long term.
The main Lessons learned
1. Meaningful involvement of people living with HIV and AIDS in the national response means working with them to build capacity, listening to them to establish needs and responding to them to bring about change. Failure to ensure meaningful involvement of people living with HIV and AIDS means an ineffective response.
2. Supporting associations according to potential rather than proven track record is risky but rewarding. Local level organisations may lack experience and capacity, but through effective and considered support they can engage actively at the grassroots level instead of remaining dormant.This changes the way that money reaches down to the people who need it most.
3. Connecting people living with HIV and AIDS and others who are affected through networks of individuals, groups and associations is an effective way to coordinate a nationwide response to HIV and AIDS. Networks support people who are the real 'drivers' of change and enable their voices to be heard. This contributes to reducing stigma and discrimination in society.
4. Developing the capacity of local leaders (government, religious, and civil society leaders) to address HIV and AIDS publicly, to reduce stigma and discrimination and to help the community support its most vulnerable members leads to change that is locally appropriate and more likely to be sustainable. Leaders need to be supported to find their own ways of understanding and responding to the problem.
5. Responding flexibly to the different situations of National AIDS Councils, carrying out needs assessments from the very beginning and filling in gaps that other donors are not keen to support means that NACs can genuinely develop their capacity. The coordinating role that NACs must play requires good channels of communication and ability to support local level partners to take effective action.
6. Communicating, negotiating and building partnerships is a sensitive and often time-consuming process, requiring flexibility, mutual trust and understanding. In the long term partnerships lead to a more sustainable, coordinated and effective response to HIV and AIDS. These processes are too long, complex and unpredictable to be able to fit within a time bound logical framework or blueprint project. They require flexibility on behalf of funding organisations and new or different donor management and assessment methods.
7. Strengthening the links between people across African countries and stimulating learning processes encourages new ways of thinking and acting and can increase political will to respond better to HIV and AIDS. Managing information and knowledge around good and bad ways to respond to HIV and AIDS is complex, yet this information can be vital for other countries. Personal interaction is an effective way to share knowledge and learning.
8. Identifying and using skills
and resources available in Africa makes
the most of the range of expertise available and ensures and African-driven
response to HIV and AIDS. Regional coordination builds stronger links across
countries and facilitates the effective use of these skills. It can be
a focus of the documentation of achievements, mistakes and lessons learned.