Support for community information system

Ethiopia is building ‘One Monitoring and Evaluation System" and the facility based reporting is generating

data that are used for decision making to improve the national HIV/AIDS program. However the non-facility-

based (i.e. community-based) information system is still in its early stages of development.

In FY07 attempts were made to include the community-based information within the health-management-

and-information system (HMIS), but this was not possible as the data includes information that is

considered to be outside the major focus area of the HMIS and it was decided to collect the community-

based system through other mechanisms in order not to overburden the young system. In FY07, mapping of

the flow of information systems was conducted through Tulane University's technical assistance

programs—based on results, the reporting flow for the community-based information system is designed. A

national consultative meeting will be conducted to tap into partners experience in collecting information from

the community.

In FY07, the indicators for the community-based information system were selected; the reporting guideline

along with related technical documents will be developed in FY08. The new system will be pilot tested in the

major four regions. Based on the feedback of the pilot test, the community information system design will

be finalized.

Capacity in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is critical for the sustainability of the program. The Federal

HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office staff will be trained in community-based information systems and

experience- sharing visits will be conducted with other countries to adopt systems that worked in those

countries. The community-based information will be linked with the data warehouse and the national M&E

support provided by Tulane University.

Funds were originally to go to HAPCO, the Ethiopian government partner, as part of pooled funding. As

USG funds cannot be used as part of a pool, and State has no mechanism with HAPCO, these funds are

being transferred to CDC, which will use them to fund a discrete activity to complement the HAPCO pool,

which is designed to improve HAPCO governance and coordination.

Ethiopia's Federal HAPCO, the organization responsible for coordinating HIV/AIDS response in the country,

is establishing a pooled fund to promote better governance of the response to HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. The

goal of this fund is to achieve more effective HIV/AIDS prevention treamtne and care support in Ethiopia by

strengthening national capability for oversight, management, and coordination in the sector, and by

improving dialogue with stakeholders.

While the USG cannot participate in a pooled fund, we support the goals of this activity. We will provide

$100,000 to be used for a discrete activity, to be negotiated with HAPCO, in support of achieving more

effective governance and coordination. PEPFAR Ethiopia will work with HAPCO to determine what discrete

activity USG is best situated to support. This might include training for HAPCO staff, conducting workshops

for community leaders, or conducting operational research. Once this activity is negotiated with HAPCO,

this narrative will be updated to provide specific information about how USG will support HAPCO.