UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

UNAIDS The First 10 Years206the country, including some partners that bring very big money, such as the USPresident’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Largely as a response tothat, the UNAIDS Secretariat has worked very closely with NACC to develop aharmonization process. NACC convenes a newly established harmonization TaskForce which brings a full range of stakeholders to the table. Stakeholders includedonors and civil society, which also has harmonization needs.While the Task Force is new and is still experiencing teething problems, Schoultz isconvinced that it will emerge as an important mechanism with regard to NACC’seffectiveness in coordinating the many different development partners present inKenya. “Some partners didn’t expect, for example, the United States Governmentto come to that table but they have come, they are there, they want to participate.And what we have found was that, if you just get people to sit around the table andconstantly reinforce the concept of the ‘Three Ones’, [not simply] paying lip serviceto it, but really reinforcing it, partners do respond … I think that that’s been a veryvaluable tool, that the whole concept of the ‘Three Ones’ has been very valuable, toKenya and to the Kenyan Government and in helping to really lead the way for thenational response”.In terms of the practical effects of harmonization, Schoultz gives the example ofcoverage of counselling and testing throughout the country. “There are so manyduplications of effort, and … so many gaps as well. So, it’s looking at a specific areasuch as counselling and testing in the country, and realising – just by sitting downtogether and looking at a map of the country and saying, ‘Where do you supportcounselling and testing?’ – … that everybody is in half of the country, and nobody’sin the other half, and then readjusting. Key partners did this in Kenya, and counsellingand testing services coverage is consequently far more rational now than it was fiveyears ago. It’s a question of pragmatic decision making”.A harmonized approach to development partner initiatives can contribute to astronger and more cohesive national response. Schoultz commented: “I think that,certainly in Kenya, we’ve benefited greatly from the UNAIDS Secretariat’s ownefforts to bring joint missions, high-level missions, to the country. Our ExecutiveDirector came with Suma Chakrabarti, Permanent Secretary at DFID (the UKDepartment for International Development), Bjorn Skogmo, Deputy Secretary-General of Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Gerard Byam, Director,Operational Quality and Knowledge Services at the World Bank, in a joint mission,and the benefits of that … kind of visit are enormous. Not only does it send a verystrong signal that, ‘We are all in this together and we are coming here to work withyou, Kenya’, but it also assures that the leadership of these organizations … from the