e-News
R AT N The Regional AIDS Training Network
A Society with the capacity to respond effectively to the HIV and AIDS pandemic
Issue 7: December 2012-March2013
RATN to Manage Network for Africa
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he Regional AIDS Training Network (RATN) is delighted to announce to its members that we will assume leadership and management of the Network for Africa’s (N4A) Community of Practice and activities. N4A, funded by the United States Agency for International Development’s Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) project, is an online community of government officials and private health care providers (individuals and institutions) in Africa that have come together with a common goal of strengthening health outcomes through the involvement of the private sector. There are approximately 500 members from 24 African countries and other regions of the world.
“This project could never be timelier as it has been,” posed Kelvin Storey, RATN’s Executive Director, adding, “Since RATN is at this time in the repositioning period, it presents an opportunity for the Network to get into the broader health sector capacity building.”
RATN was selected to manage N4A after a rigorous and competitive process in September 2012. The selection followed a bid submitted in June 2012 to the SHOPS project led by Abt Associates Inc. SHOPS is a USAID flagship initiative in private sector health. RATN will partner with SHOPS project over the next two years to enable a smooth transition. RATN will use its expertise in managing communities of practice and training that spans across more than 35 institutions in 11 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa to help N4A achieve its mandate and reach in the region.
N4A offers an Elizabeth Corley, Communications Director SHOPS,Thierry Uwamahoro, Network for Africa Program Manager and Barbara O’Hanlon, Network for Africa Technical Director. opportunity for RATN to further strengthen the work organization” remarked Barbara O’Hanlon, of its Member Institutions (MIs) involved SHOPS Senior Policy Advisor and N4A directly or indirectly in private health care in Technical Director at a meeting in Nairobi, the region. MIs that have or wish to acquire Kenya with the RATN N4A team. experience in public-private partnership will have an opportunity to tap into the SHOPS will play an important role at the Network for Africa’s members’ knowledge upcoming Capacity Summit in Johannesburg and expertise through a variety of channels, this March, 2013, and will present on the such as the monthly E-Letter, quarterly ongrowing experience in private medical line chats with private sector experts and training institutions in building HIV/AIDS technical exchanges. capacity in the region. For more information on N4A please go to www.shopsproject.org/ “RATN fulfills N4A’s dream and vision of network4africa or meet the N4A team at its being an African-owned and an African-led booth at the Capacity Summit.
In this issue...
Capacity Summit 2013 to be held in March 19-21 in Johannesburg, South Africa
Gender Training for RATN staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gender Training for RATN Board Members
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Training and Information Hub Revamped . . . . . . RATN Relocates to New Officed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . View Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baby Angela can now live a normal life
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Vacancies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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The Second HIV Capacity Summit will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa from 19 -21 March 2013. The Summit will offer an opportunity for capacity building experts, policy-makers and the HIV-affected community to build on best practice to refine and develop capacity building interventions that are, country-owned, evidence based, and sustainable The first HIV Capacity Building Partners’ Summit, was held in March 2011 in Nairobi, and attended by more than 250 delegates from 25 countries marking the beginning of a new wave on how partners can work together to ensure capacity building delivers results. As a result, organisations working in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region have
taken responsibility in ensuring that capacity building is demystified to deliver results. The 2013 Summit is open to capacity building field coordinators, programme managers, experts and planners from local Civil Society Organisations and NGOs working in the area of HIV and health services delivery, funding partners, Government agencies, Regional Economic Communities, training institutions, the academia and private sector organisations. Organisations and individuals interested in attending the summit are required to register online following this link www.hivcapacityforum.org/registration or download and send a completed registration form by email to registration@ hivcapacityforum.org.
Gender Training for RATN staff
Gender Training for RATN Board Members Board Members of Regional AIDS Training Network were taken through a one day training on Gender related issues. As RATN prepares to fully implement the recently approved Gender Policy and Strategy document, the Board Members were taken through the contents of the Policy document.
Staff members of the Regional AIDS Training Network (RATN) were in October trained on RATN’s new gender policy and strategy and its implication at the workplace as well as in key programming areas. The RATN Gender Policy and Strategy was approved by the board in June 2012. This policy and strategy is informed by RATN’s commitments in the strategic plan and the findings of the RATN gender audit which was undertaken in May 2012. A detailed implementation plan and gender monitoring indicators was completed in September 2012. It is against this background that this training was held so that staff could understand and commence the implementation of gender mainstreaming plans. A Gender Working Group (GWG) comprising of selected MIs and RATN Secretariat staff has been leading the process of the development of a gender policy and strategy.
