High Level Regional Consultation for Policy Makers to Enhance Leadership in Planning the National HIV & AIDS Response S

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Aligning AIDS & Development Planning Processes:

Why and How To Do It

Bob Verbruggen

UNAIDS

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Outline of Presentation

• The Issue• Why align AIDS and development planning ?• Discussion: Experiences & Challenges• Summary of Lessons Learned

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The AIDS Perspective…

National AIDS Plan

Local GovernmentPlans

Other Sector Plans

NDP / PRSP(MDG)MTEF

International AIDS Funding Annual

Budget

Health Sector Plan

Budget

Budget

Budget

Budget

Total AIDS Budget

Development Partners AIDS Plans

(including UN)

Civil Society & Private Sector

Plans

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The National Development Perspective…

National AIDS Plan

MTEF International

AIDS Funding

Budget Budgets Budgets

Budgets

Budget

Development Partners AIDS Plans

(including UN)

Civil Society & Private Sector

PlansLocal Government

Plans

NDP / PRSP(MDG)

Other Sector Plans

National Budget

Health Sector Plan

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AIDS Response and National Development

CROWDING IN:Growing diversity of•Stakeholders•Co-ordinators

EXPECTATIONS!Growing focus on RESULTS

“EXCEPTIONAL”AIDS

RESPONSE

INTEGRATED PROGRAMMES

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

PROCESS

VERTICAL PROGRAMMES

(Ad. From S. Mogedal)

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• The Issue• Why align AIDS & development planning ?• Discussion: Experiences & Challenges• Summary of Lessons Learned

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Four Entry Points:

• Process and Participation• Diagnostics• Policies, Strategies and Resources• Implementation and M&E

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Why align AIDS & development planning ?

What AIDS Planning has to gain

What Development Planning has to gain

1. Process and Participation

• Strengthened leadership and commitment at each level

• Broadened, more systematic participation of PLHIV and vulnerable groups

• More in-depth addressing of denial, stigma & discrimination, gender inequality

Improved coherence and creation of synergies between AIDS and other development planning processes and their outputs

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Why align AIDS & development planning ?

2. Diagnostics

Improved analysis and understanding of the ‘drivers’ of the epidemic (i.e. the factors that increase HIV vulnerability in a society) through the mobilization of expertise and data sources beyond the AIDS constituency

Improved understanding of the two way relationship between AIDS and development:

– How AIDS impacts on development at the local, sectoral and national level – How development can aggravate or mitigate HIV vulnerability and AIDS impact

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Why align AIDS & development planning ?3. Policies, Strategies and Resources

• Improved ability to prioritize AIDS strategies and resource allocation

• Integration of AIDS priorities (as captured under national UA commitments) in national, sectoral and local development plans – incl. for the medium term

• More predictable medium-term funding for AIDS through: – improved donor coordination around NDP/PRSP, MTEF, SWAp,…– securing AIDS funding within

the MTEF and annual budgets

• Improved relevance and adequacy of development plans and budgets (macroeconomic, sectoral, local)

• Gradual integration of AIDS funding in national financial management systems, allowing for:

– more rational macroeconomic management of large inflows of AIDS funding– optimal resource allocation to strenghten national systems (social sectors, local government, civil society capacity,…)

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Why align AIDS & development planning ?

4. Implementation and M&E

• Strengthened governance and implementation of the AIDS response, in particular in sectors and at the decentralized level

• Improved monitoring and evaluation capacity

• Gradual integration of the AIDS Response in regular governance mechanisms at central, sectoral and local level

• Strengthening of sectoral governance & performance thanks to the integration of AIDS

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• The Issue• Why align AIDS and development planning ?• Discussion: Experiences and Challenges• Summary of Lessons Learned

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• The Issue• Why align AIDS and development planning ?• Discussion: Experiences & Challenges• Summary of Lessons Learned

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Four Entry Points:

• Process and Participation• Diagnostics• Policies, Strategies and Resources• Implementation and M&E

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Some Lessons Learned

General

• Significant progress is being made with integrating AIDS into development planning at the national and sectoral level

• Integration in decentralised planning (‘vertical integration’) remains a challenge in most countries

• Gender is not featuring sufficiently in-depth in national development plans - and even less so in ‘downstream’ plans

S P1. Process and Participation

• Systematic involvement of the AIDS constituency in the (iterative) development planning process leads to more adequate AIDS content in PRSP/NDPs, sectoral and local development plans – even where planning cycles differ

• Participation of PLHIV and vulnerable groups is often cited but there is little documentation of genuine good practice. National AIDS Authorities have a key role in ensuring participation of AIDS-specific stakeholders in broader PRSP/NDP processes

Some Lessons Learned

S P2. Diagnostics

• The AIDS constituency is often not sufficiently aware of other existing sources of information and expertise, or not well equipped to access and utilize them

• An inventory of impact & vulnerability studies is a useful resource to analyse and identify gaps

• There are some excellent impact & vulnerability assessments but they are often still lacking - particularly at the sector level. Finding the right expertise appears to be a challenge

• The Joint UN Team on AIDS through its Joint Programme of Support, is well placed to broker technical support in this area

Some Lessons Learned

S P3. Policies, Strategies and Resources

• Prioritized and costed National Strategic AIDS Plans, guided by Universal Access targets and roadmaps, provide the basis for essential AIDS content in development plans

• Conversely, involvement in the PRSP process is an opportunity to improve the NSAP, e.g. through Joint Annual Programme Reviews

• Even though mainstreaming does not mean that everyone should do everything, priority sectors are still often being missed out (e.g. Defence and Tourism)

• Mainstreaming of AIDS in MTEFs and sector and local budgets is becoming a reality as public finance management mechanisms are being reformed and strenghtened

Some Lessons Learned

S P4. Implementation and M&E

• The PRSP implementation process offers an entry point for integrating AIDS in sector and local government plans

• AIDS Operational Plans are a key (and often missing) link between AIDS planning and (sector and local level) implementation

• Harmonization of monitoring and evaluation frameworks and processes should be part of the process of aligning NSP and PRSP content

• PRSP monitoring remains a challenge in itself

Thank you

Some Lessons Learned

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Questions for Discussion

Round Two

• How has your country aligned the content of different planning and monitoring instruments to national Universal Access priorities ?

• Has the integration of AIDS in the NDP/PRSP and other development planning resources helped to address complex socio-cultural challenges such as stigma and discrimination and gender inequality ?

• Does your Ministry of Finance perceive the inflow of large funding for AIDS as a challenge to proper macro-economic management ? If so how is it dealing with it ?

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Questions for Discussion

Round Two

• Do you know examples of AIDS funding being used to strengthen social sector systems ?

• Do you know examples of how the integration of AIDS has actually contributed to improve sector performance ?

• How is engagement to better mainstream AIDS in development planning processes resulting in improved implementation of AIDS programmes (prevention, care, support, treatment) on the ground ?