Detailed Mechanism Funding and Narrative

Years of mechanism: 2011 2012 2013 2014

Details for Mechanism ID: 12661
Country/Region: South Sudan
Year: 2012
Main Partner: FHI 360
Main Partner Program: NA
Organizational Type: NGO
Funding Agency: USAID
Total Funding: $2,868,967

Goal: To improve access by vulnerable populations to quality HIV prevention and care services in 4 states and 10 counties. Target groups are perceived to be at higher risk of HIV infection. Objectives: To reduce HIV/AIDS transmission among the general population and key target groups through improved BCC strategies; To improve the quality of life of PLHIV and their families by expanding access to and promoting community and home based care services and by linking them closely with other non-HIV related services; To expand and promote the utilization of quality counseling and testing services; to build capacity in South Sudan for HIV policy development and implementation and to build systems to provide for sustainability of activities. Cost efficiency strategy: SHAP supports the national efforts to decentralize services to the lower levels; integrate services, strengthen referrals and encourage provider initiative counseling and testing (PICT). Transition strategy: SHAP will continue to strengthen health systems through continued capacity building at the government and community level. Staff will work with providers and managers at all levels of the health system to build their capacity to plan, manage and monitor. Monitoring and Evaluation: SHAP will continue to build capacity at all levels to better understand the HIV epidemic and its drivers, by strengthening GoSS and community partners to collect, use, and disseminate quality data to support evidence based decision making for policy-making, programming and program strengthening. In this COP year, increased emphasis will be placed on following up on use of registers and data collection tools for data collection and analysis, thereby improving the M&E system for better aggregation of data at the country level.

Global Fund / Programmatic Engagement Questions

1. Is the Prime Partner of this mechanism also a Global Fund principal or sub-recipient, and/or does this mechanism support Global Fund grant implementation? Yes2. Is this partner also a Global Fund principal or sub-recipient? Neither3. What activities does this partner undertake to support global fund implementation or governance?

Budget Code Recipient(s) of Support Approximate Budget Brief Description of ActivitiesHBHC Clients who attend HCT and are referred for treatment, care and support. 0HVCT Clients who attend HCT and are referred for treatment, care and support. 0 Referral linkages/integration of services at sites

SHAP refers clients to GF funded treatment sites.OHSS GoSS, SSAC 0 SHAP assists Goss with development of guidelines and policies.SHAP will provide additional capacity building support to the CACsSHAP will provide support Technical Assistance facilitation for Round 11 proposal.

Funding for Care: Adult Care and Support (HBHC): $750,000

SHAP will continue to work with sub-grantees in the community to implement a chronic care model approach that includes a strong community role in health outcomes. Programs provided by sub-grantees will also include alcohol counseling, psychosocial support services, and integration of prevention messages into routine clinical care. At the community level, programs will emphasize HIV stigma reduction, support communication about HIV and sex, disclosure to partners, and access to services.

SHAP in collaboration with MOH will continue to monitor the CHBC implementation plan. In collaboration with other key partners, SHAP will promote the use of CHBC guidelines on HBC and palliative care, DOTS and ARV adherence/counseling and referral. SHAP will also hold HBC refresher trainings for existing CHBC workers, their supervisors, and caregivers. The refresher training will include: basic nursing care, PSS and spiritual support, and adherence monitoring/counseling. Trainees will be sensitized on the role and benefits of accessing health care services, particularly for women as a preventive measure for health care problems.SHAP will work with sub-grantees to further review and strengthen the health facility-CHBC referral mechanisms and build effective partnerships with other development institutions, including those focusing on socio- economics. The referral mechanism will encompass and link clients to broad-based community services, beyond HIV services, in order to improve health outcomes. In this COP year, SHAP strategic partners will strengthen partnerships and collaboration with local FBOs and CBOs, to cater for the anticipated increase in demand for CHBC services.