Training and Information Hub Revamped The Regional AIDS Training Network (RATN) has revamped its Training and Information Hub (HIT). HIT is a web based source of information on HIV and AIDS training in the Eastern and Southern Africa. It provides health workers with the latest information on available courses in the region and beyond. HIT has been expanded to include other features such as e-resources, funding opportunities and vacancies. If you have any courses you are planning to run or vacancies and you would like them advertised for you, kindly send them to the following address: hit@ratn.org HIT can be accessed at: http://www.ratn.org/HIT/
New Website The Regional AIDS Training recently revamped its website. This was aimed at capturing all the needs of sharing information in a user friendly way and with no hurdles. The revamp involved the restructuring of pages and their look, adding more pages, increasing ease of navigation and giving it a complete new look. The new look RATN website presents its users with a platform that is customized to their need and is responsive to their needs. RATN Alumni have also been given preference by allocating them a page where they can register and share their stories, achievement, successes, experience, challenges and where they can also give feedback to RATN training courses and activities.
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This training, spearheaded by a Gender Consultant, Nancy Spence, was meant to ensure that all the current Board Members are aware of the implications of the document to the network and its members. RATN is currently in the process of mainstreaming Gender into its activities and thus the need for all the stakeholders to understand what this would mean. This training will followed the training of RATN Staff on Gender Mainstreaming and will be followed by other similar trainings of Member Institutions and other stakeholders.
RATN Relocates to New Office The Regional AIDS Training Network has moved to a new office. The new premises, located at Morning Side Office Park, Ngong Road, 4th floor, Unit F will be the home of RATN from where we will serve you in future.
Improving Performance of Programmes As part of rolling out Regional AIDS Training Network (RATN) Strategic Plan, RATN conducted two workshops on Results Based Monitoring and Evaluation for Performance Improvement of RATN programmes. The first training, held in Nairobi from 17-19 July 2012, targeted Member Institutions from East Africa. The second training, conducted in South Africa from 28-30 August 2012, was attended by 36 participants, drawn from RATN’s Member Institutions in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa and Tanzania. The purpose of the workshop was to enhance MI capacity for results-based M&E for the improvement of their performance while implementing RATN-related program so as to improve the quality and uptake of RATN capacity development initiatives in the ESA Region and reporting on results. The workshop focused on RATN’s Results Based M&E Framework, the Performance Improvement Framework for T&CD programs, the RATN T&CD Strategy and course implementation, and a review and use of RATN training, monitoring and evaluation system, and the RATN Quality Assurance system.
RATNe-News ‑ Issue 7: December 2012-March2013
View Point Interview with Jonathan Spangler “Do not follow where the money is going but instead thrive to integrate HIV and AIDS with other health issues”
In this interview feature, Jonathan Spangler, Board Chair of RATN and Knowledge Management Specialist at Centre for African Family Studies (CAFS), discusses how he ended up working at CAFS, the changes he has witnessed in the HIV and AIDS sector over the years, how organizations can weather the storm in the changing HIV and AIDS sector and finally why Boards are important for sustainability of any organization.
1. Tell us about your career and how you ended up at CAFS? I hold a Masters of Public Health and Bachelors Degree in History and Anthropology and these have shaped my career to date. My goal was to work in Africa no matter which country this could be. I worked in Togo between 2001 and 2003 then went back to the United States. My passion of working in Africa never died out and I travelled to Nairobi in 2007. In 2008, I saw an advertisement from Centre for African Family Studies (CAFS) for a vacancy in Knowledge Management and decided to apply for the job since I had done a lot of work in this field. I was offered the job and have worked in the Knowledge Management Unit, Business Development Unit and at one point became the Acting Executive Director for this prestigious African organisation. Currently I head the Business Development Unit and the Country Support Unit while still doing a lot at the Knowledge Management Unit.
2. Since joining the HIV and AIDS sector, tell me about the changes you have witnessed in this sector over the years? There are various changes that have taken place the world over and in the field of HIV and AIDS both positive and negative. We have seen the number of new HIV infections drop, we have also seen reduction in stigma and as well as seen the advent of medicine that can be used to manage the disease. On the negative side we have seen in the recent past a change in focus of donor funds hence a change in the environment and landscape. There has also been a shift of focus from HIV prevention to care and treatment and now to eradication whereby we have seen the development of vaccines and the ability to control the situation.
3. What are some of the challenges CAFS has faced so far? The changing landscape and operational environment under which we exist pauses a challenge to the sustainability of CAFS as is the case with various other organisations.
4. Let’s focus on funding in the HIV and AIDS sector. With the current changing landscape and operational environment, what do you see happening in the next few years? With the current reduction in funding, there are more problems for organisations that have been doing purely HIV and AIDS work. Due to this shift, organisations are going to struggle to merge HIV and AIDS in the broader health sector. This might be dangerous in the long run since most organisations will want to just mention HIV and AIDS amongst what they do in the broader health sector and hence HIV and AIDS will not receive the attention it deserves. This might mean that after some time, people will have forgotten about it and there might be cases of rising new HIV infection. Once this happens, there might be another shift of focus to HIV and AIDS and thus the cycle might be continuous. My advice is that organisations should not shift to follow where the money is going but should thrive to integrate HIV and AIDS with other health issues.
