Objective:The goal of the Regional HIV/AIDS Programme is to increase the capacity of countries in the region to implement effective, multi-sectoral national responses to AIDS and to strengthen UNDP Country Office AIDS practitioners’ capacity to support those efforts. A special emphasis is placed on the needs of groups that are especially vulnerable to the virus and ensuring the rights of people living with HIV (PLHIV). The project is in line with the UNAIDS co-sponsor division of labor and Global Task Team recommendations, in which UNDP plays a leading role in HIV/AIDS as it relates to Human Development, Governance, Mainstreaming, Human Rights and Gender.
The objective of this Regional project is to achieve the outlined goals using four key instruments of service delivery: 1) policy advice and technical support to Country Offices, 2) knowledge management and Community of Practice facilitation, 3) regional programming and the 4) County Office Support Facility.
Situation Analysis:
While relatively new to Eastern Europe and the CIS, HIV has been spreading faster here in recent years than anywhere else. There are now an estimated 1.6 million people living with HIV (PLHIV), a nine-fold increase in less than 10 years. The epidemic continues to target young adults of working age, with over 80% of PLHIV under the age of 29. While the burden remains greatest among populations at higher risk, including injecting drug users (IDUs), sex workers and men who have sex with men (MSM), signs of increasing heterosexual transmission and rapidly increasing prevalence among women indicate that HIV is also gaining a foothold in the wider population of the region. Mobile populations, especially economic migrants, represent a growing concern for cross-border HIV transmission, while large scale transportation projects can enhance the conditions for mobility that fuel HIV spread.
The changing nature of HIV spread in the region presents several challenges to states in mounting effective responses. Governments must simultaneously maintain their obligation to protect the individual human rights of PLHIV and provide full access to prevention, care and treatment services to all populations at higher risk, while at the same time promoting prevention and building awareness and tolerance among the general population. This requires judicious use of limited human and financial resources within policy packages that have been demonstrated to deliver results efficiently and effectively.
Partnership strategy
While we partner with organisations in almost everything we do, the Regional Programme launched a new partnership strategy in 2007 that has already demonstrated a significant increase in delivery via strategic partnerships, both within and outside the UN system. The RBEC Regional Team has been selected to be the first UNDP regional team to co-locate with the respective UNAIDS Regional Support Team as part of a global UNDP/UNAIDS agreement. Enhanced partnerships with United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), The Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency and the Czech Trust Fund and other are pursued. These and other partnerships will be strengthened as we move forward.
UNDP has a growingstrategic partnership ‘making the money work’ with the Global Fund in Eastern Europe and the CIS. UNDP is currently Principal Recipient for GFATM grants in 4 countries of the region - Belarus, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Tajikistan. In addition, the CIS region has been the most active in supporting capacity development role for Global Fund proposal development and implementation. In Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, UNDP is also providing capacity development services to Principal Recipients and sub-recipients in financial management, procurement, monitoring and implementation.
In Central Asia, UNDP supports the flagship World Bank/DFID funded Central Asia AIDS Control Project through a joint regional project in four countries. This partnership provides capacity building and implementation support to the five year initiative in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Main activity areas of the project include:
- Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS into poverty reduction and sectoral strategies
- Ensuring communication and exchange of experience among UNDP AIDS practitioners through the regional community of practice.
- Supporting Human rights based and gender sensitive AIDS responses addressing stigma and discrimination of vulnerable groups
- Building the capacity of Civil Society Organizations including PLHIV to effectively conduct advocacy activities and provide quality services