Expected results include: Strengthened CBO/FBO organizational capacity to promote long-term sustainability of palliative care services; Increased use of home-based care services by PLHIV and their families; Community based groups to provide home-based services to PLHIV identified and strengthened; Pharmaceutical management to support expanded access to OIs strengthened; Strengthened capacity of health care providers in HIV/AIDS care in rural based facilities; Improved quality of basic health care clinical services for HIV+ clients; and Improved overall health outcomes of community members.

Funding for Strategic Information (HVSI): $232,000

SHAP has been working with the County AIDS Commission (CAC) in strengthening M&E systems and promoting the utilization of information. In previous years, Data Use and M&E trainings were organized for CAC staff. SHAP will continue to provide technical support until the end of the program. Under this COP, SHAP will work on capacitating CAC in the areas of monitoring and reporting of program results.Monitoring program results: Using information obtained from previous Health System Strengthening (HSS) M&E assessments, conducted by SHAP, the project will continue to strengthen the M&E systems of select government departments and promote the adoption of the systems by others.Illustrative Activities: If necessary, review and refine existing monitoring tools, developed by SHAP, to address evolving needs and issues of the select departments. Sensitize local level structures on any changes in reporting tools including the CACs, Boma health committees, County Health Departments and Sate M&E Officers. Organize refresher training on how to use the data collection tools developed by government and SHAP to government partners. Organize refresher training on how to use the data collection tools developed by government and SHAP to sub-grantees. Provide regular (quarterly) on site monitoring visit and mentor Data Officers. Provide technical support to these government departments to share their experiences to other counties and states. Conduct quarterly DQA, jointly with the government staff, to insure the quality of the reports received from sub-grantees and field staff.

Reporting results: Due to current capacity gaps, the health sector information management system is not fully developed. In some instances, more emphasis is given to data collection than analysis and utilization.In the last two years, SHAP has taken the initiative to now analyze the data collected by facilities supported by the program. The major objective of analyzing this data was to advocate for its use by government departments. SHAP will continue to advocate for data analysis and use by providing feedback to facilities, supporting analyses, and promoting guidelines for data analysis and use. The feedback sessions serve the purposes of: 1) building capacity to use data for decision-making, 2) ensuring that the data is used to measure progress, and 3) examining barriers to achieving expected results.The flow of information from county to state to national levels is hampered by weak infrastructure, communication and logistical systems. Under this COP SHAP will conduct random spot checks to identify problems and help resolve data flow challenges, by creating a virtual communication forum.In this COP year, SHAP will continue to strengthen and support the data management system at community level by on site mentoring and by providing support supervision to sub-grantees.Illustrative activities: Continue to conduct annual quality of life surveys to measures project activities effect on improving the life of PLHIV. Collaborate with GoSS and other stakeholders in surveys/studies and continue to participate in the M&E TWG. Take part in national level studies/research/surveys initiated by government and/or other stakeholders. Dissemination of best practices in community and facility based data management. FHI will also conduct behaviorial qualitative studies in its project areas.

Funding for Health Systems Strengthening (OHSS): $260,000

Local capacity building, policy development, networking and advocacy, and systems strengthening are important underpinnings for ensuring sustainability of HIV response and other health and social services in South Sudan. GoSS and development partners continue to recognize the critical role that policy development and capacity building play in effectively responding to the HIV and AIDS epidemic. SHAP will continue to support and strengthen Central and Local Government institutions, as well as capacities of CBOs, SSAC, and Ministries of Health at the National, State, County and Payam levels for effective HIV service delivery, ownership and sustainability.

Appropriate Referrals: SHAP will continue to strengthen appropriate referrals by working closely with PLHIV, through CHBC sub-grantees. In this COP year, SHAP will support each referral network, in order to strengthen coordination and sustain activities, in the respective counties with a clear feedback mechanism.

