Detailed Mechanism Funding and Narrative

Years of mechanism: 2008 2009

Details for Mechanism ID: 7533
Country/Region: Kenya
Year: 2008
Main Partner: University of Nairobi
Main Partner Program: NA
Organizational Type: University
Funding Agency: HHS/CDC
Total Funding: $1,200,000

Funding for Strategic Information (HVSI): $500,000

1. ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION (KENYA HIV FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM)

In Kenya, there is an acute shortage of high-level personnel to manage HIV/AIDS programs and develop

evidence-based policy. In addition, among the small existing pool of HIV/AIDS program managers, there is

a need for long-term and short-term training in several areas of HIV program implementation, informatics,

monitoring and evaluation. These gaps limit the effectiveness of Kenyan governmental and non-

governmental HIV programs, including those of NASCOP and other Ministries involved in HIV/AIDS

activities. We propose to implement an HIV Fellowship Program focused on training high-level HIV program

managers. Jointly with the Fellowship program under OHPS, the program will provide long-term training for

12 Fellows who will be placed and working within host institutions, as well as short-term training for 200

Kenyan public health professionals, informaticians and journalists and 120 host institution staff. For the two

-year fellowship program, fellows will be selected through a competitive process and will generally have

masters degrees or be physicians or nurses prior to beginning the fellowship program. HIV-focused

programs would apply to serve as a host institution for a Fellow, and would include such government

institutions such as Provincial and District Medical Offices, the National AIDS and STD Control Program

(NASCOP), the National AIDS Control Council, the Ministry of Education and Kenyan non-governmental

HIV prevention, care, and treatment organizations. Fellows would be supervised by an academic advisor as

well as a mentor at the host institution where they would be working for two years. The Fellowship would

include periodic didactic courses, but also a long-term HIV/AIDS-related project at their host institution for

which the Fellow would have to submit a formal grant application. While all fellows will complete a core

curriculum on HIV/AIDS Program management and epidemiology, the Kenyan HIV/AIDS Fellows will

specialize in one of three main tracks: program management, health economics, and informatics/monitoring

and evaluation. These tracks address current gaps in human capacity within the professional public health

cadre in Kenya. The program would also include short courses on different aspects of HIV/AIDS program

management and epidemiology for 200 district and provincial-level health officials, policy makers, program

managers and journalists. As a part of their fellowship curriculum, fellows will also train staff at their host

institutions, totaling 120 persons per year. This program will be modeled after similar PEPFAR-supported

programs in Uganda, Zimbabwe and soon in Botswana. These programs have been highly successful in

creating a qualified pool of HIV/AIDS program managers and have helped to build long-term human

capacity that can support and sustain PEPFAR investments in country. This program will be implemented

by a Kenyan academic institution that will be selected through a competitive process (TBD) in collaboration

with CDC and GOK.

2. CONTRIBUTIONS TO OVERALL PROGRAM AREA

This program will contribute to three of the key goals of our OHPS and SI strategy. First, it will contribute to

strengthening health human resource capacity and will reinforce sustainability of HIV/AIDS programs.

Through this program, over 330 Kenyan professionals will be trained, including 200 Kenyan public health

professionals, informaticians and journalists and 120 host institution staff who will receive short-term training

and 24 Fellows who will be placed and working within host institutions during their two-year fellowship (12

will graduate every year). This training will help expand the very limited pool of HIV/AIDS program

managers currently available in Kenya and reduce reliance on expatriate staffing. Secondly, the program

will help to improve the leadership, management and capacity-building skills of local indigenous

organizations and their networks to enhance the sustainability of HIV/AIDS programs. All host institutions

will be Kenyan governmental and non-governmental organizations and a key component of the program will

be training of host institution staff. In addition, fellows will learn how to write a successful grant application.

