6 Programme Management and Organizational Capacity-building
6.2.8 Progressively ensure full sex worker participation
Sex worker programmes should be designed in such a way as to move from doing programmes for sex workers to doing them with sex workers, and ultimately to programmes done by sex workers. To accomplish this:
• Leadership by management at all levels should maintain a focus on the community empowerment component of the intervention just as much as the more technical components. This prioritization should be repeatedly articulated and given ongoing support.
• Capacity-building and mentoring of sex workers are necessary to provide them the tools, support and skills to increasingly deliver services, which results in better services and potentially increases the sustainability of the programmes( see Section 6.7 below, as well as Chapter 1, Section 1.2.2 and Chapter 3, Section 3.2).
• Human resource policies that define terms of reference for positions held by sex workers and clear advancement criteria are essential( see also Chapter 3, Section 3.2.2, part D).
• Management should explicitly address staff expectations and the processes of transferring responsibility from non-sex worker NGO staff to sex workers( see Chapter 1, Section 1.2.1).
6.3 Capacity-building / programme learning
In most settings, there is limited experience in sex worker interventions. Consequently, the capacitybuilding system also needs to recognize that not all implementing organizations have the same experience and background in sex worker programming. It is equally true for non-sex worker and sex worker staff that lack of experience does not mean lack of ability. Capacity of the non-sex worker and sex worker staff may be built through regular classroom training, field exposure, supervision / mentoring and interactive problem-solving sessions. Ideally, the training materials should be adapted or developed centrally to maintain quality of training and consistency with the minimum standards specified by the programme, and be based on an assessment of the capacity-building needs. Preand post-assessments are useful to monitor the quality of the trainings.
Box 6.7
Case example: Organizational and technical assessment of state government agencies and civil society organizations for HIV prevention services in Nigeria
Between October 2012 and April 2013 Nigeria’ s Strengthening HIV Prevention Services( SHiPS) project for most-at-risk populations undertook an organizational and technical assessment of State Agencies for the Control of HIV / AIDS( SACAs) and civil society organizations( CSOs) across selected states, to identify gaps to be addressed by capacity-building prior to scaling up HIV prevention services.
Two national tools were used to give a uniform and objective assessment: the National Harmonized Organizational and Capacity Assessment Tool( NHOCAT) for the SACAs, and the Partnership Assessment and Development Framework tool( PADEF) for the CSOs. A total of 11 SACAs and 62 CSOs were assessed. The empirical parameters in the PADEF were used to shortlist 37 CSOs as potential implementing partners for the scale-up; of these, 20 are currently engaged as implementing partners. Gaps in capacity identified in the NHOCAT and PADEF assessments were used to guide the development of a structured systemsstrengthening programme for the SACAs in the SHiPS project states and the CSOs implementing the SHiPS project, with clear timelines and expected outcomes.
Sustained engagement through training, mentoring and coaching of SACAs, along with effective supportive supervision of the implementing CSOs, is gradually enhancing the ability of the CSOs to implement HIV programmes, and of the SACAs to coordinate them.
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