HIV/AIDS Prevention & Reproductive Health Project

for Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria
(GFATM) 1 . Approaches of the NRCS have
broadened from a focus on humanitarian
assistance to working towards sustainable
development and capacity building at system
and community level. This combination places
it well to address the continuum from HIV
prevention to care and support.
In many districts the NRCS has taken a lead
in promoting the District AIDS Coordination
Councils (DACC) as the main coordination
body for HIV initiatives, usually if it is the
main agency working on HIV in the
respective district. DACCs are responsible
for needs assessment, planning and
coordination of district activities in the field
of HIV. Due to its relatively young existence
and yet limited capacities DACCs have until
now mainly a coordinating role. The NRCS or
- if they are active in the district - other
agencies support the DACC to organize
meetings on a regular basis (monthly or
once/twice a year) inviting all the district
committees in the areas of development,
health and education, NGOs and INGOs. The
meetings are used to present and discuss
current activities in the field of HIV. In
addition, the NRCS and other agencies
through the DACC join to organize events on
occasions such as Condom's Day or World
AIDS Day. The NRCS has further initiated a
review of the DACC to improve the
effectiveness of its bureaucratic constitution.
Currently a main constraint to the
functionality of DACCs is that they are
chaired by the head of the DDC who in
general is occupied with a number of
committees and may have other priorities.
District chapters of the NRCS are autonomous
and develop their local policies and yearly
activity plan on HIV in coordination with the
other actors in the field. The activity plan is
integrated as part of the annual development
plan published by the DDCs. The NRCS district
chapter holds orientation meetings with
different district representatives, usually on a
quarterly basis. The NRCS equally participates
in other district meetings, including, for
example, quarterly meetings of the district
health office - which includes reporting of
health posts on HIV cases. Community
representatives, district committees and other
organizations participate in the planning
process of projects and are informed with
regard to strategies, work plans, and activities.
Joint workshops included a comprehensive
self-evaluation workshop or workshops to
discuss the issue of sustainability. Information
on project activities is published at public
boards in the districts.
A core approach to all activities is capacity
building through training, supervision and
delegation of responsibilities as it is the case
in the frame of this project with J/YRCCs
and women groups who develop their own
activity plans. The project has further
contributed to increasing capacity at the level
of NRCS sub-chapters, jointly working on
community development plans. This
promotion resulted in an increase of subchapters.
Despite the large network of the
NRCS, distribution of IEC materials and
frequent communication with the subchapters
remains a challenge. Often
community volunteers support the
distribution of IEC materials.
The education sector has traditionally been a
main coordinating partner of the NRCS. A
majority of long term volunteers are teachers
and many of the NRCS programmes use
schools and J/YRCCs as a main link to
communicate with communities. J/YRCCs
are often the first to report any incidences,
needs and emergencies, within communities
to the NRCS support teacher who then
forwards the information to the district
1
Further partners include: South Asia Red Cross/Red Crescent Network on HIV and AIDS (SARNHA), National Centre for AIDS and
STDs control (NCASC), National Youth Co-ordination Council (NYCC), IEC Co-ordination Committee, NGO Coordination
Committee, National NGO’s Networks against HIV and AIDS Nepal (Nangan).
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CAPITALIZATION STUDY
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Reproductive Health Project
NRCS/SDC 2000-2007