Adamyan M, Amayun M; International Conference on AIDS (15th : 2004 : Bangkok, Thailand).
Int Conf AIDS. 2004 Jul 11-16; 15: abstract no. E11203.
World Vision Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
Issues: Over the past decade, governments and civil society organizations in the former Soviet Union (FSU) have reluctantly initiated HIV/AIDS programs. In program implementation, there have been particular challenges regarding issues of monitoring and evaluation (M&E), especially in measuring outcomes and impact. Description: Armenia now has HIV/AIDS program models demonstrating particular promise. These are all externally funded by multilateral organizations such as UNAIDS, USAID, the World Bank and the GFATM. They all include internationally accepted practices of M&E, using selected indicators and means of verification. By and large, local recipients of donor funds have failed to successfully adapt them. Reasons include lack of training in program management, inadequately developed monitoring tools and a culture resistant to measuring performance and collaborative power-sharing, exacerbated by socio-political factors of our transitional context. This has resulted in the lack of comprehensive M&E of HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs, diminished program effectiveness and sustainability. Reports of misappropriated funds and negligence of program impact abound, but in the light of prevailing local corruption and lack of a strong civil society, strong corrective measures are often not applied. Lessons learned: Generic tools and approaches for M&E must be a focus for capacity building in the FSU. Contextualized systems and tools must be made available and integrated into HIV/AIDS project management cycles. External evaluators need to measure the impact of HIV/AIDS prevention and care activities beyond tracking coverage of process/output indicators. Recommendations: Donor-initiated and facilitated comprehensive M&E as part of the regular project cycle management should become the leading edge of best practices to enable governments and civil society in the FSU to learn transparency in structuring and focusing HIV/AIDS interventions. In addition, donors should promote political commitment to collaboration with NGOs, transparency and attention to long-term impacts of national investment decisions.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Armenia
- Evaluation Studies
- Financial Management
- Government Agencies
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- Health Services Needs and Demand
- Organizations
- Politics
- Program Evaluation
- USSR
- United Nations
- economics
- education
- methods
- organization & administration
Other ID:
UI: 102278753
From Meeting Abstracts