Responding to the AIDS Crisis in Africa

Global Health Action's May 2009 francophone course on the Design, Management, and Evaluation of HIV/AIDS Programs (DME), presented in Dakar, Senegal, brought together participants from Benin, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Niger, and Togo. They represented a wide variety of organizations ranging from international NGOs like Population Services International to religious organizations like Ecole de Santé de L'Eglise Evangélique au Tchad and community-based NGOs like Aides Médicales et Charité.

But, whether from organizations large or small, religious or community-based, all of the participants were there to learn and practice the programmatic tools and practical skills required to lead, develop, design, manage, monitor, and evaluate sustainable HIV/AIDS programs.

The course was held at - and in partnership with - Senegal's Ecole Nationale de Developpement Sanitaire et Social. The training, led by Bakary Sidibe, GHA's Africa Program Manager, and Vame Coulibaly, a local facilitator, was divided into three main sections: Leadership for Social Change Organizations; Program Planning and Project Design; and Proposal Writing and Reporting.



The ten-day course delved into more than two dozen specific topics, like Organizational Design, Culture, and Leadership; Conflict Resolution; Logic Models; Tools for Effective Monitoring & Evaluation; Sustainability & Exit Strategies; Proposal Writing Tips; and Budget Justification. That's a lot of material, a lot of new information, and a lot of new techniques and strategies.

Many of the participants were used to and expecting a didactic, lecture-style course, with the "teacher" imparting knowledge and the "students" dutifully writing everything down and attempting to absorb mountains of information.

That's not the way this course was structured. Rather, GHA's approach in all our trainings is participatory, participant-centered, and based on adult learning principles, incorporating role playing, case studies, small group work, simulation, and presentations. Training is based on the Experiential Learning Cycle, a continuous feedback and learning loop which moves through Direct Experience to Reflection on Experience to Generalization about Experience to Application back to Direct Experience and so forth.



From day one, the Senegal class was split into four groups and the groups were assigned a fictional country to use as their case study throughout the ten-day course. Each assigned "country" faced a different challenge related to HIV/AIDS and had its own set of socio-economic, political, and cultural factors and parameters.  

As the course progressed, the various modules and topics incorporated break-out small group sessions where the participants applied the new information and techniques to the situation and needs of their specific country - leadership challenges, human resource decisions, holistic appraisal of the environment and actors, logframe design, and so forth. This small group work was then presented back to the class for critique and comments. 

Each topic, small group work, and class discussion built on the previous activity and results, culminating on the final day of the course in the presentation of a well-considered project and proposal to a potential "funder."

The course ended with a graduation ceremony and the distribution of certificates. Each graduate took home manuals, handouts, and other reference materials.

                                                                           
Today, they are working to develop and implement sustainable HIV/AIDS projects that will serve communities, families, and individuals – people living with, and dying of, AIDS; orphans and vulnerable children; caregivers; high-risk groups; and other under-served and marginalized people in communities throughout Africa.

They also know that they can call on GHA for feedback and on-going technical assistance to help them in designing, developing, and funding their projects. Shortly after the course, a participant from Cote D'Ivoire followed up with a quick note: A thousand thanks again for the opportunity that you gave me to participate in this enriching training workshop. I am continually examining my notes … We are now in the process of reviewing our approaches, our methods of working, and the management style of our organization. Thank you!