Stigma and discrimination reduction: Stigma, discrimination and denial are strong barriers to community HIV prevention, care and support interventions amongst most communities in the SHAP geographic spots. In some communities, people cannot openly talk about HIV and AIDS especially those living positively. In this COP year, SHAP will continue to strengthen the integration of three key components into its HIV programming as a way of reducing stigma and improving access to HIV services; Refresher Training of CACs and other opinion and community leaders (FBOs, Boma Chiefs, and Payam Administrators) in order to build their capacity to address stigma and discrimination in their counties; Gender mainstreaming into HIV intervention activities; Magnification of a cadre of HIV prevention champions from among community members.Policy development, dissemination and implementation: SHAP will continue to work closely with SSAC and MOH, including other development partners, to provide overall guidance and leadership to promote broader distribution of and application of all HIV related policies and guidelines to the counties, with technical support and mentoring to implementers. An example is the provision of TA in dissemination and implementation of the condom distribution strategy.Cluster Model Programming for sub-grantees: Despite low capacity of the civil society organizations in South Sudan, FBOs, CBOs, and other formal and informal associations have tremendous potential and willingness to participate in programming that will benefit themselves, their families and communities. As part of community health systems strengthening, SHAP will continue to roll out the cluster model approach to sub-grantees implementing BCC and CHBC activities. This will include providing the sub-grantees with technical assistance in participatory reassessment of community needs, mentoring of the anchor organization and supporting the Steering Committee.

Institutional and individual capacity building: SHAP will continue to strengthen indigenous institutional capacity and lay a strong foundation for the development of civil society in South Sudan. In this COP year, SHAPs organizational and institutional support will focus on mentoring and following up on previous trainings, to ensure the continued application of theory to the field environment.

Funding for Sexual Prevention: Abstinence/Be Faithful (HVAB): $270,000

The SHAP program will implement HIV and AIDS sexual prevention Abstinence / be faithful (AB) prevention activities to reach youth in and out of school peer education and Behavior change communication strategies, and through trained school based peer educators.Ongoing peer education sessions and BCC interventions will equip youth with skills to cope with peer pressure and help them develop positive norms and values to make appropriate and safe choices in relationships. In addition, the activities will integrate messages to address prevention with positives; comprehensive condom promotion; correct and consistent use of condoms; and correct condom disposal and distribution. SHAP will also continue to address issues on quality of life, effects of drugs and substance abuse, and gender based violence among young people. The activities engender to increase gender equity in HIV and AIDs activities and services through integrating and mainstreaming gender related issues in the training of peer educators, peer education and behavior change communication activities.

SHAP will work with Ministry of Education and other partners to reach out to young people with abstinence only messages through the life skills program in lower primary classes.SHAP Abstinence and Be Faithful Program activities will link the target population to other prevention services especially for the sexually active youth and also encourage all to know their status by linking to counseling and testing services and treatment for those eligible for ART.The geographic coverage for this intervention includes schools in and around big towns, city and transport corridors; which are associated to hot spots and high behavior groups such as CSWs, truckers and other vulnerable populations. The hot spots are where key populations at higher-risk have located their activities. SHAP will continue to support the MOH to disseminate best practices in PE, targeting the various sub-groups such as, Youth in schools, Youth out of schools, and MARPs.The BCC for AB will be linked to HCT, STI, condom distribution and family planning for youth above 15 years of age. There will be outreach activities targeting secondary and tertiary schools within the areas of implementation.

