AIDS Competence Programme - Global

This project is centred on a process whereby organisations at various levels assess the areas in which they are already performing good practice to address HIV/AIDS - and identify ways in which they might improve. They then set specific targets. On this approach, by comparing their level of capability with other people's, they know whom they might learn from to improve their capacity, and what they have to offer to others who want to improve. The process aims to stimulate concrete thought processes to the end of shifting leaders' attitudes from "we believe in our own expertise to provide solutions" to "we believe in people's strengths to respond" and from "we control a disease" to "we facilitate responses". As groups progress through the levels, ACP organisers surmise, they develop their capacity to deal with HIV and AIDS. The key output is a "river diagram" that gives a quick overview of actual and target scores. The maximum and minimum scores are shown for comparison in the form of banks of the river. A "stairs diagram" shows group scores and their desire for improvement. The idea is to enable people to visually identify which practices they want to develop. To view an example of such a diagram, click here.

Following this assessment process, participants then use technical networks to share electronically, building on the relationships created through study visits and meetings. They can connect with people who have already tried something in their own context, sharing practices via the People-Connector, a global network gathering experience in response to HIV/AIDS.

According to organisers, the basic premises of the process are:

• Effective responses are grounded in the strengths of communities and in their collaboration with service providers and policy makers.
• Communities, organisations, and people influencing policy can develop human capacity to achieve AIDS competence.
• People can use their own knowledge and experience and adapt that of others, supporting increased ability to deal with HIV and AIDS.
• Large-scale knowledge creation and sharing requires facilitative leadership that values other peoples' strengths, through listening and learning.

The process is intended to aid any group (whether a nation, district, organisation, or community) or partnership (global, national, regional, or local) that wants to assess their competence in responding to HIV/AIDS. Participants might choose to use the process for strategic planning (to optimise the use of limited resources), to assess degree of competence and measure improvement over time, to set specific targets for improving practices for AIDS competence, to identify what knowledge can be shared or what needs to be learned from others, or to connect with others who have already gained experience.

Working with in-country partner organisations, the ACP team is focussing on facilitating learning from action, fostering self-assessment, and supporting exchange of knowledge within and between countries. Specifically, in each participating country a partner organisation works with a National Facilitation Team to support self-assessment - as described above - on the part of districts, cities, businesses, service providers, and policy-makers. Working with the UN and other colleagues, the team develops their capacity to distil and share knowledge. The aim is to increase competence across the practices at national, district and community level, in the country, in the cities and in organisations. The ACP and its partners commit to assist countries in launching and nurturing this process through at least 2 annual visits in the first year and 1 visit per year in the following years. The ACP is then available for distance coaching of the host organisation and the facilitation team, through video conferencing, teleconference, internet conferencing, and eWs (eWorkspaces - a collaborative platform for exchange of experiences within and between countries - for more details, click here). Moreover, ACP technically supports inter-country exchanges, either through face-to-face meetings or through distance communication. For instance, knowledge fairs are organised with all participating entities - one is set to be held in Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) in July 2004. Furthermore, ACP supports the electronic facilitation (or moderation) of global eWs on specific practices leading to AIDS competence.

In 2003, at least one key organisation in 18 countres initiated the self-assessment for AIDS Competence process. ACP travelled to 7 of these countries (Brazil, France, Guinea, Norway, Thailand, Uganda, and Zambia). Countries must provide financial support to support the internal process (US$100,000 per year, minimum).