Fwd: For civil society update on NACP-III process

[Guest guest]

[Note from Anandi Yuvaraj, India HIV/AIDS Alliance and Dr. Jana, Care India,

NACP-3 Steering Committee member]

Dear Civil Society members,

As you are all aware, the NACP-III design process has begun to inform the third

phase of response to AIDS in India, with a programme implementation plan for the

period of 2006-2011. The NACP-III process has been initiated under the

leadership of NACO with the support of the World Bank, DFID and other

development partners.

Many of us may be involved at various levels in shaping the strategies for the

national programme. Dr. Jana and myself have been privileged to be on the

Steering Committee (SC) for the NACP-III. I would like to take this opportunity

to update you all on the deliberations of the SC till date.

1. Role of the Steering Committee:

Steering Committee comprising senior representatives of the development partners

and stakeholders, including two representatives from civil society (Anandi

Yuvaraj and Dr. Jana), was constituted to strengthen the NACP-III planning

process. The Terms of Reference for the SC includes:

Advisory role, in facilitating and enriching the NACP-III planning process with

inputs, insights and experience.

Promoting coordination and synergy of intra-partner efforts and macro level

initiatives that have a bearing on the NACP-III planning process.

The Steering Committee will meet monthly to exchange views, review partners’

contribution to the NACP-III planning process and take stock of the progress

thereof. (Met twice in the last few months)

Dir. Fin., NACO as the Nodal Officer, NACP-III will be the convener of the

Committee to be chaired by the SS & DG, NACO.

2. Planning Team for NACP-III

The planning Team members were chosen by NACO based on their recognised

expertise in the relevant fields. The Planning team is composed of the following

members:

Shri R.K. Misha, Team Leader

Dr. Bhahbanprakash, Lead Member

Dr. Sadhana Rout, Lead Member

Dr. K. Sudhakar, Lead Member

The Director of Finance for NACO is the nodal officer for NACP-III donor

coordination.

It was intended that NACP-III design process would be based around a number of

key principles:

Three Ones: Principles promoted by UNAIDS to encourage countries to develop one

single national mechanism for AIDS coordination, one national AIDS strategy and

one monitoring and evaluation framework for AIDS responses.

Participatory Planning: Involvement of stakeholders in the design process to

increase the ownership across the various sectors of the society at all level.

Mainstreaming; Greater effort to be put in place with concrete strategies for

mainstreaming through a consultative process.

Partnerships; proactively promoting partnership with different stakeholders for

an expanded response.

The NACP-III aims to look into broad ‘thrust areas’ which may include, but not

limited to:

Building on the gains of NACP-II and reaching out to the district level

Priority for prevention and strengthening the care and support and treatment

Increased focus on vulnerable states and North East states

Improving service delivery

Mainstreaming and partnership

Development of evidence based planning, programme implementation and finance

management

The Steering Committee has met twice to review the progress of the NACP-III

design process. The planning team updated the SC for its inputs and suggestions

to strengthen the process.

Highlights of the discussions include the following comments/suggestions for

consideration by the planning team as they move forward:

The NACP- Planning Team should focus on programme implementation and process

related issues such as procurement, financial management, M & E, and

institutional arrangements for effective programme management.

The team should build more on the knowledge, experience and professional

expertise, including from civil society, that is available in the country and

focus on critical areas and issues that require attention over next five years

to reduce the disease burden in India.

Emphasise the importance of addressing the institutional arrangements, and

governance issues in NACP-III.

The idea of holding a national workshop on the ‘Three Ones’ was proposed by the

SC members. It was supported by many including the civil society members. UNAIDS

agreed to host the workshop.

In addition, I have proposed to the planning Team a national level civil society

consultation meeting, led by civil society, to provide an opportunity to review

the draft strategy for NACP-III before it is finalised. This now has been

accepted by the planning team. This would enable the civil society to review the

draft strategy to make sure that the strategies are comprehensive enough to

address the emerging needs of the epidemic. Details of the same will be posted

as soon as the dates are finalised.

3. Major activities of NACP-III

The major activities proposed by the planning team to inform the designing

process includes, but not limited to, the following:

Inputs from 14 Working Groups: Working groups have been constituted for a range

of issues and the TORs have been developed by the planning team. Currently the

working groups are functioning under the guidance of the planning team. Civil

society members were selected to participate in many of the working groups,

acting as convener in some of them. The working groups are meeting during July

and August and will be presenting reports by the end of August. The working

groups are as follows:

1. Working Group of Programme Management

i. Sub Group - Programme Implementation and Organizational Restructuring

2. Working Group on Financial Management

3. Working Group on Mainstreaming and Partnerships

4. Working Group on Gender, Youth, Adolescents and Children

5. Working Group on Condom Programming

6. Working Group on Service Delivery

7. Working Group on STI/RTI Treatment and convergence with RCH

8. Working Group on Targeted Interventions

9. Working Group on Communication, Advocacy and Community Mobilization

10. Working Group on GIPA, Human Rights, Legal and Ethical Issues

11. Working Group on Care, Support and Treatment

12. Working Group on Research, Development & Knowledge Management

13. Working Group on M & E (existing UNAIDS group)

14. Working Group on Surveillance

• State level consultations will be organized by SACS to develop a framework for

programmme implementation plan (PIP) including preparation of District PIPs.

Based on the PIPS of states, a National PIP will be developed by the Planning

team.

•The planning team will commission a social assessment, institutional analysis,

economic analysis, environmental assessment, financial assessment, and

procurement assessment.

• To support this design process, a public e-Consultation is being carried out

under the Solution Exchange initiative of the United Nations Country Team in

India to seek inputs from all relevant stakeholders. Participants contribute

to the e-Consultation through e-mail or via the web. The consultation is

moderated – contributions will be approved before they are posted to ensure a

free-flowing, constructive discussion. Reports from the e-consultations will be

feed to the Working Groups and planning team. You will find the outcomes of the

working groups being posted in the e-consultation.

I would encourage you to go to the following website to participate

e-consultation and to review the outcomes of the Working Groups:

http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/nacp3discussions/

The aim is for the planning team to complete its work for a pre-appraisal by the

World Bank in mid-October.

I hope that this information is useful and I will continue to keep you updated

with further progress and new information.

Anandi Yuvaraj

Senior Programme Officer

India HIV/AIDS Alliance, Kushal House, Third Floor

39 Nehru Place, New Delhi 110019

India.

Switchboard:+91-11-51633081-84 Extn:116

Fax:+91-11-51633085

E-mail: ayuvaraj@...

<mailto:ayuvaraj@...>

www.aidsalliance.org and www.aidsmap.com