Funding for Testing: HIV Testing and Counseling (HVCT): $24,967

The Southern Sudan AIDS Strategic Framework 2008 outlined the policy for HIV and AIDS implementation and the response to the Declaration of Commitments. The Framework underlined HIV counseling and testing as one of the six thematic areas of responding to the epidemic by partners.SHAP will begin the process of transitioning the management of HCT services and support of the HCT counselors to the Government in all project sites. In order to facilitate the smooth transition, SHAP, in consultation with the government, will develop an effective transition plan that will be used to monitor and document handover of services. This will be a phased out approach, starting with the stronger sites, ending with the weaker ones. This transition will involve joint supervision of sites, mentoring, and on the job training. Special attention will focus on assisting the government to better use HCT site data for decision making. SHAPs role will mainly be to ensure that all sites continue to use HCT protocols and standard guidelines, and to provide feedback to the government to ensure improved quality of services.In this COP year SHAP will assist the government to increase PITC services, and to intensify CT services in sites where there are more HIV positive clients. A greater emphasis on PITC will minimize missed opportunity for HIV testing and improve access to care and treatment. Provision of couple counseling, Youth Friendly HIV services, and mobile CT will continue to improve access to HCT. To further improve access for MARPs, mobile outreach teams will conduct CT services in special locations like brothels, Boda Boda (motor bikes used for transport) parks and other work place settings. SHAP will continue to collaborate with strategic partners and sub-grantees to promote the culture of the need to know ones sero-status through community mobilization.SHAP will continue to ensure quality services through Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement activities at all HCT sites. This will be done through the use of checklists, job aids, and the provision of supportive supervision.Illustrative Activities:Increased access for HCT: Continue provision of HCT in the already existing sites, Renovations of health facilities at: 4 sites in WES; 1 in Greater Yei; 2 in WBG; and 1 in EES, Work with CBOs in mobilization for increased uptake of HCT, Monitoring and supporting PITC in all Health facilities supported by SHAP, Updating existing referral systems and tools, including directories, Supportive supervision for MOH staff to continue to provide services, Workplace HCT, Youth Friendly HIV Services (YFS): Strengthen TWG on YFS, Refresher training focusing on YFS, Integrate YFS in Health Facilities providing HCT and FP, Document experiences in providing YFS, Mobile and Outreach HCT, Documentation of successes and challenges of providing Mobile HCT, Participate in special events including WAD celebrations; Couple HIV counseling and Testing CHCT: Promote couple counseling through the use of IEC materials, Awareness creation on CHTC, Conducting routine checks on quality of CHCT services; Capacity Building: Counselor Supervision, Refresher PITC training, Lab Supervision Support, Mentorship; Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement: Reinforce the use of QA/QI guidelines and practices; systematically administer questionnaires to monitor Quality of PITC services. Analyze and develop improvement strategies, Quarterly mentorship for all HCT providers

Funding for Sexual Prevention: Other Sexual Prevention (HVOP): $1,332,000

In this COP year, SHAP will consolidate Other Sexual Prevention activities through peer education, BCC, community outreaches and continue with condom distribution through established outlets. These interventions will build on HIV and AIDS OP implemented under the previous COP in the four states of Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Western Equatoria and Western Bar El Gazal. The activities will focus on reaching the Most at Risk Populations in formal and informal settings. These interventions will continue to be implemented by the sub-grantees in all the four states.The sub-grantees will also continue to target the general population to increase their knowledge and awareness on the risks associated with unsafe sexual practices, including cultural norms and behaviors that would expose them to HIV infection.SHAP Strategic partners will continue to provide assistance and capacity building to partner organizations to implement other sexual prevention programs. The program will link with and provide referrals to existing networks of HIV/AIDS counseling and testing, home-based care, and ART programs in the program areas.SHAP will integrate prevention messages into models of care and support for PLHIV. In addition SHAP will integrate messages to address quality of life, effects of drugs and substance abuse, and gender based violence. The interventions will also continue to promote gender equity in HIV and AIDs services delivery and access through the promotion of safe sexual norms among men, increased negotiation skills of condom use among females, and increased involvement of women in other HIV and AIDS prevention.

Subpartners Total: $0
Howard University: NA
Frontline AIDS (formerly International HIV/AIDS Alliance): NA
Population Services International: NA
Cross Cutting Budget Categories and Known Amounts Total: $1,252,000
Gender: Reducing Violence and Coercion $420,000
Human Resources for Health $832,000
Key Issues Identified in Mechanism
Addressing male norms and behaviors
Increasing gender equity in HIV/AIDS activities and services
Increasing women's legal rights and protection
Mobile Populations
Workplace Programs
Family Planning