Document Abstract
Published:
2009
Moving beyond gender as usual
Donors address HIV epidemic for women and girls
In the 1980s, at the beginning of the HIV and AIDS epidemic, it was estimated that about a third of all people infected worldwide were women. After just one decade this had risen to more than half and now today in sub-Saharan Africa, 61% of all people infected with HIV are female. This report examines national policies and then focuses on how three influential donors, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the World Bank’s Africa Multi-Country AIDS Program (the MAP) tackle the risks, vulnerabilities, and consequences of the HIV/AIDS epidemic for women and girls.
The report, concentrating on Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia, finds that whilst national policies contain an understanding of gender and HIV/AIDS issues, they are lacking strategic action. For example whilst Mozambique acknowledge the connection between gender inequality and HIV and AIDS and they promote knowledge of, and access to, legal instruments for fighting domestic violence, they have not put in place any indicators or targets to measure progress.
Reasons for these failures include inadequate funding, limited access to gender analysis, inadequate
monitoring and evaluation systems for gender, and inadequate staffing. Against this environment it is found that the donors, PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the MAP need to do much more to support policies and address the epidemic. The report suggests whilst each of the donors have strong points they also need to address their weaknesses to become more effective. For example PEPFAR has explicit commitments on gender but with a global approach and a confusing set of policies that fail to address country-specific needs.
The report suggests that there is opportunities for donor collaboration both to make the most of their comparative advantages and to avoid duplicating each others efforts. Recommendations for each donor include:
PEPFAR:
Recommendations for the Global Fund:
Recommendations for the MAP:
The report, concentrating on Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia, finds that whilst national policies contain an understanding of gender and HIV/AIDS issues, they are lacking strategic action. For example whilst Mozambique acknowledge the connection between gender inequality and HIV and AIDS and they promote knowledge of, and access to, legal instruments for fighting domestic violence, they have not put in place any indicators or targets to measure progress.
Reasons for these failures include inadequate funding, limited access to gender analysis, inadequate
monitoring and evaluation systems for gender, and inadequate staffing. Against this environment it is found that the donors, PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the MAP need to do much more to support policies and address the epidemic. The report suggests whilst each of the donors have strong points they also need to address their weaknesses to become more effective. For example PEPFAR has explicit commitments on gender but with a global approach and a confusing set of policies that fail to address country-specific needs.
The report suggests that there is opportunities for donor collaboration both to make the most of their comparative advantages and to avoid duplicating each others efforts. Recommendations for each donor include:
PEPFAR:
- provide clearer, more detailed guidance on generating and using gender analysis in its country operational plans
- design gender programs and objectives around countries’ needs, not around global strategic areas or global gender goals.
Recommendations for the Global Fund:
- ensure that country coordinating mechanisms and local fund agents—not just technical review panels—have the gender expertise they need
- ensure that the technical review panels and fund portfolio managers carefully assess the technical knowledge and implementation “ know-how”of principal recipients who propose programmes to address gender issues.
Recommendations for the MAP:
- ensure that comprehensive gender analysis is used in project development, and ensure that such analysis informs the development of programmes that explicitly respond to gender in all project components
- develop and include gender-related indicators and use sex-disaggregated data across all parts of HIV/AIDS programmes.