5. As the Board Chair at RATN, what are some of the lessons that you want to share that can be used to make the RATN network sustainable? Board engagement is very critical for the sustainability of any organisation and RATN is no exception. We MUST engage Board members more often, motivate them and make them understand their responsibility to ensure that they do all that is at their disposal to make the network sustainable. Though the challenge of rotating MIs on the board may mean that not all people on the Board feel ownership of the network, proper engagement of any board at any time would make them ensure sustainability. Moreover, the two years given before rotating the membership of the board is enough for the board to deliver.
RATNe-News ‑ Issue 7: December 2012-March2013
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Baby Angela can now live a normal life Angela lost her mother when she was only three weeks old. Her father, an elderly man was too frail to take care of the already sick and visibly wasted child. He opted to take her to Mother Teresa Children’s home in Marsabit Kenya. Figure 1: Angela at the time Located in one of the remote areas of admission when she was severely malnourished. She was in Kenya, this Children’s home was immediately put on food support not well equipped to treat and alongside care and treatment handle Angela. In desperate need to get treatment for Angela, the father then opted to transfer her to another branch of the home in Huruma, Nairobi, which caters for disabled and abandoned children. Unfortunately, this home in Huruma could also not manage Angela’s case. Angela was later referred to Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital and admitted at the Comprehensive Care Clinic’s. On diagnosis, Angela was found to be suffering from severe malnutrition, pneumonia and TB and weighing just 3.6kg at six months and this was the genesis of Angela’s recovery. She was seen at the hospital’s Casualty Department by Gertrude’s Resident Paediatricians as a free case (waived by GCH Foundation), who immediately put her on treatment. Baby Angela was enrolled for food support at the hospital’s Sunshine Smiles Clinic. She was put on Ready to Use Therapeutic Feeding (RUTF) programme for six weeks and later high nutrient flour mixed with oil and a food basket. Angela is currently a happy girl, with good treatment and has a caring family at the children’s home. She weighs 13.5kg at 2 years, just the weight of any other normal child. Angela is only one of the many cases that the Gertrude’s Foundation helps at its Sunshine Smile’s Clinic. Thanks to the team of professionals at GCH, GCH Foundation, Mother Teresa Children’s Home and the support and follow-up at GCH Sunshine Smiles Clinic. The Sunshine Smiles Clinic visits children’s’ homes quarterly to provide free health education and create awareness on disease prevention initiatives. A food basket’s main objective is to assist sick members of poor families with food, in order to prevent deterioration of their nutritional status, and thus improve their quality of life and to economically empower them through income generating activities aimed at enhancing food security and enhancing their ability to earn a living. Sunshine Smiles Clinic was recently featured as a success story in RATN’s Success Stories Volume 1 Number 2. For more information please visit www.ratn.org
RATN Joint Monitoring Mission Regional AIDS Training Network (RATN) undertook the first internal monitoring mission to selected Member Institutions (MIs) during the months of September and October 2012. The mission was part of rolling out and implementing the RATN M&E framework to provide greater interaction and opportunities for sharing and learning between coordinating persons at RATN Secretariat and MI levels. The visit entailed review of progress and provision of timely feedback on collaborative programmes and activities. The monitoring mission also identified emerging issues and challenges, which impact on the implementation of network activities and implementation of the strategic plan.
Departures Recently, two RATN staff members: Jacob Wambaya and Ann Mutungu completed their internships and left the organisation. Jacob Wambaya joined RATN secretariat in June 2012 as an intern in the Research Monitoring and Evaluation Department. He offered technical support to the Comprehensive Results Based Capacity Building for HIV and AIDS service Organisations (RECABASO) project and also gave critical support to other projects under the department. Jacob left the Secretariat to join Kenya’s Ministry of Planning and Development as a District Field Officer in November. Anne Njeri Mutungu joined the RATN Secretariat in the Month of June and left Mid-December after successfully completing her internship. Ann offered technical and managerial support as an intern in the Grants and Business Development Department. She left the network in search of new pastures.
Job Opportunity Gertrude’s Professional Training Centre Manager: If interested please visit http://www.gerties.org/careers for detailed role profile and instructions on how to apply.
Scholarships Hospital Management Course in Germany financed by Federal Government of Germany: This course targets medics, nurses, managers and administrators of hospitals or similar professionals, and institutions in healthcare coming from Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania. Application deadline: 6 January 2013 Submission: electronic application form, cv an certificates via email HMHP@giz.de Admission requirements and application form are available at www.gtzkenyahealth.com
Baby Angela full of smiles at her current home
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Regional AIDS Training Network ◆ Morning Side Office Park, Ngong Road, 4th floor, Unit F P.O. Box 16035, 00100 GPO, Nairobi, Kenya ◆ Tel: 254 020 2635929, 2635938 ◆ Mobile: +254 73499975, 724255849 Email: ratn@ratn.org ◆ Website: www.ratn RATNe-News ‑ Issue 6: September-December 2012