Ensuring quality and accountability

Supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries

Ensuring quality and accountability A NEW ACCREDITATION SYSTEM FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO HIV

WHY ACCREDITATION? The Alliance accreditation system is designed to help deliver quality HIV programmes that are supported by well-performing, sustainable and credible civil society organisations.

The system rigorously assesses Alliance members against high institutional and programmatic standards to improve their HIV responses and accountability to the communities they serve. It is also used to assess organisations seeking membership of the Alliance. The system: s puts into practice the Code of Good Practice for NGOs Responding to HIV/AIDS (www.hivcode.org) s identiďŹ es where an NGO needs support to meet good practice standards s builds donors’ conďŹ dence in Alliance members’ ability to deliver quality HIV programmes s provides a set of standards applicable across the Alliance, building on a shared mission and vision s ensures that the meaningful involvement of people with HIV and other marginalised groups, and gender equality are central to the work of all Alliance members s provides an opportunity for Alliance members to learn from each other.

WHAT IS IT BASED ON? s 4HE PROCESS USES PEER REVIEW

WITH ASSESSMENT CARRIED OUT BY OTHER TRAINED AND EXPERIENCED !LLIANCE MEMBERS s ! @STRENGTHENING PLAN ACCOMPANIES EACH ACCREDITATION TO BUILD THE CAPACITY OF PARTICIPATING .'/S

Female sex worker drop-in centre, Garladinne, Anantapur district, India. Š 2006 Jenny Matthews/International HIV/AIDS Alliance

s 4HE Code of Good Practice for NGOs Responding to HIV/AIDS INSPIRED THE DESIGN OF THE SYSTEM AND OFFERS ADDITIONAL SELF ASSESSMENT TOOLS ESPECIALLY ON PROGRAMMATIC ISSUES

THE STRUCTURE The components

In order to be accredited to the Alliance, each linking organisation (LO), country office (CO) and the secretariat must meet all 38 standards.

A standard is met by meeting all ‘essential’ criteria and a majority of ‘desirable’ criteria in the standard. An organisation seeking to join the Alliance must meet all ‘essential’ criteria.

1 Governance 2 Strategic planning 3 Alliance values 4 Programmes 5 Monitoring and evaluation 6 Policy, advocacy, networking 7 Financial management 8 Resource mobilisation 9 Human resources and security

10

10 Communication, knowledge sharing, information technology

COMPONENTS

Standards are statements about expected quality. Each standard has a number of criteria.

38 STANDARDS

Criteria are used to measure whether a standard is being met. Criteria are either ‘essential’ or ‘desirable’.

157 CRITERIA

Top: Staff from the Ecuadorian coalition of people living with HIV, Quito, Ecuador. © 2006 Marcela Nievas/International HIV/AIDS Alliance Bottom: A peer educator leads a discussion on condom use and sexual health in Kalungu Village, Chipata, Zambia. © 2006 Nell Freeman/International HIV/AIDS Alliance

THE PROCESS 2. FIELD REVIEW

1. SELF-ASSESSMENT

3. DECISION/REPORT

LO, CO or the secretariat

Selfassessment exercise

Self-assessment tool and guidelines

REQUEST

s $IAGNOSIS s 7ORKPLAN

Field review visit and FEEDBACK

Field review tool and guidelines

Field review report

UK secretariat support throughout the process from Field Programmes, Global Services and Technical Support Hubs

Accreditation Committee

Accreditation Committee decision

REPORT

Board of Trustees

INSIGHTS FROM THE FIELD

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Lydia Reine Saloucou Executive Director, Initiative Privée et Communautaire de lutte Contre le VIH/SIDA (IPC), Burkina Faso

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We were a little apprehensive at the prospect of being ‘assessed’ but our fears were soon allayed. It was an extremely supportive process that highlighted our organisational strengths and some concrete steps we could take to grow and develop further. The opportunities it afforded for horizontal learning from other members of the Alliance family were particularly appreciated.

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Graham Smith Executive Director, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Kunming, China

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After nearly 15 years, PHANSuP is going through a deep transformation and dramatic change in the scale and range of programmes linking HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights. To meet the challenges and ensure this is a successful shift, both at institutional and programmatic levels, we couldn’t dream of a better tool than the new Alliance accreditation system to help us structure our journey!

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Carlos Calica Chairman of the Board, Philippine NGO Support Program (PHANSuP), The Philippines

accreditation

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At IPC we are moving towards a more professional structure to deliver quality services in line with our strategic plan for 2008–10. Accreditation was like seeing our reflection in a mirror, and this has helped everyone to accept the need for change and identify what and how to improve.

Who is the International HIV/AIDS Alliance?

Established in 1993, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (the Alliance) is a global partnership of nationally-based organisations working to support community action on AIDS in developing countries. These national partners help local community groups and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to take action on AIDS, and are supported by technical expertise, policy work and fundraising carried out across the Alliance. In addition, the Alliance has extensive regional programmes, representative ofďŹ ces in the USA and Brussels, and works on a range of international activities such as support for South–South cooperation, operations research, training and good practice development, as well as policy analysis and advocacy.

Our mission is to support communities to reduce the spread of HIV and meet the challenges of AIDS. To date we have provided support to organisations from more than 40 developing countries for over 3,000 projects, reaching some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities with HIV prevention, care and support, and improved access to treatment.

Alliance coverage Contact for Alliance accreditation Global Alliance Services Unit accreditation@aidsalliance.org www.aidsalliance.org

AC 07/08