Experience with similar programs in other PEPFAR countries demonstrates that the majority of fellows often

are able to use their grant writing skills to assist their host institutions to raise funds to sustain their salaries

after they complete their two year fellowship placement. In addition, Fellows are highly marketable after

completing the training and stay in country; for example, in Uganda, of the first 17 graduates, 15 continued

to work in HIV/AIDS activities in Uganda, 1 worked in HIV/AIDS for the USG in Guyana, and 1 worked with

HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. The program will be implemented by a Kenyan Institution in partnership with CDC.

Finally, the fellowship program will help to improve systems for HIV/AIDS policy development, planning and

budgeting and will help to bolster and institutionalize GOK policy and financing support for HIV/AIDS

programs. By expanding indigenous expertise in the areas of health economics, monitoring and evaluation,

and evidence-based approaches to health, GOK policy planning for HIV/AIDS programs can be based on

cost-effective interventions.

3. LINKS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES

This activity will leverage existing resources already in place in the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory

Training Program (FELTP) program, which is currently funded by CDC-Atlanta and USAID, to expand this

capacity building program to include different tracks in an HIV Fellowship Program: HIV public health

management and science; health economics; and HIV monitoring and evaluation. In addition, linkages will

be made to similar PEPFAR-funded programs in Uganda, Zimbabwe and Botswana to share materials and

programmatic lessons. Detailed planning for this activity will be done in conjunction with other on-going and

new PEPFAR-funded activities including the ongoing University of Nairobi/University of North

Carolina/MEASURE Evaluation Project (###) curriculum development and training on M&E, as well as the

USAID Management Sciences for Health (####) activity on leadership development.

4. POPULATIONS BEING TARGETED

[Maximum 1000 characters] This activity will provide training for adult men and women. Through their

fellowship projects and host institutions, this activity should impact and improve service delivery to many of

PEPFAR's target populations.

5. EMPHASIS AREAS / KEY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES ADDRESSED

Emphasis areas for this national activity include human capacity development, training, in-service training,

retention strategies, local organization capacity building and strategic information strengthening.

6.TARGETS

Number of organizations provided with SI related TA - 114

Number of individuals trained in SI - 120

Funding for Health Systems Strengthening (OHSS): $700,000

THIS IS A NEW ACTIVITY

1. ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

In Kenya, there is an acute shortage of high-level personnel to manage HIV/AIDS programs and develop

evidence-based policy. In addition, among the small existing pool of HIV/AIDS program managers, there is

a need for long-term and short-term training in several areas of HIV program implementation, monitoring,

and evaluation. These gaps limit the effectiveness of Kenyan governmental and non-governmental HIV

programs, including those of NASCOP and other Ministries involved in HIV/AIDS activities. We propose to

implement an HIV Fellowship Program focused on training high-level HIV program managers. The program

will provide long-term training for 12 Fellows who will be placed and working within host institutions, as well

as short-term training for 200 Kenyan public health professionals, informaticians and journalists and 120

host institution staff. For the two-year fellowship program, fellows will be selected through a competitive

process and will generally have masters degrees or be physicians or nurses prior to beginning the

fellowship program. HIV-focused programs would apply to serve as a host institution for a Fellow, and

would include such government institutions such as Provincial and District Medical Offices, the National

AIDS and STD Control Program (NASCOP), the National AIDS Control Council, the Ministry of Education

and Kenyan non-governmental HIV prevention, care, and treatment organizations. Fellows would be

supervised by an academic advisor as well as a mentor at the host institution where they would be working

for two years. The Fellowship would include periodic didactic courses, but also a long-term HIV/AIDS-

related project at their host institution for which the Fellow would have to submit a formal grant application.

While all fellows will complete a core curriculum on HIV/AIDS Program management and epidemiology, the

Kenyan HIV/AIDS Fellows will specialize in one of three main tracks: program management, health

economics, and informatics/monitoring and evaluation. These tracks address current gaps in human

capacity within the professional public health cadre in Kenya. The program would also include short courses

on different aspects of HIV/AIDS program management and epidemiology for 200 district and provincial-

level health officials, policy makers, program managers and journalists. As a part of their fellowship

curriculum, fellows will also train staff at their host institutions, totaling 120 persons per year. This program

will be modeled after similar PEPFAR-supported programs in Uganda, Zimbabwe and soon in Botswana.

