Institutional Capacity Assessment of the aids control Program Uganda
HIV/AIDS mainstreaming in the ministry of health
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- 3.6 Health sector HIV/AIDS response coordination and partnership
3.5 HIV/AIDS mainstreaming in the ministry of healthMainstreaming addresses both the direct and indirect aspects of HIV and AIDS within the context of the normal functions of an organization or community. It is essentially a process whereby a sector analyses how HIV and AIDS can impact it now and in the future, and considers how sectoral policies, decisions and actions might influence the longer-term development of the epidemic and the sector’. This study assessed the extent to which ACP is carrying out the important mandate of mainstreaming HIV/AIDS internally in terms of policies and actions directed at MOH staff and externally in terms of policies and actions directed at the clients of the ministry. Participants’ score for ACP in this domain and reasons for the score is presented in the table below; Individual % score range: 13 - 42 Group consensus score: 20% Table 8: HIV/AIDS Mainstreaming
Most participants appeared not to understand the concept of HIV mainstreaming and this was not perceived to be a central business of the ACP. With a consensus score of 20% therefore ACP was put at the beginning steps in this domain. There was an acknowledgement by the senior officers at ACP that a national work place policy exist but these have been more vigorously implemented by some other ministries such as the ministries of Agriculture and Education. One issue that seems to have partly affected the issue of mainstreaming in the MOH is confusion about the roles of the HR department VS the ACP in relation to HIV/AIDS mainstreaming. The lack of clarity arose from the fact that HR departments in other ministries appear to be very prominent in mainstreaming activities but unlike those ministries, the MOH has the ACP as a unit directly managing HIV/AIDS programs in the health sector. It is recommended that the roles of the HR dept and ACP in relation to HIV mainstreaming be clarified as a first step towards developing a plan and scaling activities. 3.6 Health sector HIV/AIDS response coordination and partnershipEffective coordination allows for the alignment of priorities, funding mechanisms and avoidance of duplication and inefficiencies. In the health sector, coordination is even more critical in ensuring that the multiple local and international players operate in harmony in terms of technical standards and guidelines, linkage of interventions and services, efficient resource allocation and achievement of priority outcomes. The ACP is responsible for overall health sector response coordination and the management of technical component of partnerships within the health sector. Participants assessed the capacity of ACP in coordination and partnerships by scoring 9 different questions. The scores and participant scores are described below; Individual % score range: 26 - 78 Group consensus score: 65% Table 9: Health Sector Response Coordination and partnerships
A consensus score of 65% indicates that ACP is perceived as being systematically achieving in this domain. A key strength identified by participants is the existing partnerships with many international organizations in the country. An instance was cited where ACP guided geographic re-location of new projects which helped to avoid duplication. Notwithstanding, ACP was still viewed as being weak in coordination especially at the periphery and with private groups. Similarly, there appear not to be any institutionalized support system to maintain partnerships/networks as the job of partnership coordination appears not to be assigned to any staff in ACP. Beyond project based activities, it is not clear if any individual staff is pursuing any known long term partnership objective with international development partners. An additional issue with the role of ACP in partnerships is the perception that coordination of partners is the turf of the UAC. There is need therefore to clarify for all relevant stakeholders (especially ACP & UAC) the technical response coordination functions of the ACP and the multisectorial coordination function of the UAC. Considering all the issues discussed in this domain, 65% consensus score may be an overstatement of ACP’s current rating here. Download 191.49 Kb. Share with your friends:
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