These programs have been highly successful in creating a qualified pool of HIV/AIDS program managers

and have helped to build long-term human capacity that can support and sustain PEPFAR investments in

country. This program will be implemented by a Kenyan academic institution that will be selected through a

competitive process (TBD) in collaboration with CDC and GOK.

2. CONTRIBUTIONS TO OVERALL PROGRAM AREA

This program will contribute to three of the key goals of our OHPS and SI strategy. First, it will contribute to

strengthening health human resource capacity and will reinforce sustainability of HIV/AIDS programs.

Through this program, over 330 Kenyan professionals will be trained, including 200 Kenyan public health

professionals, informaticians and journalists and 120 host institution staff who will receive short-term training

and 24 Fellows who will be placed and working within host institutions during their two-year fellowship (12

will graduate every year). This training will help expand the very limited pool of HIV/AIDS program

managers currently available in Kenya and reduce reliance on expatriate staffing. Secondly, the program

will help to improve the leadership, management and capacity-building skills of local indigenous

organizations and their networks to enhance the sustainability of HIV/AIDS programs. All host institutions

will be Kenyan governmental and non-governmental organizations and a key component of the program will

be training of host institution staff. In addition, fellows will learn how to write a successful grant application.

Experience with similar programs in other PEPFAR countries demonstrates that the majority of fellows often

are able to use their grant writing skills to assist their host institutions to raise funds to sustain their salaries

after they complete their two year fellowship placement. In addition, Fellows are highly marketable after

completing the training and stay in country; for example, in Uganda, of the first 17 graduates, 15 continued

to work in HIV/AIDS activities in Uganda, 1 worked in HIV/AIDS for the USG in Guyana, and 1 worked with

HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. The program will be implemented by a Kenyan Institution in partnership with CDC.

Finally, the fellowship program will help to improve systems for HIV/AIDS policy development, planning and

budgeting and will help to bolster and institutionalize GOK policy and financing support for HIV/AIDS

programs. By expanding indigenous expertise in the areas of health economics, monitoring and evaluation,

and evidence-based approaches to health, GOK policy planning for HIV/AIDS programs can be based on

cost-effective interventions.

3. LINKS TO OTHER ACTIVITIES

This activity will leverage existing resources already in place in the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory

Training Program (FELTP) program, which is currently funded by CDC-Atlanta and USAID, to expand this

capacity building program to include different tracks in an HIV Fellowship Program: HIV public health

management and science; health economics; and HIV monitoring and evaluation. In addition, linkages will

be made to similar PEPFAR-funded programs in Uganda, Zimbabwe and Botswana to share materials and

programmatic lessons. Detailed planning for this activity will be done in conjunction with other on-going and

new PEPFAR-funded activities including the ongoing University of Nairobi/University of North

Carolina/MEASURE Evaluation Project (###) curriculum development training on M&E, as well as the

USAID Management Sciences for Health activity on leadership development.

4. POPULATIONS BEING TARGETED

This activity will provide training for adult men and women. Through their fellowship projects and host

institutions, this activity should impact and improve service delivery to many of PEPFAR's target

populations.

5. EMPHASIS AREAS / KEY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES ADDRESSED

Emphasis areas for this national activity include human capacity development, training, in-service training,

retention strategies, local organization capacity building and strategic information strengthening.

6. TARGETS

Number of local organizations provided with technical assistance for HIV-related policy development --12

Number of local organizations provided with technical assistance for HIV-related institutional capacity

building -- 52

Number of individuals trained in HIV-related policy development--330

Number of individuals trained in HIV-related institutional capacity building- 330

Number of individuals trained in HIV-related stigma and discrimination reduction--330

Activity Narrative: Number of individuals trained in HIV-related community mobilization for prevention, care and/or treatment--

130